Recently I've used Compact FieldPoint for projects, and I've SCXI for DAS projects for a long time. cFP is so limited in speed and functoins that I started looking at possible other solutions. Even the cFP pages on the NI site suggest looking at CompacRIO as an alternative. CompactRIO appears to be radically different from cFP, in that it is not just a simple DAS front end, but has real-time processor horsepower and FPGA. Seems to be very well suited to LabView, where it is probably much more efficient to put as much processing capability in the hardware, since it is so unbearably difficult to program large systms in LabView.
But I program only in C in LabWindows, develop small and very large Data Acquisition and Control systems. In this case I need a small DAS unit, a few channels of Strain-gauge, DIO, AIO, a mile a way on an Ethernet Fiber-optic cable, controlling 480VAC 3-phase motors and measuring 250,000 lb load cells.
So, after all that, down to the questions: Is it possible to use CompactRIO as a simple DAS front-end, like I've used cFP? How does it integrate into CVI and the driver package? Or do I have to do real-time programming in the thing in order to get it to do anything at all? is thre any documentation that explains how to use CompactRIO with CVI?
