PXI extension with Thunderbolt 3 Optical Cables

[JoGra]

Hi,

We have a PXI-1095 chassis with a PXI-8861 controller running windows. 

The PXIe-8861 controller has two Thunderbolt 3 ports which we would like to use

for extension with one or two further PXI chassis via the PXIe-8301 Thunderbolt 3 controller. 
As the length of normal Thunderbolt 3 cables is very limited we want to use these optical cables from Corning.

If the cable from Corning is fully Thunderbolt 3 compliant, then this setup should work.

Could there be limitations on the Thunderbolt 3 functionality with PXIe-8861 controller?

Has anyone tested extending such a controller with a PXI Thunderbolt 3 chassis (PXIe-1090) or remote controller?

[santo_13]

That is a weird way to extend the chassis, but it is creative. You will be limited in BW.

[JoGra]

Yeah its a bit unusual but Thunderbolt is still the 3rd most performant PXI extension option while beeing the cheapest that also doesn't take up further slots as compared to the MXI daisy-chain modules.

The bandwith limit is okay in our case as we mostly do very short buffered acquistions.

[Captain_K]

That setup should work fine. I know a lot of people that use the Thunderbolt ports on the 8861 to extend to other chassis (saves a slot), both to an 8301 or 1090 chassis.

I haven't personally tried the Corning's fiber Thunderbolt cables, but they should work. I've pointed then out to people who want to use fiber Thunderbolt connection with the caveat that NI hasn't tested them. No one has come back yet to yell at me, so I'm guessing they work fine. We did do some testing using an active Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter and connected with Thunderbolt 2 cables and that worked. This was before Corning put out the Thunderbolt 3 cables.

[JoGra]

Cool! Thank you for the reply! 

I think we will test it out with the Corning cable and then I report back here! 

[Captain_K]

Thanks! It'll be awesome to hear how they work out.