Soft Front Panel For PXI-4461????

[TonyJ]

Does there exist a soft front panel for the PXI-4461?  If it does, where do I go?

Tony

[Travis_W]

Hi Tony,

For basic functional testing, you can use the NI-DAQmx Test Panel within Measurement and Automation Explorer.  This will give you the ability to view finite and continuous acquisitions, as well as the ability to ouput either a DC value or generaete a sine wave at a specified frequency.

For lower-level control of the hardware, NI-DAQmx ships with a variety of great example programs that expose the full functionality of the NI PXI-4461, including continuous acquisition and synchronization.

Is there any specific functionality that you are looking for that is not provided by the resources mentioned above?  Also, what programming language are you using with this module?  With a little more information, I may be able to point you to something that more specifically addresses your needs.

Have a great day!
Travis W

[TonyJ]

Travis,
   We're using LabWindows/CVI version 7.0 and TestStand 3.0.  We are sending a 1KhZ tone to our radios and conducting audio measurements with the returned audio. 

Tony

[Travis_W]

Hi Tony,

There are a couple great CVI examples that ship with NI-DAQmx that should get your started.  If you do not currently have these examples installed, please refer to this KnowledgeBase.

First, in order to generate your 1kHz tone, use the example named "Cont Gen Volt Wfm-Int Clk" in the "Analog Out" folder.  All you should need to do is specify your amplitude (the default behavior is a sine wave at 1kHz).

Next, for acquisition, use the example named "Cont Acq-Int Clk" in the "Analog In" folder.  For this, specify your sample rate and number of samples to read at time.  Once you are able to read your signals back, then you can add your analysis code directly to this example.

In order to call this test from TestStand, you will probably want to combine these 2 example into a single piece of code that will do both simultaneously.  A great place to start with that would be this DeveloperZone example.

Hopefully this helps out as you move forward.  Let us know if you have trouble getting this working, as we definitely want to help out.

Have a great day!
Travis W

[Barneyho]

I've been playing with my PXI system now for a few days and I've got the PXI-4461.  So far, integration has been pretty easy.  I'm using it as a digital signal analyzer (isn't everyone?) and the only issue I've noticed is a memory issue with configuring the board.  I put everything in a loop that would configure, read and display a signal.  Well, the configuring part eventually crashes LabVIEW.  I know this is poor programming and I have since put the configuring portion in a case structure so it only configures when I ask it to but I thought I'd share anyway.

Tony, the soft panels give you a good idea of how you'll interact with the PXI-4461 but I've found that I don't use the tasks at all.  My users want to be able configure the board whatever way they want and creating tasks is kind of like hard coding a configuration.  I guess you could do that if you want to make sure that your users didn't inadvertantly send something that would cause an error.  My users are all 'mad scientists' that want to be able to change everything whenever they want to. 

Travis, I will definitely have to check those example VIs out.  Thanks!

Does anyone have any code that they'd like to share that uses PFI0 input?  I'm guessing thats a trigger?

Thanks,

Ben

[Brian F.]

Hi Ben.  PFI0 is typically used as a trigger which can start or stop an acquisition on another line.  You will find a lot of examples on how to use PFI lines in the NI Example Finder.  This can be accessed in LabVIEW by clicking on help>> Find Examples.  As a general rule, any DAQmx example that uses triggering will use the PFI0 as a default.  A few examples to look into are:  Acq&Graph Voltage-Int Clk-Dig Start.vi and Cont Acq&Graph Voltage-Ext Clk-Dig Start.vi.  These are DAQmx analog input examples and should provide basic examples of the use of PFI lines. 

Good luck with your application and I hope you continue to enjoy your PXI system!

Brian F
Applications Engineer
National Instruments