Low powered sbRIO/SBC with dual networking and LabVIEW support

[Mads]

A few years ago we hunted for a rugged SBC that could run a LabVIEW-application, had dual network interfaces and a very low power usage....(3-4 W). It was a difficult combination of requirements to meet. For a long time we ignored the sbRIOs as their official power requirements were way above what we wanted, but then we tested the actual power usage of an sbRIO-9607 and found that even when running the CPU at 100% it still drew only a fraction of the official numbers. We endedn up using that and have been happy with it.

Now the 9607 is getting close to last time buy though and we have to find a replacement. The closest option in terms of physical footprint, networking and support for LabVIEW seems to be the 9603, but its power usage (in real-life) is almost twice that of the 9607...Are there any other sbRIOs that have dual networking and lower power requierements? Another option would be to find an SBC...it would then need to run either Windows or a Linux-version supported by LabVIEW...Most likely the latter then if it is to require less power(?). Using sbRIOs have the advantage of having a device that is designed to be worked on through a network link / headless, but perhaps a similar solution can be achieved with Linux as well?

[Mads]

A side-question here would be if there is anything that can be done to lower the power usage of an sb-9603...Can it be underclocked e.g. , can unused IO be turned off etc?

[Mads]

No replies on this one yet...Too much going on after the merger into Emerson?

cpufreq is not supported in the kernel so I have tried various stuff like disabling a core, optimize c-states etc. I am not an expert here, but so far there seems very little I can do to lower the power consumption. With the low power CPU of the 9607 being phased out I wonder if there is a plan to support customers requiring low(wer)-power options in the future. Perhaps including cpufreq support could help if none of the CPUs in future sbRIOs can offer it e.g.?

[Mads]

To answer myself here: The last time buy of the low-power sb-RIO 9607 have been postponed from from 2025 to 2029...that is good news. The closest replacement from NI we could find was 9603, but it uses twice as much power, and seem to have a bug that causes its baud rates to be incorrect (10700 bps when configured to 9600 e.g.) so finding an SBC instead was beginning to look like the next step, but now we can continue to use 9607. I hope a lower powered option than the 9603 comes along (or that it gets support for underclocking at least) before 2029.

If anyone still needs to find an SBC with dual networking, plenty of serial ports and less than 2-3W power the closest option I have found yet (which I *think* could run LabVIEW applications) is this one: https://www.embeddedts.com/products/TS-7250-V3

[RIObotics]

Hi Mads,

I've used sbRIO since sbRIO-9602, I can confirm that the latest series 9603/9608/9609 consurme alot of power and are very hot to touch when running.  For what it's worth, I run a shop that specializes in carrying obsolete, discontinued, and secondhand NI hardware:  www.extendtest.co.  If NI does not offer sbRIO-9607 anymore, we carry and stock these items long after the LTB date.  Unlike generic sellers on Ebay, we use our NI product knowledge to test all hardware before shipping, as well as provide warranty and quality assurance.  

If you're looking for a hard-to-find NI part, or simply looking for a good deal, look us up!  Ciao.

BR

John

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