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PXI FlexRIO Architecture with Xilinx Kintex UltraScale Technology

20 December 2017 - The new PXI FlexRIO Modules of National Instruments integrate mezzanine I/O modules with Xilinx Kintex UltraScale FPGAs. The first wave of products based on this new architecture includes two high-resolution PXI FlexRIO Digitizers, three dedicated PXI FlexRIO Coprocessor Modules and a module development kit that helps with custom front-end development.

The FlexRIO product line combines customizable I/O and user-programmable FPGAs into high-performance, reconfigurable instruments users can program with the LabVIEW FPGA Module. With Kintex UltraScale FPGAs, the new FlexRIO architecture offers more programmable resources than previous Kintex-7-based FlexRIO modules. In addition, the new mezzanine architecture fits both the I/O module and the FPGA back end within a single, integrated 3U PXI module. For high-speed communication with other modules in the chassis, these new FlexRIO modules feature PCI Express Gen 3 x8 connectivity for up to 7 GB/s of streaming bandwidth.

“FPGAs and high-performance data converters are essential technologies when pushing the boundaries of discovery and innovation, but implementing them in a custom design can be cumbersome,” said Steve Warntjes, NI vice president of R&D, modular instruments. “FlexRIO has consistently helped engineers and scientists bring ideas to fruition faster with an off-the-shelf solution that includes the latest FPGA and converter technology. The new FlexRIO architecture furthers this mission.”

The new FlexRIO modules take advantage of the highest-performance FPGA and A/D converter technology, which makes them ideal for applications that require advanced capabilities like remote sensing, signals intelligence, communications and particle physics.

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