C interface for NI FPGA-based hardware

29 April 2009 Computer/Embedded Technology

National Instruments has announced a new programming interface available from the NI Labs virtual research lab that makes it easier for C/C++ developers to take advantage of the NI LabVIEW FPGA module and NI FPGA-based hardware for embedded control and acquisition applications.

With the new NI C Interface to LabVIEW FPGA, developers can use LabVIEW graphical tools to program the FPGA within NI hardware and choose either LabVIEW or C/C++ tools to program the processor within the system. This new feature helps engineers and scientists with C expertise implement FPGAs within their designs without the burden of learning hardware design, and gives them the option to re-use their existing embedded C code.

The new C interface to LabVIEW FPGA takes advantage of a reconfigurable I/O (RIO) driver for communication between the processor and FPGA in NI FPGA-based hardware such as NI CompactRIO and NI Single-Board RIO. The NI-RIO driver abstracts the communication between the processor and FPGA so that developers can avoid register-level programming.

The new interface allows engineers and scientists to program the realtime processor on NI FPGA-based hardware using C tools such as NI LabWindows/CVI, Microsoft Visual Studio or Wind River Workbench, and interface to the LabVIEW FPGA code running on the FPGA. Developers can also program the processor using the LabVIEW realtime module, which includes tools for low-level system debugging and precision execution timing for increased flexibility and functionality of deterministic realtime applications.

Additionally, the new C interface makes it possible for developers to use C/C++ to program the realtime processor of a PXI system or a processor on a PC running Microsoft Windows and interface to the LabVIEW FPGA code running on an NI FlexRIO or a PXI/Compact PCI/PCI NI R Series FPGA I/O device. The NI-RIO driver provides single-point transfer and DMA streaming functionality as well as interrupt-based communication between the processor and embedded FPGA within NI hardware.

For more information contact National Instruments, 0800 203 199, [email protected], www.ni.co/southafrica

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