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LabVIEW real time vs fpga

When do we use real time labview module and where do we use fpga module?

couldnt find it anywhere..

 

help is appreciated

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NI has two different types of embedded targets: Real-Time Targets and FPGAs. Depending on what hardware you have, you will either program it in LabVIEW RT or FPGA (or both...cRIO's have both an RT and FPGA).

Real-Time is like an embedded computer - it can do networking, floating point math, file I/O etc. The fact it is Real-Time allows you to run processes determinisitically - e.g. specific timing with defined jitter etc. for control loops, which you can't do on Windows).

FPGA is more like a programmable electronic circuit - it can do very high speed calculations and usually interfaces with the real-world (e.g. analogue/digital signals go into the FPGA).

You should take a look at the first few chapters of the cRIO developers guide (http://www.ni.com/compactriodevguide/). It has a pretty good introduction.

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@Bgmnt wrote:

When do we use real time labview module and where do we use fpga module?


When dealing with cRIO, I use both.  With the projects I have had lately, I have found that I can get around 90% of my controller functionality in the FPGA (data acquisition, control, limit checks, filtering, etc).  My RT has mostly been for data logging and passing data to the Windows computer (which has a GUI application).


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Just for clarity's sake, the FPGA can also do floating point math.  It's just limited to the SGL data type.  It'll use more fabric than the fixed point calculations.  But, if you have enough space there's never the need to optimize by moving to FXP. 

As others have said, RT is for your OS type interactions.  FPGA is for high speed calculations/data acquisition.  They increase in value when used together.

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