What equipment is required to calibrate PXI cards.

[Tom Morgan]

I need to know what all is required, hardware and software wise, for me to calibrate the following NI items in my cal lab:

PXI-1045, PXI-6508, PXI-6552, PXI-8331, and PXI 6251.

What I have now is an old version 2.0 of Calibration Executive and the software that came with these cards (NI-488.2, GPIB-VXI/C Legacy Documentation and NI-VISA Libraries Version 3.0). My software guy also has the NI Developer Suite from 2003. In the lab we have calibrators (5700,5720,4708,9500) and meters (34401,3458,1281,8508) and scopes (TDS) and PC controllers running XP with NI PCI-GPIB cards.

   I realize I will need to get an upgrade for the Cal Exec, I need to know what all else is required to decide if it is going to be justifiable to gear up for this capability. Any information, including prices, is appreciated.

[TongY]

Hi Tom,

First of all, from your list of items, there is no calibration needed or can be performed on the PXI-1045(PXI chassis), PXI-8331(MXI-4 controller).

For the rest of the modules, NI offers calibration services on the PXI-6552 and PXI-6251, but not the PXI-6508. I recommend you send the first two cards to NI for calibration since they will be certified and should be more cost effective than construct your own calibration system.

http://www.ni.com/support/calibrat/

In general, calibration system is expensive to built, esp. for general purpose. Most people use calibration services instead to save time and resource.

[Tom Morgan]

I realize it may be expensive. Looking around the site I see under cal requirements for the high speed digital 6551/52 a $995 SMB breakout, a $495 SHC68 cable, and 2 SCXI-1193 switch modules at $2895 each, plus other cables and adapters. However in the lab right now I have 10 6251 cards, which are $125 or $245 each to get cal'd and 10 6552 cards which are $245 each cal and 15 6508 cards that aren't even listed as being able to cal. So while it may cost me 7 or 8 thousand to set up for calibration I only have to pay for that once. I will spend at least $3700 to get 20 of these cards calibrated once, and I still haven't done the 15 6508 cards. And I am going to have to pay that $3700 again every time they are due. So I appreciate the advice but I would still like to know what it takes to calibrate these cards and how much it costs, if anybody at NI or anybody else reading this board has that information. Thanks,  Tom Morgan

[TongY]

The Calibration Procedures and equipment list for the 6551 can be found in the following link: 

http://www.ni.com/support/calibrat/required_equipment.htm

The 6551 is new to Calibration Executive, so make sure you have the current version 2.1

For 6251:

http://digital.ni.com/manuals.nsf/websearch/D8FE3CA6B488BC0D86256FBD005C590F?opendocument

About the 6508, since they are regular Digital I/O boards, there is calibration services for it and you will need to perform manual calibration on them.

[Poornima]

I plan to calibrate PXI 6551 using Calexec 3.1.

The procedure for calibration gives an option to use either the combo chassis or the PXI and SCXI chassis.

If I use PXI and SCXI chassis instead of a combo chassis, how can i connect the SCXI chassis to the PXI chassis? I can connect the PXI and the other equipment like the multimeter and the voltage source etc., using GPIB cables.SCXI does not seem to have GPIB connectivity(I am not sure). The connections between the SCXI 193 and the SMB 2163, SCXI 11XX and the 6031 are clear to me. I want to know if there is any backend bus connection required between the PXI and the SCXI.If so, how is it done?

[David S.]

Hi Poornima -  
 
The SCXI chassis and equipment are used to condition signals sent to and from the DUT.  After being conditioned, the signals are sent to your DAQ device to be digitized and read into the computer.  As such, the SCXI chassis only needs to be cabled to the DAQ device.  You can do this using a shielded E-series cable (SH68-68-EP) and an adapter block (SCXI-1349).  These will connect the leftmost device in your SCXI chassis to your DAQ card, which must reside in the rightmost slot of your PXI chassis.  There is detailed information about SCXI connections in the "SCXI Quick Start Guide", which can be found in the Start Menu documentation for DAQ.
 
 The GPIB connections will be made in your PXI chassis.  Either the embedded controller of the chassis or a PXI-GPIB card will have the port connections needed.
 
There are also detailed text instructions for making the connections in the "Calibration Executive Help" file, which you can find in the program's Start menu group.  Inside this file, browse the tree to "Device Calibration Procedures » Modular Instruments » High-Speed Digital".  The instructions given here explain step-by-step how to connect your equipment for both scenarios (combo chassis and separate SCXI chassis).

[Tom Morgan]

I finally did get to where I calibrate 6552 cards with CalExec. The equipment listed for 6551 cards is the same. Have you seen the list and priced everyting on it? The cards and cables you need from NI will run you up to $7 or 8k, depending on what you already may have. You do need 2 of the expensive 1193 switches. Other notes:

• There is no sub (or there wasn't) for the Tek 3052/3054 scope. If you don't have one it will be another $10k or so.
• The list does say you can use a 34401 DMM now. It used to say you had to have the NI DMM, so I had my customer buy one for $2k. When I ran the program I found that the 34401 works fine.
• I was told by NI that the DAQ device is only for controlling the SCXI switch cards and therefore does not need to be calibrated. Now they are telling you that it conditions the singnals going to and from the UUT?
• The frequency accuracy of the card is listed as 50ppm of the sample rate. I am not sure what that means. But the CalExec test places 100ppm limits on their time base test.

Good luck. It took me a lot of time and money. You do need all of those cables listed. And the breakout box and switch modules. It turns into quite a bowl of spaghetti. But when it is all hooked up you can do the cal in 5 or 10 minutes. Let us know how you do.

Tom Morgan