controlling a non-rt digitizer with a rt system

[bbarnes]

My RT system consists of a PXI-8106 RT controller and 2 PXI-5152 digitizers in a PXI-1000B chassis.  The host is a laptop computer.  My test also requires the use of a PXI-5652 RF synthesizer.  Unfortunately, the 5652 does not support RT.  So I am currently running the PXI-5652 in a separate PXI-1031 chassis and it is linked to a PC with a PXI-8331 MXI-4 controller.

I would like suggestions on the best route to eliminate the extra PC that is controlling the RF Synthesizer.  I would also prefer to eliminate the second chassis.  Is there a way to run the synthesizer off of the realtime chassis?  The best option I can come up with is to purchase a PXI-8310 PCMCIA cardbus controller for the laptop.  Obviously, it would be best to move the synthesizer into the RT chassis but this would require that I install an Windows operating system and stop using RT.  I fear that if I went this route the Windows overhead would be too taxing on the processor, as I am already working them pretty hard right now acquiring and processing data.

Suggestions please....

Thanks,

Bruce Barnes

[Matt_A]

Hello Bruce,

The NI-RFSG driver for the PXI-5652 does not support a real-time (RT) operating system, as noted on the download page here. So, unfortunately, you will not be able to use this device in your RT system. I don't have any personal experience with the NI PXI-CardBus8310, but I know we generally recommend the NI PXI-ExpressCard8360 to control a PXI chassis from a notebook computer. The NI PXI-ExpressCard8360 has a higher bandwidth (110 MB/s) than the CardBus option (50 MB/s) and does not require any additional drivers, like the CardBus device does. If your notebook has an ExpressCard slot, I would definitely suggest you pursue this option. If you have any other questions about controlling a PXI chassis from a notebook, feel free to post back and let us know.