FlexRIO

FlexRIO is an NI FPGA hardware platform in its 2nd generation.

The first generation was an outgrowth of the R series FPGA cards. The components common to all cards were grouped on the part that plugs into the PXI/PXIe chassis. These components include: FPGA, PXI/PXIe interface, and DRAM (optional). I/O was supported by a FlexRIO Adapter Module (FAM). This plugs into the card that plugs into the PXI/PXIe chassis. A module development toolkit (MDK) for making custom FAMs is available for purchase. Not all FAMs work with all FPGA FlexRIO cards.

The models of the FPGA FlexRIO cards are 795x, 796x, 797x. 793x is a standalone device that has its own OS and network connection. 797x has a different interface from the other cards. This could be considered a FlexRIO generation 1.5.

These cards use Virtex-5 and Kintex-7 Xilinx (now AMD) FPGAs with up to 2 GB of onboard DRAM. The cards are PXI and PXIe. PXIe cards support Peer to Peer. None of these cards have multi-gigabit transceiver (MGT) front end interfacing.

The second generation dropped the use of the FAM. NI uses a modular design for the front end (I/O). The user does not have access to change the front end module. These cards use the Xilinx (now AMD) Ultrascale FPGA cards (KU035, KU040, and KU060). These are all PXIe cards with up to 4 GB of onboard DRAM. All have multi-gigabit transceiver (MGT) front end interfacing.