Quad-core embedded controller

The NI PXI-8110 is a 3U quad-core embedded controller for PXI systems. Featuring a 2.26 GHz Intel Core2 Quad processor Q9100, up to 4 GB of 800 MHz DDR2 RAM and a high-performance 7200 rpm drive, the PXI-8110 provides an up to 80% performance improvement over dual-core controllers with similar CPU clock frequencies for applications that are optimised to use the controller’s four processing cores.

Engineers and scientists can capitalise on multithreaded application development by combining the multicore support and parallelism of National Instruments LabVIEW graphical system design software with the PXI-8110 controller’s functionality. Because the controller features a platform on which an application can distribute processing loads across four CPU cores simultaneously, it can significantly reduce test times for applications that require intensive signal and data processing.

The PXI-8110 can process up to 215,000 1 K fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) per second, which is approximately 80% faster than the NI PXI-8108 dual-core embedded controller.

The PXI-8110 is also available in a version that supports the NI LabVIEW Real-Time and LabWindows/CVI Real-Time modules. With dual-core real-time systems, engineers are limited to a single CPU core to execute time-critical application segments because the other core is used for executing noncritical background services. With the PXI-8110 quad-core embedded controller, engineers can allocate multiple CPU cores for running time-critical test sections while delegating non-critical services to the remaining cores.