National Instruments NI PCI-8254R - Manual (Page 8)

© National Instruments Corporation 1-1 NI PCI-8254R User Manual
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Introduction
The National Instruments PCI-8254R is an IEEE 1394a interface device for
PCI with reconfigurable I/O (RIO). The NI 8254R is OHCI compliant and
should be used with IEEE 1394a devices that run natively in
Windows 2000/XP.
The NI 8254R device ships with documentation and NI Vision Acquisition
Software, which contains all of the drivers in the NI Vision product line.
With NI Vision Acquisition Software, you can quickly and easily start your
applications without having to program the device at the register level.
The NI 8254R includes TTL inputs and outputs for triggering, and isolated
inputs and outputs for connecting to external devices, such as lighting
controllers, proximity sensors, and quadrature encoders.
Behind the digital I/O of the NI 8254R is an FPGA which has been
preconfigured with the functionality required for most common machine
vision tasks. However, if the factory configured functionality does not
fulfill your requirements, the FPGA is user configurable with the
LabVIEW FPGA Module. The NI 8254R provides a convenient 44-pin
D-SUB connector on its front panel to access its digital I/O.
For detailed specifications of the NI 8254R, refer to the Specifications
section of NI PCI-8254R Quick Start Guide.
Software Overview
Programming the NI 8254R requires two drivers to control the hardware:
NI-IMAQdx and NI-IMAQ I/O. Both drivers are included with NI Vision
Acquisition Software 8.2.1 or later.
NI-IMAQdx has an extensive library of functions you can call from the
application development environment (ADE) and handles many of the
complex issues between the computer and the image acquisition device,
such as programming interrupts and camera control. NI-IMAQ I/O
provides functions you can call from the ADE and controls the I/O
functionality for the NI 8254R.