Components of a PXIe-5831 System

PXIe-5831 instruments are designed for use in a system that includes other hardware components, drivers, and software.

Note A system and the surrounding environment must meet the requirements defined in PXIe-5831 Specifications and the safety, environmental, and regulatory information document for each component of the PXIe-5831 instrument.

The following list defines the minimum required hardware and software for a system that includes a PXIe-5831 instrument.

Table 2. System Components
Component Description and Recommendations
PXI Chassis

 A PXI chassis houses the PXIe-5831 and supplies power for PXIe-5831 functions.
Note PXIe-5831 instruments require a chassis with 82 W slot cooling capacity.
PXI Controller or PXI Remote Control Module

 You can install a PXI controller or a PXI remote control (MXI) module depending on your system requirements. These components, installed in the same PXI chassis as the PXIe-5831, interface with the instrument using NI device drivers.
VST Instrument

 Your instrument.
Cables and Accessories

 Cables and accessories allow connectivity to/from your instrument for measurements. Refer to Verifying the Kit Contents for recommended cables and accessories guidance depending on your instrument configuration.
RF Drivers: NI-RFSA, NI-RFSG, and RFmx

 Instrument driver software that provides functions to interact with the PXIe-5831 and execute measurements using the PXIe-5831.
Note NI recommends always using the most current driver versions with the PXIe-5831. You can find the RF driver requirements on the download page for the driver on ni.com.
NI Applications

 NI-RFSA, NI-RFSG, and RFmx offer driver support for the following applications:
  • InstrumentStudio
  • LabVIEW
  • LabWindows™/CVI
  • C/C++
  • .NET

Software Options

NI provides three software options for programming the PXIe-5831—RFmx, NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG instrument driver software.

Table 3. PXIe-5831 Software Options
Software Option Description Use Case
RFmx

Provides a single-handle instrument driver with built-in measurements.

You can use instrument driver FPGA extensions to customize the device FPGA using precompiled bitfiles.

  • Use RFmx SpecAn to perform spectral measurements.
  • Use RFmx Demod to perform modulation quality measurements, such as EVM.
  • Use RFmx personalities to perform physical layer analysis on supported communications and connectivity signals.
NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG instrument driver

The NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG APIs each provide a fixed API for interacting with your hardware.

NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG provide standard IVI-based functionality needed for most vector signal analyzer and vector signal generator applications.

You can use NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG instrument driver FPGA extensions to customize the device FPGA using precompiled bitfiles.

  • Use NI-RFSA to create custom measurements or applications that require I/Q data.
  • Use NI-RFSG to generate continuous wave (CW) or modulated waveforms.
  • Use NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG with the NI Modulation Toolkit to develop software-defined radio transmitters and receivers.
  • Use NI-RFSG with the NI Modulation Toolkit to create and generate modulated signals to test receivers.