October 2018
This file contains important information about NI-RFSA, including new features, supported hardware, a partial list of bugs fixed for NI-RFSA 18.1.1, and known issues.
Product Security and Critical Updates
IVI Compliance Package Functionality
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.1
This software installation provides support for customers using vector signal analyzer hardware, as specified in the Supported Hardware section. To program your vector signal analyzer, use the NI-RFSA instrument driver or NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel (SFP).
The getting started guide for your device provides information about how to install, configure, test, and begin using a vector signal analyzer.
NI-RFSA 18.1 includes the following new features:
NI-RFSA 18.0 includes the following new features:
NI-RFSA 17.1 includes the following new features:
NI-RFSA 17.0 adds support for LabVIEW 2017 (32- and 64-bit)
NI-RFSA 16.0 includes the following new features:
The following table shows which hardware products are supported in the NI-RFSA instrument driver and the NI-RFSA SFP. The following hardware products are supported in all operating systems listed in the Supported Operating Systems section.
| Hardware Product | Hardware Model | NI-RFSA | NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel |
|---|---|---|---|
| RF Signal Downconverter | PXI-5600 | √ | |
| PXIe-5601 | √ | ||
| PXIe-5603 | √ | ||
| PXIe-5605 | √ | ||
| PXIe-5606 | √ | ||
| Vector Signal Analyzer | PXI-5661 | √ | √ |
| PXIe-5663/5663E | √ | √ | |
| PXIe-5665 | √ | √ | |
| PXIe-5667 | √ | √ | |
| PXIe-5668 | √ | √ | |
| Vector Signal Transceiver | PXIe-5644 | √ | √ |
| PXIe-5645 | √ | √ | |
| PXIe-5646 | √ | √ | |
| PXIe-5820 | √ | ||
| PXIe-5840 | √ | √ | |
| PXIe-5840 with PXIe-5653 RF Analog Signal Generator | √ | √ | |
| RF Preselector Module | PXIe-5693 | √ | |
| IF Conditioning Module | PXIe-5694 | √ | |
| RF Amplifier | PXIe-5698 | √ |
Note MXI Express and MXI-4 are supported on Windows 10/8.1/7.
Note You must install the same version of the NI-RFSA Runtime for PXIe-5644/5645/5646 and NI-RFSA Runtime for PXIe-5820/5840 if you choose to install the runtimes independently.
Device-specific information about these modules is included in the NI RF Vector Signal Analyzers Help.
NI-RFSA has the following requirements:
*Depending on the amount of data acquired and/or processed, a larger amount of memory may be required.
Note Guest accounts are not supported under any OS.
NI-RFSA 18.1.1 and NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel 18.1 support the following operating systems:
1NI software installs VC2015 Runtime and .NET 4.6.2. Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 require Microsoft updates to support these items. Refer to Microsoft KB2919442 and KB2919355 for more information about how to install these updates.
2 NI software is signed with a SHA-256 certificate. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 require Microsoft updates to support SHA-256. Refer to Microsoft KB3033929 for more information about how to install this security update.
Note In 2016 NI-RFSA dropped support for Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and installations of Windows 7 without any service packs. NI-RFSA 18.1.1 will not install or run on an unsupported OS. You cannot deploy or distribute applications that use NI-RFSA 18.1.1 to an unsupported OS. Additionally, after installing NI-RFSA 18.1.1, you cannot use any installers built on this computer with any version of LabVIEW, LabWindows™/CVI™, NI TestStand™, or Measurement Studio on an unsupported OS.
For more information about the changes to our OS support for 2016, refer to KB 79UC78LS, Why Does My NI ADE Installer Fail on Windows XP/Vista and Windows Server 2003?.
Note Support for Windows 32-bit operating systems may require disabling physical address extension (PAE). To learn how this might affect your system and what actions you might need to take, visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code PAESupport.
NI-RFSA supports the following application software versions, including service packs. You should install application software, such as LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI or Microsoft Visual Studio®, before installing NI-RFSA. To add support for application software installed after installing NI-RFSA, modify your NI-RFSA installation or launch the NI-RFSA installer again. If you are not using NI application software, refer to Microsoft Visual Studio Support.
| Application Software | Versions Supported by NI-RFSA |
|---|---|
| LabVIEW | 2015 SP1, 2016, 2017 SP1, or 2018 |
| LabVIEW Real-Time Module | 2015 SP1, 2016, 2017, or 2018 |
| LabWindows/CVI | 2010 and later |
| LabWindows/CVI Real-Time Module | 2010 and later |
Note When using NI-RFSA with LabVIEW Real-Time Module or LabWindows/CVI Real-Time Module, the PXIe-5644/5645/5646, PXIe-5668, and PXIe-5820/5840 are not supported.
Note Install any toolkits or add-on software you intend to use with the NI-RFSA instrument driver after NI-RFSA installation is complete. Refer to the getting started guide for your device for more information about software and hardware installation.
Note MXI users must install the software included with the MXI hardware.
If you are using the NI-RFSA .NET Class Library, .NET Framework 4.0 (minimum) is required. The NI-RFSA .NET Class Library can be used with Visual C# or Visual Basic .NET in any Visual Studio version that can target .NET Framework 4.0 or .NET Framework 4.5. For more information on .NET development using NI .NET drivers, visit ni.com/info and enter Info Code NETAPIdriversupport.
To install the NI-RFSA .NET Class Library, ensure that you select .NET Framework 4.5 Languages Support or .NET Framework 4.0 Languages Support in the NI-RFSA installer.
NI-RFSA VIs are available in LabVIEW from the Functions»Measurement I/O»NI-RFSA palette.
To access the LabVIEW sample projects and templates from the New Project dialog, select Sample Projects in the left pane and navigate to the project that best matches your application requirements.
NI-RFSA functions are available in LabWindows/CVI from the Instrument menu. To load the NI–RFSA function panel (.fp), select Instrument»Load, and navigate to IVI\Drivers\niRFSA\niRFSA.fp.
You can use the NI-RFSA .NET Class library by adding a reference to NationalInstruments.ModularInstruments.NIRfsa.Fx40 or NationalInstruments.ModularInstruments.NIRfsa.Fx45 and any dependent class libraries from within the Solution Explorer in Visual Studio.
You can use the NI-RFSA C dynamically linked library by adding a reference to:
To launch the NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel, navigate to the following location:
Select Help»Find Examples from LabVIEW or LabWindows/CVI to launch the NI Example Finder and navigate to Hardware Input and Output»Modular Instruments»NI-RFSA. You can also select the Search tab to search all installed examples by keyword.
You can access all the installed NI-RFSA examples at Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI-RFSA»NI-RFSA Examples.
Documentation for NI-RFSA is located at Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI-RFSA»NI-RFSA Documentation. The documentation set is composed of the following documents.
| Document | Format | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NI RF Vector Signal Analyzers Help | HTML/Windows Help | Contains primary help content for NI-RFSA products. The help is an HTML version of a traditional user manual that includes the following information:
|
| Getting Started Guide for your device | Printed and PDF | Contains software and hardware installation, MAX configuration, signal connection, and troubleshooting information for your device. |
| Specifications for your device | Lists technical specifications for your device. | |
| Calibration Procedures for your device | Contains calibration instructions for your device. | |
| NI RF Signal Analyzers Readme | HTML (this document) | Contains information about supported hardware and operating systems, new features, fixed issues, and legal notices. |
| Introduction to NI-RFSA | HTML | Contains information about driver documentation, examples, connecting to your instrument, configuring instrument settings, and known issues. |
| NI-RFSA IVI Compliance Document | TXT | Contains information about IVI compliance. |
For the most recent revisions of documentation and for newly released documentation, visit ni.com/manuals.
Note To view PDFs, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. You can install the viewer from www.adobe.com/reader.
Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about National Instruments products. Visit ni.com/critical-updates for information about critical updates from National Instruments.
NI-RFSA no longer installs IVI Compliance Package. NI-RFSA supports IVI configuration and runtime, but no longer supports the following features:
If you want to use the above features, you must install IVI Compliance Package separately, either from ni.com/downloads or from the NI Device Drivers 2018 DVD.
You can access the software and documentation known issues list online. Refer to the following locations at ni.com for an up-to-date list of known issues in NI-RFSA 18.1 and the NI-RFSA SFP 18.1.
The following items are the IDs and titles of a subset of issues fixed between NI-RFSA instrument driver revisions. This is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in the current version of NI-RFSA.
NI-RFSA 18.1.1
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 709377 | Fixed an issue in which the FPGA extension bitfiles would not load on the PXIe-5668. |
| 712733 | Fixed an issue in which an error occurred while compiling C examples that linked to niRFSA.lib using the $(NIIVIPATH)Lib_x64\msc\ location. |
| 711324 | Fixed an issue with triggers when a fully qualified terminal name was not used when C breakpoints were enabled in the NI-RFSA SFP Configure Debug Session. |
NI-RFSA 18.1
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 412860 | Fixed an issue in which synchronization examples for the PXIe-5663/5663E displayed a PLL lock error. |
| 527859 | Fixed an issue in which software triggers were delayed for the PXIe-5820/5840. |
| 550256 | Fixed an issue in which NI-RFSA would crash MAX. |
| 604266 | Fixed an issue in which I/Q power triggers were delayed across I/Q rates for the PXIe-5668. |
| 604856 | Fixed an issue in which error message text contained multiple unrelated warnings and errors. |
| 649030 | Fixed an issue in which the PXIe-5820/5840 always returned 0 as the value for t0. |
| 660046 | Fixed an issue in which the Reference Trigger delay was ignored when using NI-TClk with the PXIe-5820/5840. |
| 666113 | Fixed an issue in which automatic routing between the PXIe-5668 and another device resulted in an error. |
| 668974 | Fixed an issue in which the PXIe-5840 amplitude accuracy degraded after calling Perform Thermal Correction. |
| 682389 | Fixed an issue in which the PXIe-5820/5840 trigger alignment was imprecise when using the PXI trigger lines. |
| 685044 | Fixed an issue where calling Reset on the PXIe-5840 reset the LO source to Onboard, even if the LO source was specified in the driver setup string. |
| 689717 | Fixed an issue in which the PXIe-5644/5645/5646 and PXIe-5820/5840 showed an incorrect calibration time in MAX when the system timezone was greater than UTC+0. |
| 697475 | Fixed an issue in which setting the calibration due date or retrieving the last date of external calibration for the PXIe-5820/5840 was not possible. |
| 679890 | Fixed an issue in which using the PXIe-5668 intermittently caused the system to hang. |
NI-RFSA 17.1.2
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 664698 | Fixed an issue in which a timeout error occurred when TClk was used with PXIe-5820/5840 devices using the WLAN Toolkit. |
NI-RFSA 17.1
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 589447 | Fixed an issue in which an incomplete error description was returned if the value of the Spectrum OSP Sampling Ratio property or the NIRFSA_ATTR_OSP_SAMPLING_RATIO attribute was invalid for the PXIe-5840. |
| 601860 | Fixed an issue in which an error occurred when changing the device name of the PXIe-5840 in MAX. |
| 456000 | Fixed an issue in which an installer built with LabVIEW Application Builder and NI-RFSA 2.7.5 failed. |
| 642621 | Fixed an issue in which the PXIe-5668 could not initiate before settling was complete when switching IF filters or settling configurations. |
| 640124 | Fixed an issue in which the PXIe-5840 could show a slow phase drift below 400 MHz. |
| 541356 | Fixed an issue in which attribute names did not show up correctly in I/O trace. |
| 361166 | Fixed an issue in which passing NULL as the value for some parameters caused exceptions. |
NI-RFSA 16.0
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 577048 | Fixed an issue in which NI-RFSA caused an exception with I/O trace enabled. |
| 579468 | Fixed an issue in which NI-RFSA returned a ADC or DSP overflow warning multiple times when the niRFSA Check Acquisition Status VI was called after an acquisition was complete. |
| 576744 | Fixed an issue in which simulation caused the PXIe-5644/5645/5646 devices to return an invalid reference error. |
The following items are the IDs and titles of a subset of issues fixed between NI-RFSA SFP revisions. This table is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in the current version of the NI-RFSA SFP.
NI-RFSA SFP 18.1
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 660985 | Fixed an issue in which an NI-RFSA SFP debug session for the PXIe-5840 did not work from a C/C++ session. |
NI-RFSA SFP 16.0
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 581172 | Fixed an issue in which Classic NI-RFSA SFP launched from the MAX Tools Menu instead of the new NI-RFSA SFP (64-bit). |
NI-RFSA SFP 14.1
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 453860 | Fixed an issue in which the automatic video bandwidth value in NI-RFSA SFP Control (Local) mode was being incorrectly calculated. |
| 442518 | Fixed an issue in which clicking preset after closing a device session in NI-RFSA SFP Control (Local) mode returned an error. |
| 486765 | Fixed an issue in which the NI-RFSA SFP Launcher example for NI TestStand did not automatically enable NI-RFSA SFP session access. |
| 485420 | Fixed an issue in which certain NI-RFSA SFP trigger coercion warnings were automatically cleared when entering NI-RFSA SFP Control (Local) mode. |
You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes.
If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.0, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.0 separately before you install NI software.
For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:
Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. Windows 10 introduces several new capabilities and also combines features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8. For more information about NI support for Windows 10, visit ni.com/windows10.
When you install NI software on Microsoft Windows 8.1, you will notice a few additional tiles in the Apps view, including shortcuts to NI application software products such as NI LabVIEW, Measurement & Automation Explorer (NI MAX), and NI Launcher. For more information about NI support for Windows 8.1, visit ni.com/windows8.
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