PXI Card Compatibility With PXIe Chassis

Issue Details

• I am interested in purchasing a PXIe chassis. How can I make sure my PXI cards are compatible with the PXIe chassis?
• How do I know that my cards are PXI vs. PXIe?
• Which modules work in which slots on a PXIe chassis?

Solution

PXIe chassis, depending on the model, will come with a combination of four types of slots: PXIe Timing, PXIe peripheral, PXI peripheral, and PXIe Hybrid peripheral slots.

• PXI Express System Timing Slots accept both PXI Express cards and PXI Express System Timing cards.
• PXI Express slots will only accept PXI Express cards since they are missing the lower connector that Hybrid cards need.
• PXI peripheral slots will accept PXI cards of the standard connector types- those that work in current non-express PXI chassis.
• PXI Express Hybrid slots, due to the hybrid or combination of backplane connectors, accept PXI Express cards, 32-bit CompactPCI cards, and Hybrid Compatible PXI cards (also known as PXI Express-ready or PXIe-ready).

To determine the slot types on your chassis, refer the slot type figure meaning document. Below is an illustration of the PXI Hybrid slot type and what cards it can accept.


Figure 1: Three types of PXI backplane connectors that will fit in a PXIe Hybrid slot, as well as an illustration of the PXI standard connector that is incompatible with PXIe Hybrid slots

Be aware that, if the chassis itself is a PXI chassis and not PXIe, no style of PXIe card will fit in any slot. A PXI chassis can accommodate either a PXI Peripheral Module or Hybrid Slot-Compatible PXI Module. See the pictures above for examples of these connector types.

In addition to referencing specifications sheets, a great way to tell what cards will work in an express chassis is to go to the Online Product Advisor site: ni.com/advisor. The Advisor is an online utility that helps you configure a system. You can select PXI Advisor»Start Building Your System. Here, you can click the Chassis tab and select the PXI Express Chassis you are interested in purchasing. Now, when you go to the Modules tab, you will notice that the incompatible cards are grayed out. For instance, if you select the NI PXIe-1075 chassis, most of the Counter/Timer cards are then grayed out (except the NI PXI-6602, which is hybrid compatible) since they need PXI peripheral slots, of which the NI PXIe-1075 has none. However, you can add something like the NI PXIe-4496 Dynamic Signal Acquisition card to your system. Note that some older cards do not appear in the Product Advisor.

Additional Information

Pay close attention when selecting a PXIe chassis. Some PXIe chassis, like the NI PXIe-1075, only have PXI Hybrid Compatible slots. They do not have the full PXI Peripheral slots and will not accept the standard PXI Peripheral cards. Currently, only the PXIe-106x series chassis contain PXI Peripheral, PXIe Peripheral, and PXIe Hybrid Compatible slots. Refer to the PXI Express Chassis Product Flyer for more information on the features included with each PXIe chassis.