Configure sbRIO-9607 Digital Lines to Work as RS232 or RS485 Serial Lines

Updated Mar 27, 2023

Reported In

Hardware

  • sbRIO-9607

Software

  • LabVIEW
  • LabVIEW FPGA Module
  • LabVIEW Real-Time Module

Driver

  • NI-RIO

Operating System

  • Windows

Issue Details

I know the sbRIO-9607 has an onboard RS-232 port. However, I would like to configure some of the sbRIO-9607 FPGA Digital Input/Output (Digital I/O) lines to work as RS232 or RS485/422 serial ports. Is is possible to expand the serial ports on the NI sbRIO 9607?

Solution

You can use any FPGA Digital I/O lines on the sbRIO 9607 to implement an additional RS-232 port or add RS-485/422 serial ports. By default, there is one on-board serial port (RS-232) on the sbRIO-9607. If you are looking for additional serial ports, you can use the sbRIO-9607 DIO lines with an RMC connector.
 
The sbRIO-9607 provides FPGA Digital I/O that you can configure for your specific application. In addition to FPGA Digital I/O, you can use these pins to implement four additional RS-232 ports and add two RS-485 ports with RMCs. You must connect each of these interfaces to an appropriate RS-232 or RS-485 serial transceiver on your RMC design. Considerations for this design are provided in the Rio Mezzanine Card Design Guide . The guide provides design guidelines, requirements for routing signals, and recommendations for a serial transceiver.

To read or write to this I/O from a LabVIEW project, you must use the sbRIO CLIP Generator application to create a socketed Component-Level IP (CLIP) that defines the I/O configuration of the sbRIO device to use in your application. The KnowledgeBase article Accessing Additional Serial Ports on sbRIO RMC Connector explains how to configure I/O access in LabVIEW. Refer to the NI Single-Board RIO CLIP Generator Help  for more information about creating a CLIP.