Is It Possible to Reduce NI Real-Time Targets Boot Time?

Issue Details

I have an application where the response time of my NI Real-Time (RT) system (cRIO, PXI, sbRIO) is critical. I have noticed that my NI Real-Time target is taking around 30 s to boot up leaving me with uncontrolled I/Os within this period of time. How can I reduce this boot time?

Solution

The boot time on NI RT targets is highly dependent on the software installed on them. This is one of the main reasons there is no official benchmarking available. However, this time can vary roughly between 15 s and 60 s. The only way to reduce this boot time is by removing unnecessary software from your NI RT target.

Additional Information

If you require to control your I/Os as soon as the RT is powered on, then you can consider using the FPGA features. If your RT target has an FPGA target available (i.e cRIO), you can control the I/Os in your system by deploying the FPGA bitfile using the Flash Method (right side of the image below). In this way, the bitfile is directly deployed in the FPGA Flash and you will have I/O control as soon as the device powers on. 

As you can see on the left side of the image above, the FPGA can be deployed also from the RT VI (RT VI Method). However, with this method, the RT target will power on, then load the OS, RT EXE, and finally, deploy the FPGA VI. This will produce a period of time where your I/Os are not controlled and will depend on the boot time of the RT target.