FRC Controller verus Ni-9074 Controller

[POJung]

I have an FRC controller and a NI-9074 controller.  They can each accept 8 modules.  Can anyone tell me the difference in their capabilities?  Can both program the FPGA and in Real Time?  I would like to use the FRC controller to run a cyclic process which should be fairly simple and use the NI-9074 controller to run a single cylinder engine.  Thanks

[oscarfonseca]

Hello POJung,

Thanks for writing in the NI's FRC community! I apologize the delay getting to this post.

As you mention in your question, the cRIO-9074 and the cRIO-FRC are very similar. However they were still released with different purposes in mind: one for industrial use and the other for the FIRST Robotics Competition.

That being said, I expect you should be able to use the cRIO-FRC with the 2014 NI's software suite (downloads at the bottom of the page) for FRC but I would not recommend using it for environments other than the FIRST Robotics Competition, as the Real-Time and FPGA modules will detect it different than a cRIO-9074.

All the best,

[POJung]

This somewhat answers my question but not exactly.  I would like to use an FRC controller as a timed cycle controller with the ability to control about 22 solenoid valves, several temperature inputs with on/off control on one, a rather slow composition readout, and the ability to vary the speed of two motors through a VFD driver with a PID control loop.  The VFD drive already has its embedded PID controller.  If the FRC controller has the same functionality as a 9074 controller, it should be able to control this process.  Does an FRC controller have the same functionality as a 9074 controller with both running LabVIEW 2014?  If not, then I will probably buy another 9074 controller to do the job.

Thanks,  Philip Jung

[oscarfonseca]

Hello Philip,

I apologize the delay answering. I have not used one of those cRIOs in a while, but I remember a couple of years ago when trying to use the LabVIEW Real-Time module and FPGA to program one and having some troubles with the software interacting with it outside of the FRC architecture. My advise would be to avoid these headaches in advance and trying to use a non-FRC cRIO instead.

All the best,