NI Scan Engine - cRIO Module via USB

[darrenlwoodson]

I was recently tasked with attempting to communicate with a NI 9149 Chassis with several modules slotted into it. This beast is before my time in my current role and no previous communication work had been done on it as the person who commission our DAQ module moved on without finishing this project.

I have installed the Compact RIO drivers from NI and via MAX I can successfully see the device, change certain settings, and within a LabView project I can connect to the chassis when adding it as a target device. However upon trying to deploy the device I get the attached conflict resolution error.

The summary is that I either need to use FPGA (of which I have 0 experience but I could still learn how to utilize this library) or have some software called the Scan Engine?

Everything online says that I should be able to install the Scan Engine software via MAX by adding software to this device but no "Scan Engine" software shows up when I try to add new software. I cannot seem to find anything online about how to actually get this Scan Engine software installed.

I have such little experience specifically with this chassis, compared to my many hours of working with such modules like the NI 6343 or the 9211. I'm not sure where to start or which route to take between the apparent choices of FPGA and Scan Engine.

I have attached the project view of the chassis device, the NI MAX view, the add/remove software dialogue, and the conflict resolution text box. I am trying to connect via USB to this chassis, preferred over ethernet at this time.

I am currently running the latest 2024 Q2, 32 bit version of LabView and have recently upgraded to any of the Q2 updates that were recently put out for all the other services like MAX and drivers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[crossrulz · Accepted solution]

What are you trying to accomplish with this chassis?  Simple DAQ?  Control?

Your problem is the 9149 is really designed to work with a cRIO controller, such as a cRIO-9045.  The controller can then use the Scan Engine to get the measurements to/from the 9149.  If using Windows, you will need to program the FPGA of the 9149 and use IO Variables to get data back and forth.

With all of that said, what you really need is either a cDAQ chassis (use DAQmx to get/write the data, good for simple DAQ) or a cRIO controller (program the RT part of the cRIO and use the FPGA or Scan Engine to get/write the data, good for control situations).

[darrenlwoodson]

Thank you for this reply. It is incredibly informative. Long story short, there was an individual prior to my time that championed getting this chassis for a simple IO DAQ control box (rather than a 6343 or the like). They are long go but we are left with this box that has X amount of funding put into it so as this individual's 2nd or 3rd generation predecessor, my leadership wants me to try to recoup that cost by making this box viable.

So that being said I guess I need to look into the FPGA portion of the libraries and learn what I can about programming that chip.

Again thank you for the insight! I now have a direction to go.