DMA Options with NI PXI to 3rd-party PCI Device with no DMA Controller

[Pie566942.0]

Hi,

I need to pull data out of my 3rd-party PCI device at 22MB/sec.  The fastest I've been able to go using NI-VISA 5.4 in LabVIEW 2013 is 1.6MB/sec with the Move In 64 function.  There is no DMA controller on the 3rd-party device.  I was hoping to use the host's DMA controller and a VISA MEMACC object, but I stumbled across KnowledgeBase 3229I2RA: How Do NI PXI Controllers Support DMA (Direct Memory Access)?  The KB states, "Our PXI controllers only support the PCI specification, and therefore do not need a DMA controller on the motherboard."  If there is no DMA controller on the 3rd-party PCI device, are there any DMA options for my 3rd-party device on NI PXI controllers?

Thanks for your time and thoughts,

Steve K

[Dennis_Knutson]

That's confusing. You say you have a have a pci device but talk about a pxi controller. Is the device actually pxi? Why use VISA? Doesn't the vendor provide a Windows driver? What does the vendor specify as a transfer rate? What is the make and model of the device?

[Pie566942.0]

Thanks for your clarifying questions Dennis.  The device is cPCI.  I'm trying to automate it from an NI PXI controller in a cPCI chassis.  There is no Windows driver.  I realize it's not the standard setup, but it's all designed to work together via the PCI spec.

Thanks,

Steve K

[Pie566942.0 · Accepted solution]

There are currently no user-accessible PCI DMA controllers on NI PXI computers.