Are PXI-4461 and PXIe-4461 Cards Interchangeable?

[aaronb]

I have a need to send some PXI-4461 and PXIe-4461 DSA cards in for calibration. Are these two cards interchangeable? Can I use a PXI-4461 as a temporary replacement/backup for a PXIe-4461 that I send in for calibration? Can I expect the same measurements and performance between the two cards?

I have found this article which states that a compatibility difference is the PXI Star Trigger pin was removed in PXIe (which I don't use). However, when I used a PXI-4461 to replace a PXIe-4461 in a test setup I noticed some pretty significant differences in audio measurements on the test system. I just wondered if this was typical and expected behavior or just an isolated case. http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/5FF50CA761D6C59E86257C740067641B

[AlexAlligator · Accepted solution]

Hi aaronb,

These two cards should be identical in functionality since one of the cards in question is a PXI Express-ready version rather than a completely redesigned PXI Express card. The article you've linked confirms this stating that "the hybrid-compatible modules will look differently (they have different connectors) but will operate identically".

The list of changes near the end of the article states that the hybrid-slot (PXIe ready) cards maintain the existing product specifications. There is also only 1 datasheet and specifications document for the PXI-4461/4462.

As for why we are receiving significant differences in our audio measurements, are we synchronizing the PXI-4461 with any other cards? What slots of the chassis are being used? Do the new measurement values have a certain offset from the values seen before the switch?

[aaronb]

Alex,

Thanks for the reply. The tester at my company that I witnessed the measurement differences on I only briefly swapped the cards and then realized that a frequency response test was failing and so I swapped them back and the test passed again. Unfortunately, that was the extent of my investigation as I did not have the luxury of time to collect detailed data as the test was needed immediately to run active testing by another engineer. Hopefully, in the next few days I will have the chance to do more investigation into this. In the end it may have just been a calibration issue with the one card. I just wanted to ask the question in the forums to see if there is anything that I misinterpreted in the previous linked article.

Aaron