The NI cRIO-9042 is a 4-slot CompactRIO controller built for demanding industrial and distributed measurement environments. It pairs a 1.6 GHz quad-core Intel Atom E3940 processor with a Kintex-7 70T FPGA, delivering both real-time control and high-performance coprocessing. Extended temperature operation from -40 °C to 70 °C enables deployment in harsh climates. The controller runs NI Linux Real-Time (64-bit) and supports multiple programming paradigms: NI-DAQmx for real-time I/O, I/O Variables for real-time scan mode, and LabVIEW FPGA for deterministic FPGA logic. With 4 GB DRAM and 4 GB onboard storage, plus an SD card slot for data logging, the system scales to meet diverse acquisition and control workloads.
Technical Specifications
Processor & Memory
• Intel Atom E3940, quad-core, 1.6 GHz base / 1.8 GHz burst
• 2 MB on-die L2 cache
• 4 GB DRAM, 4 GB storage
FPGA
• Kintex-7 70T with LabVIEW FPGA support
Connectivity
• 2× Gigabit Ethernet ports (10Base-T, 100Base-TX, 1000Base-T; 100 m/segment)
• USB 3.1 and USB 2.0
• RS-232 and RS-485 serial (RS-485 up to 1.2 km without surge limitation)
• SD card slot for data logging
Environmental
• Operating temperature: -40 °C to 70 °C
I/O & Timing (Real-Time NI-DAQmx Mode)
• 4 C Series module slots
• 253 samples per slot input FIFO
• Timing accuracy: 50 ppm of sample rate
– Key Features
• Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) for deterministic, synchronized communication across distributed nodes
• Supports NI-DAQmx, LabVIEW FPGA, and C/C++ development tools
• Flexible I/O programming: real-time, scan-based, or FPGA-centric architectures
– Typical Applications
• Industrial data acquisition and embedded monitoring
• Distributed control with deterministic timing requirements
• FPGA-accelerated signal processing
• Extended-temperature field deployments
– Compatibility & Integration
Requires LabVIEW 2017 or later (Real-Time and FPGA modules), NI CompactRIO Device Drivers (December 2017+), NI-DAQmx 17.6 or later, and C/C++ Development Tools for NI Linux Real-Time (Eclipse Edition 2014+).
