NI ELVIS III

The NI ELVIS III is a National Instrument embedded device with real-time processing capability and a rich set of I/O. The QUARC Target associated with the NI ELVIS III is the QUARC Linux ARMv7 Target. The NI ELVIS III HIL card may only be used with QUARC when this target is selected. The following characteristics (using the default FPGA personality from National Instrument) are of particular interest when using the NI ELVIS III with QUARC:

• 16 single-ended (or 8 differential) 16-bit analog input channels, with configurable input range of ±10V, ±5V, ±2V, ±1V
• 4 single-ended 16-bit analog ouput channels, with output range of±10V
• 40 bidirectional digital IO channels, configurable as either input or output
• 40 16-bit PWM output channels (in lieu of bidirectional digital IO), 3.3V
• 20 32-bit encoder input channels (in lieu of bidirectional digital IO)
• 2 general purporse +3.3V serial ports* (in lieu of bidirectional digital IO)
• 2 high-speed SPI ports* (in lieu of bidirectional digital IO)
• 2 I2C ports* (in lieu of bidirectional digital IO)
• 4 on-board LED controlled via digital I/O
• 1 on-board button controlled via digital I/O
• Integrated with MATLAB/Simulink/Simulink Coder via Quanser QUARC

* Communications channels are accessed through the Stream API blocks, see Serial protocol, SPI protocol and I2C protocol.

The QUARC driver name for this card is ni_elvisiii.

To select the NI ELVIS III HIL board, pass ni_elvisiii as the card type argument to the hil_open function.

Communications

The communications ports provided on the NI ELVIS III HIL board can be utilized through the QUARC Communications blockset and the Quanser Stream API (see QUARC Communications Protocols).

For SPI communications, a sample URI for communications would be:

spi://localhost:0?baud='1000000',polarity='off',phase='off',lsb='off',frame='0'

where the frame option selects the SPI SS line to frame the SPI bus transaction (0 to 39 inclusive, except 5 to 7 and 25 to 27).

For I2C communications, a sample URI for communications would be:

i2c://localhost:0?baud='400000',address=0x69

where the address option specifies the I2C slave address.

For serial communications, a sample URI for communications would be:

serial://localhost:0?baud='115200',word='8',parity='none',stop='1'

where the options are standard serial port options 8-N-1 configuration on port 0.

Clocks

There are currently no configuration options for the NI ELVIS III clocks.

Analog Inputs

The NI ELVIS III supports 16 analog inputs with 16-bit resolution. Hence, analog input channel numbers range from 0 to 15.

The valid input ranges are ±10V, ±5V, ±2V, ±1V. To change from the default range of ±10V, use the hil_set_analog_input_ranges function.

The supported analog input configurations are Referenced singled-ended (0), Differential (2). In order to change the analog input configuration, use the hil_set_analog_input_configuration function.

Analog Outputs

The NI ELVIS III supports 4 analog output with 16-bit resolution. Hence, analog input channel numbers range from 0 to 3.

The only valid output range is ±10V.

Digital Inputs

The NI ELVIS III supports 40 bidirectional digital I/O lines and one special digital input lines. Hence digital input channel numbers range from 0 to 40. Channel 40 represents the On board button.

A bidirectional digital I/O line cannobe be used as an input and output at the same time.

Since the digital I/O lines may be individually programmed as inputs or outputs, all the channels which will be used for digital inputs should be configured with the hil_set_digital_directions function. Set the input_channels argument to all the digital I/O channels that will be used as digital inputs on the board.

Despite the fact that this card has dedicated digital input lines, you still need to configure all the channels which will be used as digital inputs. They should be configured with the hil_set_digital_directions function. Set the input_channels argument to all the digital input channels that will be used on the board.

Note that the bidirectional digital I/O lines can also be configured as PWM, encoder, SPI, I2C, or serial I/O. All of these I/O have precedent over the digital input or output functions. Therefore if the pin is configured as one of the other functions, the digital input or output functions would no longer function. Refer to Board-specific options for more details about how to configure all these functions that share the same pin.

Digital Outputs

The NI ELVIS III supports 40 bidirectional digital I/O lines and 4 special digital output lines. Hence digital input channel numbers range from 0 to 43. Channels 40 to 43 represents the On board LED0 to LED3.

A bidirectional digital I/O line cannobe be used as an input and output at the same time.

Since the digital I/O lines may be individually programmed as inputs or outputs, all the channels which will be used for digital outputs should be configured with the hil_set_digital_directions function. Set the input_channels argument to all the digital I/O channels that will be used as digital outputs on the board.

Despite the fact that this card has dedicated digital output lines, you still need to configure all the channels which will be used as digital outputs. They should be configured with the hil_set_digital_directions function. Set the input_channels argument to all the digital output channels that will be used on the board.

Note that the bidirectional digital I/O lines can also be configured as PWM, encoder, SPI, I2C, or serial I/O. All of these I/O have precedent over the digital input or output functions. Therefore if the pin is configured as one of the other functions, the digital input or output functions would no longer function. Refer to Board-specific options for more details about how to configure all these functions that share the same pin.

Encoder Inputs

The NI ELVIS III supports 20 encoder inputs. Hence encoder channel numbers range from 0 to 19. These channels support non-quadrature as well as 4x quadrature modes.

In order to set the encoder counters to a particular count or to change the default quadrature, use the hil_set_encoder_counts and hil_set_encoder_quadrature_mode functions respectively.

The NI ELVIS III supports non-quadrature (count and direction) and 4X quadrature. Since the NI ELVIS III has 32-bit counters, valid initial count values range from -2147483648 to +2147483647. If the vectors specified in these fields are shorter than the channel vector, the value of the last element in the vector will be used for the rest of the channels. Hence, a scalar value will apply to all channels specified in the Encoder input channels field.

Note that the bidirectional digital I/O lines can also be configured as PWM, encoder, SPI, I2C, or serial I/O. All of these I/O have precedent over the digital input or output functions. Therefore if the pin is configured as one of the other functions, the digital input or output functions would no longer function. Refer to Board-specific options for more details about how to configure all these functions that share the same pin.

PWM Outputs

The NI ELVIS III driver supports 40 PWM output channels. Hence, PWM output channels range from 0 to 39. Each PWM channel is completely independent and can have its own duty cycle and frequency.

In order to configure the PWM mode or frequency, use the hil_set_pwm_mode and hil_set_pwm_frequency functions respectively.

The maximum output frequency is 20 MHz. The number of bits of resolution decreases with increasing PWM output frequency.

For a complete description of all the options available, including diagrams, refer to PWM Output Configurations.

Note that the bidirectional digital I/O lines can also be configured as PWM, encoder, SPI, I2C, or serial I/O. All of these I/O have precedent over the digital input or output functions. Therefore if the pin is configured as one of the other functions, the digital input or output functions would no longer function. Refer to Board-specific options for more details about how to configure all these functions that share the same pin.

Other Inputs

The NI ELVIS III card does not support other inputs.

Other Outputs

The NI ELVIS III card does not support other outputs.

Interrupts

The NI ELVIS III card, or its driver, does not support any interrupt sources.

Watchdog

The NI ELVIS III card does not support a watchdog timer.

Board-Specific Options

The NI ELVIS III has a number of board-specific options to control specialized functionality of the card. These options control which functions to enable on the bidirectional digital I/O lines.

Due to the large number of bidirectional digital I/O lines, it is recommended to use board-specific options dialog to set the board-specific options instead of typing them in manually. The dialog also has option to automatically update the Encoder input channels and PWM output channels in the Encoder Inputs and PWM Outputs tabs, respectively once the particular function is selected for a channel.

Furthermore the board-specific options dialog also has an option to enable National Instrument naming convention (e.g. Bank B0 instead of Channel 20) for each channel to allow easier channel selection for users who are more accustomed to National Instrument naming conventions.

pwm0_en

Set this option to "yes", "y", or "1" to enable the PWM functionality on bidirectional digital I/O pin number 0.

Similar options exist for the other PWM channels e.g. pwm1_en, pwm2_en, etc.

enc0_en

Set this option to "yes", "y", or "1" to enable the encoder functionality on bidirectional digital I/O pin number 0 and 1.

Similar options exist for the other encoder channels e.g. enc1_en, enc2_en, etc.

enc0_dir

Set this option to "yes", "y", or "1" to reverse the direction of encoder 0.

Similar options exist for the other encoder channels e.g. enc1_dir, enc2_dir, etc.

Properties

The NI ELVIS III card does not support any properties.

Connectors

The NI ELVIS III board has many different I/Os, and some of them even support multiple functions. The following connectors show the possible pin functions on the NI ELVIS III SERIES PROTOTYPE BOARD on the left-hand side for reference and the Quanser channel numbers on the right-hand side.

Bank A

Bank B

Legend

Targets

See Also

• Linux ARMv7 target

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