Controllers triple processing performance

Engineers and scientists building processing-intensive control applications now can triple their processing performance with a new family of Compact FieldPoint controllers from National Instruments.

The new cFP-2100 controllers include a 200 MHz Pentium-class Vega processor that, when combined with new SDRAM memory, is more than three times faster than previous controllers. The new Compact FieldPoint devices are categorized as programmable automation controllers (PACs), delivering the flexibility of PCs with the ruggedness of PLCs.

The Compact FieldPoint 2100 family of controllers offers additional improvements compared to existing controllers, including more memory - increased from 16/32 MB RAM to 64/128 MB RAM - and a larger industrial-grade temperature range - increased from -25 °C to 60 °C, to -40 °C to 70 °C.

The controllers feature SDRAM memory that can lock memory access to the CPU clock, resulting in faster data transfer. Unlike EDO RAM memory used in previous controllers, SDRAM memory facilitates simultaneous data transfer to the CPU while another set of data is being prepared for transfer.