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Letter of Volatility for FlexRIO Devices

Hardware: Reconfigurable I/O (RIO)>>R Series

Problem:
I need official confirmation that sensitive data passing through National Instruments FlexRIO devices will be erased when the device loses power.

Solution:
Here is a list of the user accessible memory available on our current selection of FlexRIO products. The list below also contains the type and size of memory in each device. When the device is powered off, volatile memory loses its contents while nonvolatile memory retains its contents. FlexRIO devices use nonvolatile memory to store the bitfile of the LabVIEW FPGA VI so it can be loaded to the FPGA every time the device powers up.

To remove the bitfile of any VI stored in the nonvolatile flash, you can simply replace it by downloading a new bitfile to the flash. Since there can only be one bitfile in flash memory at a time, downloading a new VI will erase the previous bitfile.

With NI-RIO 2.1 and later you can erase the bitfile stored on the flash memory from LabVIEW or the RIO device setup utility. For more details, refer to KnowledgeBase 3VSE6QL7: Erasing FPGA Memory.

Virtex-5 LX30 
Storage Type Size Volatility
RAM 32x36kbits Volatile
FLASH 4Mx8bits Non-Volatile

Virtex-5 LX50
Storage Type Size Volatility
RAM 48x36kbits Volatile
FLASH 4Mx8bits Non-Volatile

Virtex-5 LX-85
Storage Type Size Volatility
RAM 96x36kbits Volatile
FLASH 4Mx8bits Non-Volatile

Virtex-5 LX110
Storage Type Size Volatility
RAM 128x18kbits Volatile
FLASH 4Mx8bits Non-Volatile

Note: The NI PXI-7952, PXI-7953, and PXI-7954 FlexRIO modules also contain 128 MB of onboard volatile DRAM. The PXI-7951 has no onboard DRAM.



Related Links:
KnowledgeBase 3VSE6QL7: Erasing FPGA Memory
KnowledgeBase 4A6J2B9x: Letter of Volatility for R Series Devices

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Report Date: 03/27/2009
Last Updated: 03/27/2009
Document ID: 4VQ7PIOB

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