Description
Key Technical Specifications
- Product Model: HDD-8261
- Manufacturer: National Instruments
- System Platform: PXI Express
- Drive Configurations: 4-drive HDD (rotating media) or 6-drive SSD (solid-state media)
- Total Storage Capacity: Up to 4 TB (HDD) or higher depending on drive selection; SSD variants up to 2.9 TB or more
- SATA Controller: Marvell 88SE9485 PCI Express SATA chipset
- Maximum Throughput: 250 MB/s sustained (HDD RAID 0); up to 2 GB/s (SSD configuration)
- RAID Support: Software-based (striped RAID 0, spanned, or simple via Windows Disk Management)
- Slot Requirement: 3 slots wide (one PXI Express slot plus two expansion slots)
- Cooling: Integrated fans with Auto and High modes for thermal management
- Power Consumption: Typically under 50 W depending on drive load and fan speed
- Operating Temperature Range: 0°C to 55°C (with chassis fans on high for extended ranges)
- Shock Resistance: 30 g operational (IEC 60068-2-27, MIL-PRF-28800F compliant)
- Vibration Resistance: 5 g operational (IEC 60068-2-6)
- Dimensions: 3U form factor, approximately 160 mm x 130 mm x 215 mm (including drives)
- Weight: Approximately 1.5 kg (varies by drive type)
- Certifications: CE marked, EMC compliant per IEC 61000, indoor use only
- MTBF: Exceeds 100,000 hours in controlled environments
Technical Architecture & Functional Positioning
The HDD-8261 occupies a specialized position in the storage layer of PXI Express-based test and measurement systems, integrating directly into the chassis backplane to eliminate external cabling bottlenecks. As an in-chassis solution, it connects via PCI Express lanes from the host controller, enabling low-latency access to large datasets without the overhead of network or USB interfaces. This architecture is particularly suited for applications demanding deterministic high-bandwidth streaming, where data must flow continuously from acquisition modules to persistent storage.
Central to its design is the Marvell SATA controller, which aggregates multiple 2.5-inch drives into a unified volume managed through software RAID. This approach avoids dedicated hardware RAID overhead, allowing flexible configurations like RAID 0 striping for maximum throughput—critical for capturing high-sample-rate signals from digitizers without buffer overflows. Integrated cooling fans dynamically adjust to maintain drive temperatures, preventing thermal throttling that could interrupt streaming in prolonged tests. Diagnostic LEDs on the front panel provide immediate feedback on power, activity, and faults, facilitating rapid troubleshooting in rack-mounted setups.
From a systems perspective, the engineering advantage lies in its compactness and ruggedness. By occupying just three slots, it maximizes chassis density for mixed I/O and processing modules, while the option for SSDs enhances shock and vibration tolerance—essential for deployed systems in transportation or defense testing. These features directly address challenges like data loss in burst acquisitions, where traditional external drives introduce latency or reliability risks. In high-channel-count setups, pairing with powerful controllers ensures sustained rates over hours, supporting compliance with standards requiring unbroken records for validation.
Typical Application Scenarios
- Employed in aerospace structural testing for streaming multi-channel vibration data from accelerometers, ensuring no sample drops during long-duration fatigue cycles.
- Integrated into RF record and playback systems for capturing wideband signals in spectrum monitoring, leveraging high throughput for real-time IQ data storage.
- Serves as direct replacement in legacy PXI streaming setups, maintaining compatibility with LabVIEW Real-Time for seamless upgrades.
- Used in automotive hardware-in-the-loop simulation for logging sensor fusion data at high rates, with SSD options for vibration-prone bench testing.
- Applied in physics experiments for high-energy particle detection, providing rugged storage in environments with mechanical stresses while supporting software RAID reconfiguration for varying dataset sizes.
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