Supported hardware
Broad DAQmx support, and the hardware we have explicitly tested
STAR-GOAT reaches I/O through NI-DAQmx, XNET and OPC UA, and through extensions for anything else. On the DAQmx side the rule is simple: if a device works with DAQmx and measures one of the twelve IO types STAR-GOAT configures, it is very likely to work with STAR-GOAT. The tables below name the 65 NI devices that have run in STAR-GOAT systems.
- Document
- Supported hardware list
- Revision
- 1.0
- Updated
- July 29, 2026
- Tested devices
- 65 NI part numbers
- Contact
- star-goat@jki.net
Compatibility model
Two levels of support
STAR-GOAT does not carry a fixed hardware whitelist. Its DAQ compatibility follows NI-DAQmx, and DAQmx is not the only way in: XNET and OPC UA are channel sources in core too, and extensions cover the rest. What the tables add is a narrower and more useful claim: this specific hardware has been run.
STAR-GOAT is JKI's complete data acquisition and control software for mission-critical test stands. Because acquisition and control are configured rather than coded, adding a channel on a new module is a configuration step, not a development step. That is why the compatibility question usually resolves at the driver level.
- Broad DAQmx support
- Any device supported by NI-DAQmx is a candidate, within one bound worth knowing early. STAR-GOAT configures twelve DAQmx IO types: voltage, current, thermocouple, RTD, bridge and accelerometer analog input; digital input and output; voltage and current analog output; and frequency and edge counting. A device is usable to the extent its measurement is one of those. Inside that set, no STAR-GOAT change is normally required to use a device that is not in the tables below. DAQmx is also one of four I/O sources, which are set out further down.
- Explicitly tested
- The 65 devices in the tables have been configured, acquired from, controlled with, and logged by STAR-GOAT in a real system. Where a channel count or sample rate is stated, that is a figure recorded for the device as it was used in some configuration. Nothing in the tables is inferred from a catalog.
System architecture
Where the hardware sits
One STAR-GOAT controller owns the I/O. Everything else in a test stand attaches to it along one of four paths: the local backplane, MXI expansion to a second chassis, Ethernet to extension chassis, or OPC UA to plant equipment. Operator stations connect over Ethernet and hold no I/O.
What each path is for
- Local backplane. Modules in the controller's own PXI or CompactRIO chassis. Lowest latency, and where deterministic control loops read and write.
- MXI expansion. A second PXIe chassis addressed as though it were local, when one chassis runs out of slots.
- Ethernet extension. CompactDAQ chassis placed near the article instead of near the controller, which shortens sensor cable runs. The 9189 and 9185 are TSN capable.
- CAN network. An XNET module in the controller's own chassis, with channels addressed by signal name out of a loaded CAN database.
- OPC UA. Channels that live in plant equipment rather than in a DAQ module, reached through an OPC UA server.
Operator stations
Operator stations are Windows PCs on the network. They hold no I/O, so they do not appear in the hardware tables. Client count has a measured CPU cost on the controller, published in the performance datasheet.
Controllers, chassis and expansion
What runs STAR-GOAT, and what holds the modules
The controller runs STAR-GOAT. On PXIe and CompactRIO controllers it runs on NI Linux Real-Time, which is where the determinism figures apply, or on Windows. A desktop or laptop PC is a supported controller for systems that do not need deterministic control.
Controllers
| Device | Type | Operating system |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop or laptop PC | Windows controller | Windows 10/11 |
| PXIe-8881 | PXI controller | NI Linux Real-Time or Windows |
| PXIe-8861 | PXI controller, 2.8 GHz quad-core | NI Linux Real-Time or Windows |
| PXIe-8135 | PXI controller | NI Linux Real-Time or Windows |
| cRIO-9047 | CompactRIO controller, 1.60 GHz quad-core, 8-slot | NI Linux Real-Time |
| cRIO-9048 | CompactRIO controller, 8-slot | NI Linux Real-Time |
| cRIO-9053 | CompactRIO controller, 4-slot | NI Linux Real-Time |
Where determinism comes from
Deterministic sequencing and control require a real-time target. A Windows controller runs the same configuration and the same logging, with reaction times typically in the 100–200 ms range rather than the microsecond range.
Chassis and expansion
| Device | Type | Slots |
|---|---|---|
| PXIe-1095 | PXI Express chassis | 18 |
| PXIe-1092 | PXI Express chassis | 8 |
| PXIe-1084 | PXI Express chassis | 18 |
| PXIe-1075 | PXI Express chassis | 18 |
| cDAQ-9189 | CompactDAQ Ethernet extension chassis, TSN capable | 8 |
| cDAQ-9185 | CompactDAQ Ethernet extension chassis, TSN capable | 4 |
| cDAQ-9178 | CompactDAQ USB chassis | 8 |
| PXIe-8384 + PXIe-8381 | MXI chassis expansion pair | n/a |
| PXIe-8398 | MXI Express interface for external control | n/a |
PXI and PXIe modules
Tested PXI and PXIe I/O
Channel counts and rates are the figures recorded for each device as it was used in a STAR-GOAT system. Where a rate was not recorded, the cell says so rather than quoting a catalog number. Aggregate sample rate across a chassis is set by the acquisition card, not by STAR-GOAT.
| Device | Function | Channels | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| PXIe-4302 | Analog input, filtered | 32 AI | 5 kS/s/ch |
| PXIe-4303 | Analog input | 32 AI | 51.2 kS/s/ch |
| PXIe-4309 | Analog input | 32 AI | 2 MS/s/ch |
| PXIe-4310 | Analog input, high voltage | 8 AI | not recorded |
| PXIe-6375 | Multifunction I/O | 208 AI, 2 AO, 24 DIO, 4 CI | 3.86 MS/s aggregate |
| PXIe-6363 | Multifunction I/O | 32 AI, 4 AO, 48 DIO | not recorded |
| PXIe-6358 | Multifunction I/O | not recorded | not recorded |
| PXIe-6341 | Multifunction I/O | not recorded | not recorded |
| PXIe-4322 | Analog output | 8 AO | n/a |
| PXIe-6738 | Analog output | 32 AO | n/a |
| PXI-6509 | Digital I/O | 96 DIO | n/a |
| PXIe-6509 | Digital I/O | 96 DIO | n/a |
| PXI-6514 | Digital I/O, industrial | 64 DIO | n/a |
| PXIe-6535 | Digital input | 32 DI | not recorded |
| PXI-2586 | Relay switch | 10 relay | n/a |
| TB-4302 | Thermocouple terminal block for PXIe-4302 | n/a | n/a |
| PXI-4353 | Temperature input, thermocouple | 32 TC | not recorded |
| PXIe-4357 | Temperature input, RTD | 20 AI | 100 S/s |
| PXIe-4375 | Temperature input, RTD | 20 AI | 100 S/s |
| PXIe-4331 | Strain and bridge | 8 AI | 102.4 kS/s |
| PXIe-4492 | Sound and vibration, accelerometer | 8 AI | 204.8 kS/s |
| PXIe-4499 | Sound and vibration, accelerometer | 16 AI | 204.8 kS/s |
| PXIe-6674T | Timing and multi-chassis synchronization | n/a | n/a |
| PXI-6683H | Synchronization, IEEE 1588 and GPS | n/a | n/a |
| PXI-8512 | CAN interface | 1 or 2 ports | n/a |
| PXI-8430/8 | Serial RS232 interface | 8 ports | n/a |
Aggregate rate belongs to the card
Channel count and per-channel rate trade against each other inside the acquisition card's aggregate budget. On the PXIe-6375 used in benchmarking, that budget is 3.86 MS/s. It is a property of the card, not a STAR-GOAT limit, and it changes with the hardware. Measured throughput and CPU cost are in the performance datasheet.
C Series modules
Tested CompactRIO and CompactDAQ I/O
C Series modules run in a CompactRIO controller's own slots, or in a CompactDAQ extension chassis reached over Ethernet or USB. The same STAR-GOAT configuration addresses both.
| Device | Function | Channels | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| NI-9205 | Analog input, voltage | 32 AI | 250 kS/s aggregate |
| NI-9215 | Analog input, voltage | 4 AI | 100 kS/s/ch |
| NI-9220 | Analog input, voltage | 16 AI | 100 kS/s/ch |
| NI-9222 | Analog input, voltage | 4 AI | 500 kS/s/ch |
| NI-9223 | Analog input, voltage | 4 AI | 1 MS/s/ch |
| NI-9224 | Analog input, voltage | 8 AI | not recorded |
| NI-9244 | Analog input, high voltage, 3-phase | not recorded | not recorded |
| NI-9203 | Analog input, current | 8 AI | not recorded |
| NI-9227 | Analog input, current | 4 AI | not recorded |
| NI-9253 | Analog input, current | 8 AI | 50 kS/s/ch |
| NI-9212 | Temperature input, thermocouple | 8 TC | 95 S/s/ch |
| NI-9231 | Sound and vibration, accelerometer | 8 AI | not recorded |
| NI-9263 | Analog output, ±10 V | 4 AO | not recorded |
| NI-9464 | Analog output | 16 AO | not recorded |
| NI-9401 | Digital I/O | 8 DIO | not recorded |
| NI-9411 | Digital input, differential or single-ended | 6 DI | not recorded |
| NI-9423 | Digital input | 9 DI | 200 kS/s/ch |
| NI-9472 | Digital output, 24 V | 8 DO | not recorded |
| NI-9474 | Digital output | 8 DO | not recorded |
| NI-9361 | Counter input | not recorded | not recorded |
| NI-9860 | CAN, vehicle multiprotocol | 2 ports | n/a |
| NI-9870 | Serial RS232 | 4 ports | n/a |
| NI-9469 | Synchronization | n/a | n/a |
I/O sources
Four ways I/O reaches STAR-GOAT
Hardware is one half of the compatibility question. The other half is which source a channel comes from. STAR-GOAT offers the same four directions, analog in, analog out, digital in and digital out, from several sources, and a channel behaves the same downstream whichever source it came from: it scales, logs, plots, raises alerts, and can be read or commanded by a sequence. What differs between sources is how each one ships, and what has been run through it.
| Source | How it ships | Run with STAR-GOAT |
|---|---|---|
| NI-DAQmx | In core. Channel groups for AI, AO, DI, DO and CLK, spanning twelve IO types. | The 65 devices in the tables above |
| XNET, CAN | In core. Channel types for AI, AO, DI and DO. Channels are addressed by signal name out of a CAN database rather than by physical line. | PXI-8512 and NI-9860, in production on multiple test stands |
| OPC UA | In core, on the NI OPC-UA toolkit. Channel types for AI, AO, DI and DO. | Kepware KEPServerEX 6, Siemens PLC |
| Extensions | A public interface. Compiled LabVIEW code placed next to the controller executable and loaded at run time. An extension group declares its own channels, analog or digital, read or commanded. Modbus ships as a template extension for real-time targets. | JKI-written drivers over NI-VISA for laboratory equipment including chillers and power supplies |
Not every channel comes from hardware
Virtual, calculated, formula and buffered-calculation channels, and control loops, are channel types in the same configuration tree. They are derived from other channels rather than acquired, so they do not appear in this list or in the hardware tables. Their CPU cost is measured in the performance datasheet.
XNET and CAN
CAN is a channel source in core, not an add-on. An XNET module goes in the controller's own chassis, and its signals are configured the way DAQ channels are: choose the cluster, the frame and the signal, and the channel carries the name from the database. Group settings hold the loop rate, the interface, baud rate and CAN termination.
Both the PXI and the CompactRIO interfaces have been used, on different stands: PXI-8512 in a PXI rack, NI-9860 in a CompactRIO slot. The same configuration approach applies to both.
Load the database first
The DBC file has to be loaded and published with the NI-XNET Database Editor before STAR-GOAT can list its signals. That is NI's standard workflow, and it is a step in system bring-up rather than a per-test one.
OPC UA
OPC UA covers channels that are not on a DAQ module: valve states and interlocks held in a PLC, facility utilities, and equipment with its own controller. STAR-GOAT reads and writes them alongside DAQmx channels, in the same configuration and the same log.
- Channels are polled at a configured group rate rather than hardware-timed, so they carry a different latency and CPU profile from DAQmx channels. Both are quantified in the performance datasheet.
- Servers vary. JKI has verified several third-party platforms, and a given server may need specific settings before it will connect.
- The NI OPC-UA driver supports the Basic128 and Basic256 security policies, not the newer ones. That bound belongs to the driver.
Extensions, and where Modbus sits
Anything that is not DAQmx, XNET or OPC UA arrives through an extension: compiled LabVIEW code that STAR-GOAT loads at run time. An extension is configured much the way a hardware group is. The group carries an extension type and a loop rate, and it declares its own channels, analog or digital, read or commanded, each with its own properties. From there the channel is treated like any other channel in the system: it takes a caption, alert thresholds, scaling and lookup tables, it logs, and a sequence can read or command it. Extension channels can also bind to other channels, which is how an extension acts on I/O it does not own.
Modbus is the case worth stating precisely. It is not a native protocol. It ships as a template extension for real-time targets, written on the same public interface a customer would use, and adapted to the device it has to talk to. JKI has built several such drivers over NI-VISA against laboratory equipment.
The distinction that matters when specifying a stand
A source in core is configuration work. An extension is software work, sized against your device and its command set. Both end in the same place, a channel that scales, logs and can be commanded by a sequence, but they are not the same line item in a schedule. Worth settling early which of the two your equipment needs.
Drivers, servers and operating systems
| I/O drivers | NI-DAQmx, NI-XNET, the NI OPC-UA toolkit, and NI-VISA inside extensions |
| Real-time OS | NI Linux Real-Time, on PXIe and CompactRIO controllers. Required for the Modbus template extension. |
| Desktop OS | Windows 10/11, on PXI controllers and on desktop or laptop PCs |
| CAN database | DBC, loaded and published with the NI-XNET Database Editor |
| OPC UA server | Kepware KEPServerEX 6, on Windows |
| OPC UA device | Siemens PLC |
Coverage
What STAR-GOAT configures, and where a tested module exists
The middle column is the IO type as the software names it, which is the real boundary of DAQmx support: a device is usable to the extent its measurement is one of these. The list is demand-driven, each type added because a project asked for it rather than to fill out a feature matrix. The two right-hand columns say which tested modules sit behind each. Where a cell reads none tested, no module of that type has been run yet, which is not the same as one that will not work.
| Measurement or interface | IO type in STAR-GOAT | PXI and PXIe | C Series |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voltage analog input | AI_Voltage | PXIe-4302, 4303, 4309, 6375, 6363, 6358, 6341 | NI-9205, 9215, 9220, 9222, 9223, 9224 |
| High-voltage analog input | AI_Voltage | PXIe-4310 | NI-9244 |
| Current analog input | AI_Current | none tested | NI-9203, 9227, 9253 |
| Thermocouple | AI_Thermocouple | PXI-4353, TB-4302 with PXIe-4302 | NI-9212 |
| RTD | AI_RTD | PXIe-4357, PXIe-4375 | none tested |
| Strain and bridge | AI_Bridge | PXIe-4331 | none tested |
| Sound, vibration, accelerometer | AI_Accelerometer | PXIe-4492, PXIe-4499 | NI-9231 |
| Analog output | AO_Voltage, AO_Current | PXIe-4322, 6738, 6375, 6363 | NI-9263, NI-9464 |
| Digital input | DI | PXIe-6535, PXI-6509, PXIe-6509, PXI-6514 | NI-9401, 9411, 9423 |
| Digital output and relay | DO | PXI-6509, PXIe-6509, PXI-6514, PXI-2586 | NI-9401, 9472, 9474 |
| Frequency and edge counting | CI_Frequency, CI_Edges | PXIe-6375 | NI-9411, NI-9361 |
| CAN | XNET, not DAQmx | PXI-8512 | NI-9860 |
| Serial RS232 | via extension | PXI-8430/8 | NI-9870 |
| Timing and synchronization | not a channel type | PXIe-6674T, PXI-6683H | NI-9469 |
Reading the last four rows
Frequency and edge counting are DAQmx types, configured as a CLK group. CAN comes from XNET, and serial from extensions using NI VISA (or other serial libraries), both covered in the I/O sources section above. Timing and synchronization modules serve the backplane and the clock rather than carrying channels of their own.
Selecting hardware
Reading this list into a system design
Each answer below points at hardware already in the tables above, in the form most useful when specifying a stand.
- My device is not in these tables
- Check whether it is supported by NI-DAQmx. If it is, it is very likely usable. If it speaks Modbus or another serial protocol instead, it is extension work rather than configuration. Either way, send a channel list and JKI will confirm before you order.
- I need deterministic control
- A PXIe or CompactRIO controller on NI Linux Real-Time. Windows runs the same configuration but not the same timing.
- Sensors are far from the rack
- cDAQ-9185 or cDAQ-9189 Ethernet extension chassis, both TSN capable, placed near the article. cDAQ-9178 for USB.
- I need more slots than one chassis
- MXI expansion: PXIe-8384 with PXIe-8381, or PXIe-8398. The second chassis is addressed as though it were local.
- I need to synchronize to GPS or IEEE 1588
- PXI-6683H for 1588 and GPS, PXIe-6674T for PXI backplane timing and multi-chassis clocks, NI-9469 for C Series.
- I need to talk to a PLC or a CAN bus
- OPC UA for the PLC, tested against Kepware KEPServerEX 6 and a Siemens PLC. XNET for CAN, on PXI-8512 or NI-9860. Both are sources in core, so both are configuration rather than development.
- I need high channel count at high rate
- Size the acquisition card first. Its aggregate sample rate, 3.86 MS/s on the PXIe-6375, sets the ceiling that channel count and per-channel rate share. Measured throughput is in the performance datasheet.
- I need thermocouples and RTDs on one stand
- PXI-4353 or NI-9212 for thermocouples, PXIe-4357 for RTDs, or PXIe-4302 with the TB-4302 terminal block. Mixed types in one configuration is the normal case.
Not listed is not unsupported
These tables record what has been run, not what is permitted. STAR-GOAT's I/O layer is NI-DAQmx, so a DAQmx-compatible device that measures one of the twelve supported IO types is very likely a STAR-GOAT-compatible device, whether or not it appears above.
The fastest way to get a definite answer is a channel list: signal types, counts, rates, and where the sensors sit. JKI will map it to hardware and say what has been run before and what has not.