EPICS Home EPICS Controls Argonne National Laboratory

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Format page
for printing


Search Tech-talk
1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  <2015>  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024  Index 1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  <2015>  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024 
<== Date ==> <== Thread ==>
Subject: Re: Pro's/Con's of LabVIEW/EPICS
From: "Southern, Tim" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2015 16:37:36 -0500
Hi,

The SNS Beam Instrumentation group has been using LabVIEW/EPICS systems for several devices in the accelerator. There are more than 300 devices being controlled by Windows based PCs running LabVIEW. These include: Beam Current Monitors, Beam Position Monitors, Wire Scanners and more...

A majority of the LabVIEW systems are using a Shared Memory Interface with EPICS. This is a windows based system that runs a EPICS IOC shell along side the LabVIEW to propagate records on the controls network.   

"Options for Interfacing EPICS to COTS Hardware Through LabView"
http://epaper.kek.jp/icalepcs2009/papers/thd004.pdf

"A Shared Memory Interface Between LabVIEW and EPICS"
https://accelconf.web.cern.ch/accelconf/ica03/PAPERS/TU514.PDF

"Network Attached Devices"
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=C395D88BC6386FCE86639ADAAF090CC1?doi=10.1.1.130.5186&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Pros:
- As Network Attached Devices, instruments can be easily added or removed from system. 
- Can use cheaper components not VME based...

Cons:
- LabView process can die without EPICS IOC shell being aware. Issue can possibly be resolved using a watchdog signal.
 

There is an another implementation that uses a LabVIEW native channel access server that will work on all platforms.

"Pure LabVIEW Implementation of EPICS Communication Protocol"
https://wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Epics/ConnectingLabVIEWandEPICS/PureLabVIEWImplementationofEPICSCommunicationProtocol-Zhukov.pdf

A new control system for high voltage converter modulators using LabVIEW and National Instruments PXIe Flex-RIO FPGA's and custom analog and digital interface hardware is using this version of LabVIEW/EPICS.

Pros:
- Can run on any LABVIEW platform
Cons:
- Channel access security is not fully implemented in this system. 
- EPICS PV fields only exist if developer creates them. One can have a process with .VAL field and no other field set. This makes interfacing with archive and alarm servers difficult.  

Regards,
Tim



On 12/17/15 2:50 PM, Wyman, Max D wrote:
Hello,

I’m investigating the pro’s/con’s of a hybrid LabVIEW/EPICS system for the control and DAQ on PRIME Lab’s accelerator. We’ll be adding a second ion source (and requisite controllers) so it seems like a good time to make such a migration if it seems beneficial.  Currently we use a suite of LabVIEW applications for control/DAQ of a dozen NI cRIOs, a handful of NI GPIB-ethernet controllers, and two NI PXI chassis as our input/output controllers. 

In particular, I’m curious to talk to anybody who’s ever migrated a system from pure LabVIEW to a LabVIEW/EPICS hybrid or who currently runs an EPICS system involving controllers similar to ours (the NI cRIOs, PXI crates, and GPIB-ENET controllers).

Thanks,
Max
-----------------------------------------
Max Wyman
PRIME Lab, Purdue University
765-496-6894







References:
Pro's/Con's of LabVIEW/EPICS Wyman, Max D
Navigate by Date:
Prev: Is there any demo or doc of the VTable Display in CCS? WangWill
Next: RE: Pro's/Con's of LabVIEW/EPICS Mazanec Tomáš
Index: 1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  <2015>  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024 
Navigate by Thread:
Prev: Re: Pro's/Con's of LabVIEW/EPICS Paul Sichta
Next: RE: Pro's/Con's of LabVIEW/EPICS Mazanec Tomáš
Index: 1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  <2015>  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024 
ANJ, 22 Dec 2015 Valid HTML 4.01! · Home · News · About · Base · Modules · Extensions · Distributions · Download ·
· Search · EPICS V4 · IRMIS · Talk · Bugs · Documents · Links · Licensing ·