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<== Date ==> <== Thread ==>

Subject: RE: Pro's/Con's of LabVIEW/EPICS
From: Mazanec Tomáš <[email protected]>
To: Scott Baily <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Wyman, Max D" <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2016 16:48:20 +0000
Few notes more to the topic, if I may....

Since like 2-3 years ago, news from NI say that upcoming platforms for LabVIEW Real-time targets is real-time Linux OS. It is PREEMPT_RT patched kernel based Linux and there is public git repository with devel source code tree.

I think, this is very promising in terms of running EPICS IOCs next to LabVIEW programs.  So the projects implementing shmem or any kind of inter-process communication between LabVIEW and EPICS IOCs will be applicable and welcome, especially if mature and multiplatform (including Linux OS).

There is already such a product in CompactRIO series: cRIO-9068. 
However PXI targets (or PC in our case)  were/are not there yet, so we went with LabVIEW native Channel Access.

Tomas

________________________________________
Od: [email protected] [[email protected]] za uživatele Scott Baily [[email protected]]
Odesláno: 6. ledna 2016 22:22
Komu: [email protected]
Kopie: Wyman, Max D
Předmět: Re: Pro's/Con's of LabVIEW/EPICS

At LANSCE, we're currently running many vxWorks cRIO systems using
LabVIEW/EPICS. These systems run actual EPICS IOCs (not just channel
access). Most of these use custom EPICS device support that is specific
to our "Industrial I/O" FPGA design. Several other systems use a shared
memory interface that has the weaknesses Dirk Zimoch mentioned (also it
is vxWorks specific).
        I'm currently working on an updated AsynPortDriver-based interface.
This will permit appropriate error propagation, be a cross-platform
solution (support both vxWorks and Linux RT cRIOs as well as Microsoft
Windows systems). Using AsynPortDriver means that EPICS records can be
set to I/O Intr and process on change. I'm also adding LabVIEW User
Event capabilities, so that the LabVIEW program can receive events when
certain parameters change. I've demonstrated the basic functionality,
and I'm currently in the process of refining the interfaces and then
I'll add the rest of the datatypes. The key to this process on Windows
and Linux RT is to have the LabVIEW program start the IOC so they are
part of the same process. I've already worked out how to ssh to the
Linux RT system, and connect to the IOC shell.
        I'm hoping this solution will be able to replace nearly all of the
functionality of the various LabVIEW/EPICS interfaces.  For older
Pharlap-based PXI crates I suppose the only solution would be channel
access written in native LabVIEW (unless EPICS is ported to Pharlap). If
I were to update the Industrial I/O interface now, I would probably use
existing device support with the C API interface to the FPGA, and bypass
LabVIEW on the CPU altogether. However our diagnostics team often
prefers to write programs in LabVIEW, and then it is necessary to
interface with the LabVIEW program running on the CPU rather than
directly with the FPGA.

On 12/17/2015 12:50 PM, Wyman, Max D wrote:
 > 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
 > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
 > 765-496-6894


--
Scott Baily
AOT-IC, MS H820
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM 87545
ph: (505) 606-2260


References:
Re: Pro's/Con's of LabVIEW/EPICS Scott Baily

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