Re: Pro's/Con's of LabVIEW/EPICS

["Southern, Tim" <t1o@ornl.gov>]

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

wymanm@purdue.edu

765-496-6894