Re: LabView-EPICS Integration using SoftIoc

[Dawood Awny Dawood Alnajjar via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>]

Hi Jalal,

Here at Sirius we use EPICS with the national instruments compactRIO real-time controller that runs Linux. Our solution Nheengatu runs EPICS natively on Linux, and it can access variables (read/write) defined in the Labview-RT VIs as much as the Labview FPGA VIs. We use EPICS natively, so you will not lose compatibility with all the EPICS support/extension softwares developed by the community.

Some useful links can be found here:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337223790_PROJECT_Nheengatu_EPICS_SUPPORT_FOR_CompactRIO_FPGA_AND_LabVIEW-RT

http://icalepcs2019.vrws.de/posters/wempl002_poster.pdf

Our solution is open for the community to use on Github:

https://github.com/lnls-sol/project-nheengatu

If this solution interests you, do not hesitate to contact us for more information and support.

Cheers!

Dawood

---

From: Tech-talk <tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov> on behalf of Akeroyd, Freddie (STFC, RAL, ISIS) via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 7:56 PM
To: Mostafa, Jalal (IPE) <jalal.mostafa at kit.edu>; tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
Subject: RE: LabView-EPICS Integration using SoftIoc

 

Hi Jalal,

There is a slight variation on (2)  http://epics.isis.stfc.ac.uk/doxygen/NetShrVar/  which is an EPICS asyn driver that talks directly to shared variables, so gives you a bit more flexibility that the NI EPICS implementation. If TSE is -2 the EPICS timestamp is taken from the shared variable timestamp, and records can be I/O Intr scan and update directly from the shared variable. You can also map shared variable alarms to EPICS alarms, but it looks like I haven't  updated the web documentation to mention that yet.

Regards,

Freddie

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tech-talk <tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov> On Behalf Of Mostafa, Jalal
> (IPE) via Tech-talk
> Sent: 02 November 2020 13:44
> To: tech-talk at aps.anl.gov
> Subject: LabView-EPICS Integration using SoftIoc
>
> Hi all!
>
> We have many systems from NI that we would like to integrate with EPICS for
> the KATRIN experiment (katrin.kit.edu) The old control system was written in
> LabView but we would like to replace it with EPICS without rewriting the code
> again. Therefore, we are looking for a nice LabView-EPICS integration.
>
> We have seen two options for LabView:
> - CALAB which does not work with realtime devices
> - Official NI EPICS module. It is good but I can list several problems:
> huge loss of EPICS features (it is only an implementation of CA plus alarming,
> the other metadata and configuration fields are not available)
> - not very developer-friendly (adding/removing PVs relies on shared variables
> so it is time consuming)
>
> Another two solutions we thought of:
> 1. Using AsynDriver and communicate with the realtime device using a TCP
> protocol 2. Running an EPICS server on the realtime device using NI EPICS
> module then shadowing it with a SoftIoc using CA links.
> (a softIoc server running with input and output records to read and write to the
> original LabView EPICS server)
>
> I have several concerns here:
> - Am I missing any other way to integrate LabView with EPICS? I would like to
> hear from your experiences.
>
> - Although solution (1) is time consuming, I am in favor of it but let's check if
> we can do it more easily with solution (2). Anyway, can the experts comment
> on its feasibility?
>
> - Solution (2): What do you think about performance? Alarms? I/O Intr are not
> available on a softIoc, so the developer has to use periodic SCAN. How can I
> add custom SCAN periods?
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Best,
>
> Jalal


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