RE: LabView-EPICS Integration using SoftIoc

["Akeroyd, Freddie \(STFC, RAL, ISIS\) via Tech-talk" <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>]

Hi Jalal,

The FAQ section of https://www.ni.com/en-gb/support/documentation/supplemental/06/introduction-to-the-ni-labwindows--cvi--run-time-module-for-linu.html addresses deployment, you may find you wouldn’t need to purchase many licences, but it would be an additional cost.

The code I developed in NetShrVar is very integrated with CVI. The CVI code is split into a separate interface module so you could possibly replace that code with something based on communicating with a TCP server implementation, but the non-CVI part of the driver is the much smaller portion so it may be easier to start with a new asyn driver than re-implement the existing interface.

Regards,

Freddie

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mostafa, Jalal (IPE) <jalal.mostafa at kit.edu>
> Sent: 03 November 2020 14:35
> To: Akeroyd, Freddie (STFC,RAL,ISIS) <freddie.akeroyd at stfc.ac.uk>; tech-
> talk at aps.anl.gov
> Subject: Re: LabView-EPICS Integration using SoftIoc
> 
> Hi Freddie,
> 
> Thank you! This is what I need indeed. One disadvantage is NI CVI which this
> library use is paid as far as I know.
> No alternative for CVI? Can CVI be replaced by an TCP/IP-based protocol
> without shared variables?
> 
> Best,
> Jalal
> 
> On ٢‏/١١‏/٢٠٢٠ ١١:٥٦ م, Akeroyd, Freddie (STFC,RAL,ISIS) wrote:
> > 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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