Control Thorlabs TDC001 without using Activex

[pawelek]

Hi ! I'm using thorlabs CR1/M-7 rotating stages with TDC001 contoller , and I'm trying write a simple application in labview to control my device. I have found 'USBRawControl.vi' from NI website, but I have an issue with USB communication. Does anyone here,have written a similar labview vi's to control a stages using USB communications protocols?  I'm also using the VISA- test panel in NI MAX but it still doesn't work. Regards, Paul

[Simon_T]

Hi,

Fortunately this is a very common application (Using Serial or USB from LabVIEW to control 3rd party hardware), so there are plenty of good resources you can find around the internet.

As a starting point, I recommend reading through this tutorial:

USB Instrument Control Tutorial

You can also look to see if anyone has already implemented some parts of the comunication unique to your device on the NI Instrument Driver Network (IDNet) website.

If you are not lucky, then implementing the communication protocol (the "content" in the USB communication) to your device is up to you, afterwards maybe you could even share your work with the rest of us by uploading it to IDnet.

Good luck, let me know if you have further questions!

[Msoulby]

Hi, My name is Mike from Thorlabs

We have contacted this customer directly with details of the low level communications protocols that are used for our TDC001 controllers. The document includes information to set up a VCP, baud rate, flow control, parity, etc... in order to set up the correct com port settings to be able to send messages.

The document also provides detailed information on the protocols and message structure used for our devices. If you have any questions about a specific protocol please feel free to contact us at Thorlabs.

Regards
Mike Soulby
Thorlabs Ltd.

[Victoryuy]

Hi Mike,

I also want  to using low level communications protocols to control TDC001 controller. Could you share the infomation to me?

Thank you.

Victor

[Msoulby]

The documentation is freely available on the Thorlabs website. the protocol document can be downloaded from the following link http://www.thorlabs.de/software/apt/APT_Communications_Protocol_Rev_14.pdf

If you have any questions regarding this document please contact techsupport.uk@thotlabs.com

Regards

Mike Soulby

Thorlabs

[mrubioroy]

Dear pawelek,

You might be interested in Pyrame. It is a open source framework we actively develop at the CNRS for test benches. It supports Thorlabs APT controllers. As of version 2.1 it supports the LTS300 and LNR50 stages (the latter through a BSC2 controller). Supporting more stages involves just a few lines of code, so If you need something else just contact us.

Pyrame allows you to code your control modules in Python, C, C++, Lua or Bash. From your module you can then interact with Pyrame's modules, such as that of Thorlabs APT (cmd_th_apt).

There's also a module that lets you define forbidden zones of a 3 axis space and it calculates automatically the path between origin and destination to avoid those zones (cmd_paths).

Here is our website with the full documentation and source code.

http://llr.in2p3.fr/sites/pyrame/

Don't hesitate to contact us for further information.

Truly yours,

Miguel Rubio-Roy

Computer research engineer at CNRS

[CheckBenchLTD]

Hi 

Did you write the code to control TDC001 without ActiveX ?

Thanks 

[mrubioroy]

That's right. In Pyrame, we don't use ActiveX to control Thorlabs' stepper motors.

[CheckBenchLTD]

I need to develop in LabVIEW

[Annapoorani]

Hi Mike Soulby,

  Can you share the document again? There is a 404 error on the link. Also do you have an example LabVIEW program to communicate through USB-Visa.

Thanks in advance!

Anna