How to access measurements from instrumentstudio in teststand?

[tamas_guruczi]

I'm trying to reach the scope,dmm etc. measurements what I configured in instrumentstudio. If I export the config to tststand, is there a way to see also the measurement results also and not just start the device?

[TobiasG]

Tamas,

Could you please clarify what you are trying to do with specific steps? I've reread this several times and there are at least 3 things I think you might be asking.

Exporting a Driver Configuration from InstrumentStudio and importing it into TestStand allows you to apply the settings configured in InstrumentStudio in a single step/instruction within TestStand. That configuration does not contain any measurement data.

InstrumentStudio also offers a Capture Data option, but I don't think that's what you are asking.

TestStand is typically used to obtain data and perform analysis in a repeatable fashion. From the TestStand perspective, InstrumentStudio is largely intended to be used for live debugging and to develop desired configurations at different steps.

[tamas_guruczi]

Hi Tobias,

My question was is that InstrumentStudio config file contains any measurement data. You answered it thank you. That means If I want to automatize testing with teststand then I have to develop VI-s in Labview for measurements?

[TobiasG]

TestStand supports many development languages, including LabVIEW, C#, Python, and C++, and also has some built-in measurement steps you can use. It's really up to the user's preference as to which language to use.

I will point you to Guide to Effective Test Software Development with TestStand for best practices.

[tamas_guruczi]

Hi Tobias!

I've found this ECU Software Toolkit 22.1 for TestStand which is an add-on to Teststand to reach the measurements to use it in automatic testing. What do you know about this? Then its must be possible to reach the measurments without the add-on as well.

[TobiasG]

Tamas,

I am still trying to understand your specific question here so that I can best answer it.

Reading this over once more, perhaps you are wanting the "Capture Data" option which exports the data to a TDMS file? When exporting, InstrumentStudio will only save the data currently visible in the panel; it is not intended for long-term data logging applications.

The instrument configuration and any generated measurements are stored separately, and thus can be accessed separately. TestStand has steps to enable importing of a specific instrument configuration. The idea with this is that you can use InstrumentStudio to adjust the configuration settings to just what you want them to be, export that configuration, and import it at a given step within TestStand. This ensures the instrument is in the proper configuration you need for a given test step.

[tamas_guruczi]

Hi Tobias!

 
I think even the title of my question is enough to understand what I want to do. In Instrumentstudio you can config for example a dmm to measure DC current. This config can be saved into a config file. In teststand I can call this file in an I/O session step to start my DMM measure DC current. How can I reach the measured current value? I created an other ticket: https://forums.ni.com/t5/InstrumentStudio/How-to-create-a-measconfig-file-in-InstrumetStudio/m-p/436... maybe this will help to understand/solve my issue. This is not an impossible thing because there is an example in Teststand 2021 ECU test system which is doing this (reaching scope and SMU measurements via Instrumentstudio) and works. Thanks let me know if something still not clear!

[TobiasG]

I believe I see the disconnect.

When you import the measurement configuration, you are only configuration the device with those settings. You need to use a followup step to actually take the measurement.

To use NI-DCPower as an example, if you export the configuration from InstrumentStudio, that will include which channel(s) are active, the voltage and current levels, limits, level ranges, limit ranges, transient response, etc. When importing that into TestStand, the instrument remains in an idle state and does not start running and taking measurements. To do that, you need to add a subsequent step which calls (assuming LabVIEW) "niDCPower Initiate" and a fetch/measure VI (e.g. "niDCPower Fetch Multiple").

If you are interested in which specific driver calls are being made, you can confirm using NI IO Trace.

[tamas_guruczi]

Hi Tobias!

did you read what I linked? I know exactly how the configuration works. I’m talkin about the measurements again. If you think thats not possible pls download the ECU test system from NI package manager and run an example that downloads too with the system. In these example there is no Labview or othet programming language used for measurement only the InstrumentStudio .measconfig file. There is an I/O session config step what just you described and there is an other step called apply pin configuration where the test script reach the SMU measurement. Good luck!