I'd like to control/read INCA with LabView.

[dryan0929]

For anyone who is interested I have been able to convert several of the ASAP3 VIs that Sima posted for use over ethernet using TCP. I have posted the library containing the new TCP VIs and a simple VI that will connect to INCA and read an array of variables. This is all the functionality that I expect to need, so I have not looked at the functions which change parameter values in INCA. I assume that they would be just as easy to covert.

[Sima]

dryan0929, thanks for all your input. I haven't had a chance to get back into this subject because I had to shift into another higher-priority task for now, but I do have some questions for the meantime:

Would all this still work for the new ASAM-3MC interface? When you enable the new interface in INCA, it no longer shows you the screen where you can configure the communication settings. Actually the two interfaces look entirely different. I'm just wondering if INCA is trying to migrate us to the new interface, why are we still trying to use the old ASAP3 interface, or does it matter? Also, have you looked into any of the DCOM stuff? I noticed if you pull up an ActiveX control, there are some INCA related objects there.

Thanks,

Sima

[dryan0929]

Sima,

I think that we have a misunderstanding concerning standards and interfaces. My understanding is that the interface is simply a program that runs together with INCA to listen for and transmit information via a serial or ethernet connection. The interface that I am using is the ASAM-MCD-3MC 4 INCA interface that is available with INCA V5.4 (I am using Hotfix 8). This interface is compatable with either the ASAM-MCD-3MC or ASAP3 standards. The standard is simply the method that you use to encode the data that you wish to send across the connection. Therefore, the implementation in LabView for setting up a TCP connection and sending/receiving data over a TCP connection is the same, and only the format of the data that you send will change depending on the standard that you use. And the standard that you use will depend on how INCA is configured.

I am using the ASAP3 because, at this point in time, it appears that ASAP3 is still the default standard used by INCA. While the new interface is compatable with both standards, all of the documentation for the interface still refers to ASAP3 and the default setting in INCA is set to ASAP3. I think that ETAS has provided the capability of using the ASAM-MCD-3MC standard in order to keep their product current, but that they expect that the majority of users and commercial software packages will still be using ASAP3 for some time. I honestly don't know much about the new ASAM-MCD-3MC standard; it appears to be completely different and incompatible with ASAP3 (contrary to what I had thought) and will take far more time to be able to implement it for use with INCA. This is why I think that ETAS does not have more suppert for it yet, and why I don't think that it is a waste of time to develope a VI that uses ASAP3. I expect that ETAS will provide a better DCOM based API that will be much easier to implement before they decide to drop support of ASAP3 altogether.

Finally, you asked about DCOM and ActiveX. It is true that INCA has a built in API that uses a scripted library that is very easy to implement in LabView. The API works like any other ActiveX control where you set up an instance of the INCA and call the methods that you want to use through invoke nodes. The only drawback of using the API is that it is not available remotely; in order to use it LabView and INCA have to be running on the same machine. This is the reason that I started to look into ASAP3 in the first place. Like I said before, though, since ASAM-MCD-3MC is better suited for DCOM applications, I expect that ETAS will release an API that supports for remote DCOM before too long. If, like me, you can't wait for that to happen, I would recommend that you use ASAP3.

[Sima]

Hello again, you're right, I should have clarified where I meant standard vs. interface.

I think for simply polling INCA for variables, that's all I'll need. Not sure yet if I might have to write back to INCA.

Although ETAS says they support both the new and old standards, when you switch to the new ASAM-MCD-3MC interface in INCA, there are no options to setup your connection like in their older ASAP3 interface. That's what had me confused. If you put down an ActiveX object in LV, you'll find some INCA related objects there. I was not aware that you'd have to be on the same machine. That seems very odd. What's the point then? Nonetheless, I'm going to stick to the ASAP3 interface for now, since I can half-talk to it.

Thanks.

[dryan0929]

Sima,

A few final thoughts. The option to configure the interface to use the ASAM-MCD-3MC standard is somewhat hidden, but it is available if you have access to the ASAM-MCD-3MC documentation and want to experiment with it.

Go to Options > User Options on the toolbar of the INCA database browser. This will open a window with several configuration options. Under the General tab you will see the option "Use ASAM-MCD-3MC". The default for this option is set to 'no'. If you switch it to 'yes' then the interface will recognize ASAM-MCD-3MC commands. Otherwise the general connection settings for the interface are the same whether you use ASAP3 or ASAM-MCD-3MC.

[Hannes.Cape]

Good day

I need to read data from INCA with a Labview program. For our application I will have the Labview exe and INCA on the same PC, which should make it easier to implement. I have used the VI's that were posted here and it works well with the ASAP3 standard. The data transfer rate is unfortunately too slow for our needs. From the discussions here it seems to me like I should be able to extract the data from INCA with ActiveX/COM controls and the ASAM MCD 3MC standard.

I have set up the DCOM server and client on the PC according to the instructions in the INCA manual. I would like to know if anyone can tell me if this will also be correct if I use only COM/ActiveX or if I should set the server and client up differently ? I have now also got stuck trying to find the correct ActiveX class to call in Labview to request the INCA information. When I browse for the classes, there is a very long list. I have tried a few but none of them give me any information.

For our application we just need to request the values of about 10 variables that INCA will be extracting from the ECU.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Sima]

Hi, I'm not familiar with the DCOM communication to INCA. With the ASAP3 TCP interface, I've used rates up to 100 Hz. I haven't tried faster than that as it wasn't necessary. Is that too slow for you?

[Hannes.Cape]

Hi Sima

DCOM enables the sharing of variables between systems over the network. If I understand the INCA user manual correctly, DCOM is partly implemented with their ASAM-MCD-3MC option. In the case of INCA 5.4 they do not share the information with more than one user over the network. The documentation and implementation of it with INCA is not very clear and we do not need for our purposes. We actually want all data to be on 1 PC.

Yes, a 100Hz measurement rate is too slow. We need to read the values at a minimum rate of 200Hz.

Thanks for your reply

[Sima]

I have a feeling 200 Hz might work. Despite the fact that the ASAP3 specifications say scanning frequencies between 0.1 Hz and 2 Hz are provided for the PARAMETER FOR VALUE ACQUISITION command, I've been able to get away with 100 Hz with INCA. Sorry can't help with the DCOM side of it. Eventually, we'll probably have to upgrade our driver to that.

[Hannes.Cape]

I have now managed to establish communication with the ASAM MCD 3MC 4 INCA server (ASAM MCD 3 server, NOT ASAP3) with the attached vi, using ActiveX. This vi is not of much use other than to test the INCA COM (ASAM MCD3) server setup. I am refering to the COM server as I am using my vi and INCA on the same PC. In theory this vi should also work for DCOM but I have not tested it. The DCOM/COM server should be set up as explained in the DCOM setup of the INCA user manual. Currently I am not able to extract much useful information (no measurement values) from the INCA COM server as I do not have a document describing the INCA MR1 librabry classes that are used in the COM server.