Interactive program for sensor and pump controls

[lukepower]

Hi,

I'm looking to start a project using several liquid pumps (3) and sensors (1 or 2) and need a bit of advice. I am trying to figure out what general program structure to use as an overall control. Is an event-based queued state machine overall with each pump/sensor having a subVI with the communication state machines a common approach or would there be a better way to do it? 

Thanks for any help.

[altenbach]

Sensors are typically read, not controlled. How does everything mesh together? Are the pumps controlled manually by the user or automatically based on sensor readings? What's a typical update rate?