Good day,
I've been working with Labview for just over 2 years now.
Besides interfacing with the custom embedded platform mentioned below, I've also used CDAQ based data acquisition hardware as well.
I've got a decent grasp of it, but had some questions regarding the cRIO platform.
My situation
I inherited Labview based laboratory Test Stands that use custom developed embedded control / data acquisition modules "PODs" to control and record data for products with DC motors and analog, SENT (single pin digital communication for sensors), and encoder feedback.
Ethernet TCP/IP is used to send commands to the POD within Labview, and transfer the data back to Labview after motion profiles are complete. The real time control portion was all done in the embedded control firmware (Netburner MOD5234 platform).
This existing firmware that runs these PODs has a fair amount of bugs, is difficult/impossible to debug, was poorly documented, and had so many programmer's (that are long gone), making it a poor tool for future development. Besides, the company that made these PODs are no longer in business.
Going forward in future, I would like to use a cRIO "off-the-shelf" platform to replace the functionality of the POD. Will also be helpful if our products use BLDC or Stepper motors (switch out the NI 9505 DC motor module for another).
I've already spec'd out the hardware:
NI cRIO-9063 (4 slots) (RT and FPGA)
NI 9505 (DC brushed motor driver and encoder input)
NI 9401 (high speed digital i/o)
NI 9205 (analog inputs)
and understand I will need the RT, FPGA, and SoftMotion licenses on-top of existing Labview for this development.
SENT API is available for free to get me started with decoding the SENT signal (I can add error handling, etc on top).
How I'd like to develop it
I'm envisioning developing the RT/FPGA portion (motor control and data acquisition) that would run in parallel separately from the main Labview test stand code.
The Labview Test Stand code would then send a command to the RT/FPGA portion that would the execute the desired motion profile, record the data, and report status when complete with the data available, just like the POD does now.
Now to my question:
(1) Can the I make an executable of the test stand code that will include the RT/FPGA portion?
I have a professional license now and can with the normal Labview code.
(2) Can I develop the RT/FPGA portion of the Labview code , build this portion as an executable, and use it with Test Stands that only have Labview?
Thanks in advance for your input!
Matt Lawson
p.s. we purchased the cRIO demo kit last year, I'm going to get my feet wet before the full cRIO hardware/software is delivered.
