SLSC options

[thumble]

Hello,

In one of our projects, we are using a lot of custom SLCS modules (through EDS). We experience a random issue on some modules and to be able to investigate on the network, we would be interested in the possibility to force VeriStand using the protocol in a clear way (not encrypted). Is there a "hidden" option somewhere to do that?

By the way, that is the role of the “SLSC Mod Update Rate” channel in the diagnostic section? Are there other “hidden" options that can be used for tuning or debugging?

Thanks,

[Barp · Accepted solution]

Hello!

For you to debug the module, the best option is to isolate the modules you are encountering problems. If you go to the system definition, you can "disable" the modules by just right click to the module and select disable:

That would allow you to focus in the modules that are giving you problems.

The Dianostics parameters are used to be sure that you do not have any errors (SLSC Mod Error Number), that you can clear the error in case an temporary error happen (SLSC Mod Clear Error), that you can change or set the Loop rate (SLSC Mod Update Rate), and you can actually measure if you are able to keep up with rate requested (SLSC Mod Loop Rate).

The loop rate is controlled by an asynchronous process (in lower priority) and if you ask to update too often, it won't necessarily do what you ask because of other processes in your system.

If you are not able to keep up with the specific loop rate, you can try to increase its values, making it slower.

You do not have access to the protocol for security reasons. This is by design. You can debug by other means though. One feature that is overlooked is the capability to only allow you to change a subset of the parameters in the custom device. For example, if you want to just isolate certain channels (that you think you have problems), you can select the module (like SLSC-12201 in the screenshot), Remove all channels (so VeriStand would not be setting them up while running) and then, only add the channels that you need to interact and be sure that any other problems is happening:

You will see that only the "added" parameters will be added to it.

Finally, a common problem in using SLSC in VeriStand is that SLSC expect you to send a "command" every time you change the physical channels, like this property with SLSC 12201. You can avoid having to send commands every time by changing the Command to be "Apply on Value Change". That way, any time you change a parameter with the channel, the EDS Custom Device will send a Command afterwards to update the channels without you need to do that. This is a common behavioral problem with SLSC cards used in VeriStand:

If nothing was able to help, please try to describe which modules you are using and what problems you are encountering, so we can provide more debugging tips.

[Barp]

Also, this old page does give you some more information about how to use the EDS Custom Device:

https://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-VeriStand-Add-Ons-Documents/SLSC-Electronic-Datasheet-EDS-Plugin-Custom-...

And in here is the manual for the EDS Custom Device:

https://github.com/ni/niveristand-slsc-eds-custom-device/blob/main/Docs/User%20Guide.md

[thumble]

Thanks a lot for all these clarifications (it would be worth to put them in a manual or technical note).

The modules are our own, and so I don't think you can help on that.

It seems I'm able to reproduce the issue by using a web client of my own, so normally VeriStand is out of the search scope, and since this communication is in clear, I can use Wireshark to trace it.

For information, I was wondering VeriStand uses a kind of SSL protocol on 9090 port, but I didn’t succeed in using my client with https on that port.

HAGD