1. Connecting LabVIEW to EPICS network
Xiang Yan
National Instruments

2. EPICS: Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

3. Graphical dataflow programming
Interactive front panel / GUI
Efficient compiled execution
Targets
Windows, Real-Time, FPGA, Linux, Macintosh, DSP, Other Processors
I/O and analysis libraries
Distributed networking capabilities

4. Current LabVIEW-EPICS interfaces
Shared memory interface
By SNS ORNL
DIM (Distributed Information Management System)
By GSI CERN
LabVIEW EPICS Client I/O server
The Shared Variable gives us an architecture to implement protocols. 4

5. IOC Software with Shared Memory Interface
Network Traffic
(Channel Access Protocol)
Channel Access
Protocol Server
Sequencer
(Finite State Machine)
LabVIEW
Application
Publishes values from the database onto the network using Channel Access protocol.
Reads values from the database to drive state changes in the IOC control application.
EPICS Database
Shared Memory
Database
Engine
Write I/O values to database. Default update rate is 10 Hz. Can be as fast as 25 Hz.
Hardware
EPICS Node – Windows

6. IOC Software with DIM Interface
The basic idea is to make LabVIEW application as a DIM service.
More like a DIM gateway.
The Shared Variable gives us an architecture to implement protocols. 6

7. LabVIEW Programming Environment
Project
Library
I/O server
Shared variable VI
There are three types of shared variables:
The Single-Process shared variable is used when you would have previously implemented a global variable – for passing data between two process running on the same local machine.
The Network-Published shared variable is used when you are passing data across the network.
The Time-Triggered shared variable is used when your application calls for deterministic data transfer.
For this discussion, we will focus our discussion on the first two types. Once of the nice things about the shared variable is that it is easy to move between the different types of variables as your application calls for new features. In fact, no extra coding is required… simply change the type of variable you would like the Properties Pages and LabVIEW will do the rest. We will see more about this is just a minute… 7

8. LabVIEW EPICS Client I/O Server
Bases on EPICS base
Runs on LabVIEW for Windows
Requires LabVIEW Datalogging & Supervisory Control (DSC) Module
Integrates with LabVIEW features
Logging
Alarming
Scaling
...
No charge at this point.

9. Channel Access Protocol
EPICS and LabVIEW
LabVIEW
Application
OPI
OPI
EPICS Client
I/O Server
Channel Access Protocol
IOC
EPICS
Database
I/O HW
IOC
EPICS
Database
I/O HW
IOC
EPICS
Database
I/O HW
IOC
EPICS
Database
I/O HW

10. LabVIEW Shared Variable Engine
EPICS and LabVIEW
Network Traffic
(Channel Access Protocol)
Channel Access
Protocol Server
Sequencer
(Finite State Machine)
EPICS Client
I/O Server
Publishes values from the database onto the network using Channel Access protocol.
Reads values from the database to drive state changes in the IOC control application.
EPICS Database
LabVIEW Shared Variable Engine
Database
Engine
LabVIEW Application
Write I/O values to database. Default update rate is 10 Hz. Can be as fast as 25 Hz.
Hardware
EPICS Node
LabVIEW Node – Windows

11. LabVIEW CA Server (in research)
Allows you to publish LabVIEW data with CA protocol
Supports multiple platforms, hosts and controllers
Windows
VxWorks …
No charge at this point.

12. Channel Access Protocol
EPICS and LabVIEW
Monitoring
Archiving
Analysis
etc….
OPI
LV DSC
EPICS Client
Channel Access Protocol
IOC
EPICS
Database
I/O HW
IOC
EPICS
Database
I/O HW
IOC
EPICS
Database
I/O HW
I/O HW
IOC
EPICS
Database
LabVIEW CAS
NI Controller

13. Thanks for your attentions
Thanks for your attentions! If you are interested in Demo, please contact me!