Producer consumer control of temperature

Hello Everyone
Im using a DAQ 6008, and Labview 8.5 to achieve the following outcome:
measure the temperature across a heater bank, compare the temperature to set point, using PID, output a analog value - (0 -5) this then is used to control the duty cycle of pwm output in labview (pwm vi)
I previously tried to write this all into 1 while loop, however due to the slow duty cycle required (1hz) for my output, and the fast sampling of the input I got a 200279 error.
After reading many forums, I have now converted this to a producer consumer loop. Where the Producer loop, reads the temp, and PID produces an output, it outputs the result to the consumer loop, to create the duty cycle of my pwm output.
I have a question about the queuing data: My worry is that "old duty" cycle values will be building up in the queue, resulting in a old duty cycles for the pwm output, which do not correspond to the latest as possible temperature - resulting in a unstable control.
Was hoping some one would be able to clarify this ?
Thanks/ Dankie

If you only want the latest data, use a notifier instead. The notifier can only store a single value.
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Measurement and control via Producer/Consumer

Hello folks,
Iam trying to realise an automated projekt, for testing an actuator.
It has to Measure the Signals, process them and also has to create signals controling the actuator.
So far no Problem....But,it also has to run trough 3 or more Test-cycles of wich each has different ControlSignals.
(example: Test1 - input: 40VSin(40Hz), Test2 - input:Triangle, Test 3 - input: 100Vsin(100Hz)
It still doesnt sound quite difficult, but as an LabView beginner, i´m having a lot of trouble finding the Right Structure to realise all This. normally i use SPS systems, but this time it has to be Labview
Had some trys an hav uploaded them.
But The Producer/Consumer Structure makes some Problems. It doesnt give out any Signals from the ProducerLoop. :/
Is there any outher way programing Labview more efficient for that Problem ?
Sorry 4 the bad English
Greetings
Solved!
Go to Solution.
Attachments:
ProcessTest2.vi ‏129 KB

MarioMueller wrote:
Hello folks,
Iam trying to realise an automated projekt, for testing an actuator.
It has to Measure the Signals, process them and also has to create signals controling the actuator.
So far no Problem....But,it also has to run trough 3 or more Test-cycles of wich each has different ControlSignals.
(example: Test1 - input: 40VSin(40Hz), Test2 - input:Triangle, Test 3 - input: 100Vsin(100Hz)
It still doesnt sound quite difficult, but as an LabView beginner, i´m having a lot of trouble finding the Right Structure to realise all This. normally i use SPS systems, but this time it has to be Labview
Had some trys an hav uploaded them.
But The Producer/Consumer Structure makes some Problems. It doesnt give out any Signals from the ProducerLoop. :/
Is there any outher way programing Labview more efficient for that Problem ?
Sorry 4 the bad English
Greetings
your architecture is hard to follow. i think you can do this with a state machine..write out your test requirements in steps and what requirement you need to transition. be more specific in describing your problems (error messeges?)..

Producer consumer timing

Back again
Thought I was getting somewhere now I am at another brick wall.
Bit of background:
I have a producer consumer set up. In the producer loop there are 2 DAQmx read VI's reading from a Pressure task and a Temperature task. These are multiple channels, 1 sample, outputtng a 1D wave form. This loop is set to run every 20ms. The two tasks were created using DAQmx Create Channel VI's and DAQmx Start Task VI's. The producer loop feeds a display on the front panel with the sensor values and this hopefully is refreshed at the 50Hz I have asked for. Secondly the loop bundles up the waveforms and puts them in a queue where they are picked up for logging by the consumer loop. In the consumer loop I have a wait 1000ms timer and a Write to Measurment File Express VI to do the logging. This is supposed to log at 1 per second.
The queue is set to enqueue at opposite end, and the max queue length is set to 1. I.E. I only want to log the value at that specific second, but I want to show the data on the front panel at 50 times a second.
Now heres my problems:
1) I replaced the DAQmx Create channel's with a MAX project task wired into my DAQmx Start Task VI. As expected the thing picks up and displays the sensor values as it did before. However there is now a problem logging. Before when I had the DAQmx Create Channel, the logging recorded my values correctly at 1 second intervals. The time stamp in the X column went up by 1 second for each set of results. But now, with the MAX project task (needed because of custom scales and differing min/max values for different sensors), The logging still seems to happen at 1 per second, but the time stamp intervals are the same as the sampling rate set in the task!!! (ie at 50Hz the time stamp goes up 20ms for each result even though the results are being recorded at 1 per second)
2) The timing just seems out of whack.
I keep getting errors that the requested data no longer exists, that it was there but then was over written. Increasing the buffer size or sampling rate is supposed to remedy this... but what sampling rate? the rate set in the task? or the loop iteration speed? I dont understand.
Secondly, despite telling my consumer loop to wait one second between picking up stuff out of the queue to log, it seems to be going round nearly the same pace as the producer loop. To top this off the producer isnt going round at the speed I asked it too either! I put indicators on the loop counters to see this. they are going round at maybe 2Hz.
I have included my VI's
What am I doing wrong, its really bugging the crap out of me!
Attachments:
EngineMon.zip ‏90 KB

The reason you would use get time and date in seconds to to ensure that you log every second. If you use the 1 second wait then you do not take into account the exicution time of your loop. If you add more to the loop in the future than you will see that you do not log every second as you thought. If you loop took 500ms to exicute and you have the 1000ms wait then the actual excution time for recoding to file is 1.5 seconds not 1000ms as you desired. The way I did it will always give you one second unless you exicution time for your loop exceeds one second.''
I did make one change to the vi. I shoulod have put the write in the true false case so that the write only happens when the 1 second has expired.
Tim
Johnson Controls
Holland Michigan
Attachments:
VDU3.vi ‏59 KB

Producer/Consumer Architecture

Hello All,
I am currently working on an application using State Machine Architecture where I have to monitor various parameters (7 temperature values & 3 pressure values), along with this I have to On/Off a Clutch using a digital Output for set time (e.g. On for "X" seconds OFF for "Y" seconds), but as soon as the pressure and temperature values go beyond upper or lower limits or whenever the user presses the Emergency Stop (that means I have to monitor Digital Input as well) so I am moving to different error cases depending on which values go beyond limits or emregency pressed etc..
But this realisation is not working fine as I have to monitor and control several other things in addition to acquiring data....till now I just have used State Machine Architecture, I have seen Producer/Consumer Template but not quite sure how to realise such kind of application which involves data acquisition along with user interaction and monitoring.
Could someone please put some light on giving similar kind of example or what else I can try with this problem.
Regards
James

Hello James,
A Producer/Consumer architecture will certainly do the trick for you. I am sending you an example that has the Data Acquisition section in the producer loop. However, you can also put your User Interface in the Producer loop and have the Data Acquisition in the Consumer loop. The Queues are used for sending data from the Producer to the Consumer(s) loop(s) (you can have multiple comsumer loops).
You will just have to design specific cases to react to different user inputs.
By the way, this example is from LabVIEW Basics II training course. If you have never taken LabVIEW Basics I and II, I highly recommend them. You can self-pace the class or take it with an instructor.
LabVIEW Courses
Hope this helps!
Message Edited by Kalin T on 03-23-2007 09:57 AM
Kalin T.
National Instruments
Attachments:
ImplementedProducerConsumer.zip ‏250 KB

Producer consumer error 200279

Hello,
So I’m about to go crazy and hoping someone can help me here. I’m writing a program that controls a motor and using a producer/consumer method to write the data at 10,000 intervals a second. I’ve read through multiple examples and I don’t see what I’m missing. I’m trying to record 18 different readings from a DAQ 9178, 3 readings for voltage module NI 9205, 1 reading for current module Ni 9203, 2 readings for accelerometer module Ni 9234 and 12 readings for temperature module 9213. Every time I run the program I keep getting the error message 200279 and it states that it’s trying to read samples that no longer exist. It advised me to increase the buffer rate. So I did as it suggested in multiple ways and the error messages keeps showing up. I’ve also shut down the computer, exited and restarted Labview several times and none of this worked. I have included the a picture file below. Where the problem is, is in the producer loop and the error is shown coming out of the DAQ error indicator. One idea I had but I’m unsure how to approach it is to somehow mean the data coming out of the DAQ to reduce what’s getting to the buffer. If anyone knows how to fix this problem please explain it in detail (I mean talk to me like I’m stupid) cause I’ve been stuck on this problem for almost two weeks now. Thank you in advance to anyone who can help.
SteelTiki
Solved!
Go to Solution.

The DAQ error isn't related to your choice of architecture, although your implementation of it might be hurting you. It's almost impossible to follow what's going on in your diagram because you have wires running in many directions (try to keep data flowing from left to right), there are local variables all over the place (almost definitely not needed), and there's a lot of code that's not in the image or is hidden in another frame of the sequence. Normally one would not have the event structure as the consumer loop (as you've done), and it's generally not a good idea to have multiple event structure in the same VI (with rare exceptions usually involving user events). It might not solve your problem but it would be worth taking the time to clean up your diagram. Eliminate sequence structures and local variables as much as possible, move some code into subVIs, and straighten out your wires.
As for the DAQ error: the DAQ board is reading data into a circular buffer, and you're not reading it fast enough, so samples are being overwritten. The reason you're not reading it fast enough is because you only read a single sample at a time (the DAQmx Read is configured for 1 sample on multiple channels) but you say you're acquiring 10,000 samples/second. Since your loop won't run 10,000 times per second, you're not reading all the data, which causes the error. Try configuring the DAQmx Read for multiple samples.

Producer consumer waveform x axis

I've run into a problem and I'm not sure of the source. I'm developing a program that reads, displays, and writes thermocouple readings at different rates. I'm using the producer-consumer architecture and while the sample rate will not be an option, the refresh rate of the chart that displays some of the temperatures will be controlled by the user. I've been working with the attached example trying to understand where the problem lies with no luck. The consumer loop is set to wait 2 seconds which I can tell it does but the x-axis still counts every second. How do I sample from the producer loop and have the correct time and temperature displayed by the chart in the consumer loop?
Thanks.
LabVIEW 2012 - Windows 7
CLAD
Attachments:
Plot Starting at Zero Seconds-2.vi ‏31 KB

Sorry I can't look at your code right now as I am still waiting for my beta copy of LV for Android to arrive -- but seriously the x axis of a graph increments by 1 unless you set the multiplier property to something else.
Mike...
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Timed structure for output in producer consumer data acquisition

Hello LabVIEW community,
I have a bit of a problem. I am writing a program that is primarily for data aquisition but has a few control features as well. I need the program to aquire and write several channels of data at a relitively high speed. The program does this fine ( in the top 3 loops fo the program). I need the program to also send a seires of two output signals in response to a particular condition. When a certain channel registers a value of above a specified number, I need an output channel to write an anologue signal for 225 seconds and then a signal of a differnt value to the same channel untill the condition occurs again (not for several hours).
I put this action in a timed structure inside of a case structure. The case structure and timed structure are inside of a second consumer loop. I have no idea if this is ligitimate. This event takes much longer than any of the other loops which run at 1 or 2 seconds. When I exicute the program with "highlight exexutuion" this longer (case/ timed ) loop never executes. I asssume this has to do with the mismatch in time scales of this loop and the other loops in the program. I also didn't really understand the help information on timed structures, so its possible that I just need better/ different inputs to the timed stuctures.
If anyone can see any obvious problem in the code or suggest a better way to do the output function I would really appreciate the help. My code is attached.
Thanks,
Jo

I can't figure out how to fix your code, but I can point out the things I see wrong with it.
1. You are dequeueing elements from the same queue in the same loop. In one you are not taking the element, and in parallel, you are taking an element. I see that in your bottom two loops. Why? That code won't execute until the queue gets two elements in it. And which dequeue gets it first and which gets it second is an arbitrary race condition. So there is no certainly of order (first 4 vs. last 4 currents in the one loop), or which gets kept and which gets discarded (in the other loop.)
2. You are creating and/or clearing DAQ tasks in every loop iteration. Tasks should be created before a loop, used inside the loop (read or write), then cleared once the loop is done. Anything else is wasteful, time consuming, and could lead you to run out of resources.
3. You are using the STOP function which is pretty much like hitting the abort button on the toolbar. No program should ever stop that way. All loops should exit gracefully.
4. You have a data dependncy between your bottom two loops because of the boolean wire running from one to the other. That bottom loop will only run once (if the value is True), or run forever (if the value is false).
5. Use of the dynamic datatype. You are taking waveforms, converting them to a blue wire, then coercing them into another datatype such as just displaying a scalar in an indicator. A lot of unnecessary conversions there.
6. Your thermometer indicators have a digital display you can make visible. Then you won't need the separate numeric indicator to display the value.
7. For loop that runs only 1 time because of the constant wired to the N terminal. Get rid of the For Loop.
8. Check your spelling. The word "Temperatures" on the graph, and one instance of "distillate" is missing an "l".
Until all of these problems are fixed, it is not worth talking about timing of timed structures. Some of these problems were discussed in your other thread. http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/producer-consumer-missing-channels/m-p/3159757#M911255 But now it seems like you've made things even more complicated without fixing the basic problems.

Progmatically stop vi with producer/consumer architecture

I can't seem to get my VI to fully stop, so that I can go on to do some more things in the program. I am trying to progmatically stop the vi (pictured below), so that I can return to my main gui (not pictured). The main gui just consists of a login, exit test system, and run test. Once the user presses run test, the vi pictured below opens.
I am using a producer/consumer architecture with a state machine. The problem I run into is that when I press the "Main Menu" button, it should close the pictured vi and return to the main gui. I tried using the vi server, and when the user presses the Main Menu button, it fires an event and then it goes to the Stop state in the consumer loop, which opens a reference to the vi's (one for the strip chart vi and another for the gage vi), closes the front panel using an invoke node and then closing the reference. I also tried adding in the abort vi method after the close front panel and it still gave me the same result.
Here is the catch, it does close the vi's, but it does not stop the while loops (producer and consumer), or it stops only one of the loops. I thought of putting in a constant in the event structure for when the Main Menu event is fired, but that will stop the producer loop before the consumer loop reveices the info to go to the stop state, so the consumer loop does not end.
I also tried a "dummy" control that was connected to the comsumer loop Stop terminal (for the while loop), and then progmatically changed the value in the stop case to true and then read that value in the producer loop to, hopefully, stop both loops, but it did not work either.
I am sure that it is something so stuipidly simple that I cant see it right now
Kenny
Kenny
Attachments:
test system.gif ‏252 KB

Hi Kenny,
I think of two solutions to your problem. First, use the message queue to pass the message "stop" or something from producer to consumer or second (and I think, better), use occurrences. I made a little draft how it could work.
You have to pass the occurence- Refnum to both VIs, the producer and the consumer, when the producer finishes execution, then use "Set Occurence".
In the consumer blockdiagram you react on the generated occurrence.
If you set in the VI- properties "Open Frontpanel when called" and "Close if originally..." the VI Frontpanel should disappear itself when execution is stopped.
Hope this helps,
Dave
Message Edited by daveTW on 08-14-2006 04:53 PM
Greets, Dave
Attachments:
occurrence 1.png ‏1 KB
occurrence 2.png ‏5 KB

First attempt at Producer Consumer Architecture: continuous read and dynamically update parameters.

Hello,
I am currently working with two instruments; an Agilent E3646A and an NI 6212 BNC. My objective is to have the 6212 to be continuously taking measurements according to predefined parameters while the E3646A's parameters can be continuously updated. This simple instrument combination is intended to help me learn the necessarry achitecture; continuous measurement, dynamic output control, and more instruments will be added in the future.
I've previously posted on a similar, but more complicated, setup (http://forums.ni.com/t5/Instrument-Control-GPIB-Serial/Split-second-lag-when-controlling-two-instrum... and was advised to try the Producer Consumer Architecture. I've found relevant literature on the site (http://www.ni.com/white-paper/3023/en/, https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-2431), searched the forums and constructed my own VI. While my first attempt at a Producer Consumer Architecture has resolved some of the issues I was having when I first posted on the subject, however, new issues have arisen with regard to reading and stopping the VI.
I am currently able to run the VI and update the device parameters. Previously, I would get a freeze while the instrument was being updated and could not toggle parameters until it was done. This has been resolved although the read only updates when a parameter has been updated although it is outside of the event structure. Furthermore the Stop button does not work in any context. I've also gotten occasional errors regarding the Deqeue Element but the bulk of the trouble is Error -200279 "Attempted to read samples that are no longer available" at DAQmx Read. I realize that there is a problem in my Producer Loop but haven't been able to figure out how to resolve it.
This is my first attempt at a Producer Consumer Architecture and already I can see that it is a powerful tool. I read as much as I could and looked at the relevant examples but expected to have some issues in the beginning. Would really appreciate any advice so I can take full advantage of the architecture.
Hope to hear from you,
Yusif Nurizade
Solved!
Go to Solution.
Attachments:
DCe3646A_DAQ6212_Prod_Con_4_13a_2014.vi ‏89 KB

Jon,
Thank you for the response and the suggestions.
I created the Local Variable for the Stop Button and moved the original into its own Event Case. It is now able to stop VI execution although I get Warning -1073676294 which I understand to be the buffer issue. The warning says that this was incurred on VISA Open for the E3646A's Initialize VI which is outside both loops, however, which I don't understand.
I tried increasing buffer size by decreasing the Number of Samples as per suggestions I found on NI forum threads. I've brought it down as low as 1 but the graph still only updates when an Event occurs and I keep getting the same buffer error. You suggested that the problem could be that they are in the same loop; does this mean that the DAQmx read should be outside both Producer and Consumer Loops or moved into the Consumer Loop? I found a couple of links ( http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Producer-Consumer-Design-Pattern-DAQmx-Event-Structure/td-p/2744450 , http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Producer-Consumer-Architecture/td-p/494883 -first response) on dealing with an Event Structure that my own VI is based. Alternatively, I found another link ( http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Producer-Consumer-Design-Pattern-DAQmx-Event-Structure/td-p/2744450 - first response) on a DAQmx Read with an Event Structure that places the graph in the Consumer Loop.
The core of my purpose in setting up this Producer Consumer Architecture is so that I could read continuously while the instrument parameters are updated dynamically so it's very important that I understand how this works. I am particularly struggling with how the Event Structure is controlling the While Loop's Execution.
Hope to hear form you,
Yusif Nurizade
Attachments:
DCe3646A_DAQ6212_Prod_Con_4_14a_2014_Edit_I.vi ‏90 KB

Running subVI in parallel with itself using producer-consumer pattern

I'm using the procuder-consumer pattern to create what I call threads in response to various events much like in Producer Consumer with Event Structure and Queues
I have several physical instruments, and would like to run the exact
same test in parallel on each of the instruments. I have a subVI
that takes as inputs a VISA resource and a few control references among
other things and then performs the desired experiment. I have a
separate consumer loop for each physical instrument, with this subVI
inside each consumer loop.
My test VI worked great; each consumer loop was a simple while loop
incrementing a numeric indicator (not using my real subVI above).
However, my real program can only run one consumer loop at a time much
to my dismay. Reworking my simple test VI to use a subVI to
increment the indicator rather than just explicitly coding everything
resulted in the same problem: only a single consumer loop ran at a time
(and as I stopped the running loop, another would get a chance to
begin). The subVI in this case was extremely
simple taking only a ref to the indicator and a ref to a boolean to
stop, and incrementing the indicator in a while-loop.
Is there a way around this? Now that I've spent the time making a
nice subVI to do the entire experiment on on the physical instrument, I
thought it would be fairly trivial to extend this to control multiple
instruments performing the same experiment in parallel. It seems
only one instance of a given subVI may run at one time. Is this
true? If it is indeed true, what other options do I have? I
have little desire to recode my subVI to manually handle multiple
physical instruments; this would also result in a loss of functionality
as all parallel experiments would run more or less in lock step without
much more complexity.
Thank you.

You need to make your subvi reentrant. Then it can run several instances at any time with each instance occupying its own unique memory space. Click on File - VI Properties - Execution, and check the reentry execution checkbox. Then save the vi.
- tbob
Inventor of the WORM Global

Producer Consumer Start Trigger

Short Explanation: I'm using a 3rd party device to send a TTL signal to use as my start trigger in my VI. My cDAQ and modules appear to have the ability to send a start trigger independantly but I have been unable to hunt down how to do this in a producer/consumer system. I do have an idea at the bottom of the long explanation.
Long Explanation:
I'm running a test system that monitors the pressure wave from a hydrogen/oxygen ignition. Components are a cDAQ-9188 with modules 9222 (x3 high speed AI), 9481 (x2 relay), 9402 (x1 I/O Module), 9221 ("Low" Speed AI).
Based upon recommendations in this forum I've placed my DAQ in a producer/consumer architecture.
At this point the system mostly works, I still have a few more things to add for all the information I want to collect. However, it records at high speed and the 9221 and the 9222 modules are synchronized. It has successfully collected good data as of this writing.
When the system starts it will monitor, but not record. I need to fill the test structure with gas to a specific concentration before I ignite/record. When I press the record button I send a TTL signal from the 9402 to my high speed camera and I close a relay on a 9481 which engages a spark system. The spark system takes a variable amount of time to charge and fire so I have a timer that leaves the TTL and the relay active for a half second.
My problem, and it's a small one, comes in with the monitoring system and the synchronization. In order to get the system to synchronize properly I had to generate an external pulse into PFI0 to use as a trigger. I attempted to assign the various clocks available as a start trigger but I ended up with unsynchronized data.
Is there a way to generate a pulse on my 9402 to use as a trigger? It feels silly to me to use an external device when I have something that can generate the signal I need.
In thinking about this post I might have solved my problem, at least in my head. I'm thinking I can move the TTL output VI (which I will eventually change to DAQmx) into the producer loop and move my true/false statements to the consumer loop as a 1D array within my queue to start the record. Probably more to it than that but I can only learn by experimentation right?
Thoughts? Recommendations?
VI attached.
Solved!
Go to Solution.
Attachments:
HUCTA Controls.vi ‏186 KB

You can't generate a pulse with the 9402 itself. The pulse would actually be generated by the 9188. You should create a Counter Output task to generate a pulse train. Try the attached example as a start point to experiment with the counter.
This Vi is for LabVIEW 2013, if you have an older version let me know and I will try to convert it.
Camilo V.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
www.ni.com/support
Attachments:
Pulse Train Generator.vi ‏18 KB

Producer consumer vs state machine

Hi there,
I have been on and around for quite a while to understand how can I re-design an application, which was originally built using a mix of sequence structure, while loops and event structures. And now I am making a newer version of the same application, for research purposes, while learning the LabVIEW techniques. Earlier I used LabVIEW versions 5 and 6 to make simple programs for fuzzy logic and neural networks. And that's not a good reference.
Ok, after learning that Producer Consumer (PC) and Standard State Machines (SSM or SM) are two new approaches for a better (scalable, flexible and efficient) coding as suggest by veterans, in one thread where I asked about another issue, I have started digging into this topic and now I am on a point where I have to implement it finally (spent pretty much time in the learning phase).
I have several questions.
To start the discussion, I would give a brief description of my application.
It's a networked application, where the network communication happens using DataSocket (one reason to use LabVIEW as the environment).
We are talking about the client application, which communicates with other applications on remote computer, via Internet.
User interface involves a tab control, with several pages-
On startup, the controls/indicators (now onwards referred as controls only), are initialized, datasocket connection is checked (rather internet is checked, and a connection established with the remote datasocket server) (page 1)
If connected to the datasocket server, the user selects Login/Registration (page 2)
Login and/or Registration happen on page 3/4
Then the user sees a table of remote users to connect to (page 5)
Upon selection of a remote user, and after clicking on "connect", the user will see a video indicator, with a lot of other controls. (page 6)
On this page with video indicator and controls, the user has a lot of activities, in which many messages are sent and received to/from the remote machine.
the user may disconnect and go back to page 5, and log out and go back to page 2 and so on.
I hope this is clear.
I have thought about two different ways to do this application. Using PS or by SSM.
In the attachments, I have given a diagram (with errors, of course, because of unlinked controls), for each of the approach, plus the original application's diagram.
I hope this is sufficient for anybody to understand my case and give suggestions.
I am looking for suggestions about which is a better model for my type of case. I have been to discussions like this one and saw that there are many issues regarding dequeue in PC model. So I am curious to know if SSM is a better and latest model or it's more primitive? Which looks better for my application's performance?
Thanks ahead!
Vaibhav
Attachments:
OldDesign.vi ‏41 KB
PCDesign.vi ‏42 KB
SSMDesign.vi ‏46 KB

Vaibhav wrote:
@ Harold
Thanks. Any suggestion how can I start and stop that loop in parallel with other loops? Like, if some event occurs, the loop should start execution, and keep on moving, while other events are being traced and executed.
In those examples where you had a while loop inside a case structure, that bit of code will only execute one time. It will immediately read the boolean at the start of the program, if the value was true before the porgram started, then the while loop will run. Once that while loop stops, the case structure will end. It will never execute again unless you completely stop and restart your program. If the boolean is false before the program starts, the false case will execute immediately. Nothing happens since it is empty and it is done, never to run again (unless you stop and restart your VI) You should turn the structure around. Put the case structure in the while loop. Make sure you put a small wait statement in the loop so that it doesn't run full speed eating up CPU cycles just polling the status of the boolean.
@ Ravens
Thanks for the detailed comment.
One thing I would clarify. The user will not be able to switch between the pages using the tab control. The program will direct appropriate page to the user. I kept the tabs visible just for your idea of the pages. Sorry, I didn't mention that.
Do you think it's still a bad design?
If the tabs will be hidden or disabled, you will probably be okay. I wouldn't call it a bad design. I wouldn't do it that way. But as long as you understand the possibility of problems and prevent that. Especially some time down the road when you modify the program in some other way that could lead to a problem because you forgot about the dependencies of the event structures on the state of the state machine.
Yes, I agree about only one event structure to handle all the events. But since the user will not be able to click somewhere else, other than those possible controls, I thought to keep it like this.
I thought the events are captured only if we are in that case. I think I am wrong, right? Events are captured at any time, even if the case has never executed before, or will never execute. Ok, The events will be captured, but will not be executed until in that case.
And that's the reason why I have two separate event structures, in two separate phases of the program.
Because, prior to page 6, the events will occur sequencially. The user will click somewhere, then some message will be transmitted over DataSocket, then some message may come , then again some user action and so on. But, when the user starts using page 6, there will be parallel process of user controls events and actions, and incoming messages and corresponding actions. For this, in the page 6, I need a different kind of execution. So I separated the two event structures.
At first I thought to have SSM, and then I thought to PC, just because I can have two separate parallel processes - one for user events, and another for messages (because that way I can take maximum advantage of message tracking). But looking at other complexities, I find SSM more appropriate. Can you please tell me how can I have my message loop and events loop parallel to each other and just one event structure?
You can have a dequeue function in your state machine loop and have it be a consumer loop. Use a timeout on the Dequeue. If there is a timeout, have the statemachine execute normally after that perhaps just passing the enum wire straight into the case structure of the state machine. If it doesn't timeout meaning you got a message, then look at the message that is dequeued and act on it. Perhaps it means ignoring the enum coming in from the shift register and changing the enum to something else to feed into the case structure of the state machine. Attached is an example
Attachments:
PCDesign[1]_BD.png ‏6 KB

Producer consumer loop for serial comms

I have an application where I am trying to read and write to a serial port using a producer consumer loop. My producer consumer loop seems to work fine until I put the serial comm VIs in the consumer loop. Prior to that my event structure in the producer loop seems to work fine and all the controls on the front panel send commands into the queue and the expected reaction happens in the consumer loop. When I put serial comm VIs into the consumer loop the application will read the serial port but none of the other controls on the front panel ever get any reaction from the consumer loop. I am not sure if I am using the producer consumer loops correctly when using comms at the same time. Any help would be appreciated!!
I have attached the VI for your inspection.
Attachments:
pinger comms.vi ‏65 KB

You could probably continue with your original architecture as well. Just put the check for bytes at port in the Read case of the consumer loop. As you said, it takes 1-2 seconds for the device to send data. So the original architecture didn't work because you were queueing up 20 reads per second in the timeout case, but the consumer loop was taking up to a second for a single byte to come in.
If you check for bytes in the consumer loop, if none are there, the Read case will end quickly and won't wait for that byte to come in.
You should also probably increase the timeout of the event structure to 100-200 mseconds or even more. The event structure would still respond instantaneously to user interface events. And you would only be generating the timeout case a few times per second. Which means when a byte comes in, it would probably be sitting there only 100 mseconds or so before you read it. Unless you go click happy and generate lots of other events not allowing the timeout case to run.

Producer/consumer w/ScanEngine issue

All,
I have a large VI implemented with producer/consumer architecture using 10 events and uses conditional disables to select the data acquisition hardware. The application is being developed in LV2009 with FPGA & RT on XP. The application is intended to acquire and control analog signals in a cRIO-9073, but early development is done using LV simulated signals. I can switch back/forth between the different configurations quickly & easily. In the simulation mode, the front panel, controls, events, etc; all behave as one would expect. When the conditional disable is changed to use ScanEngine and cRIO modules, then a very primary control fails to generate an event and does not function. All other controls that can be tested are functional and generate their events. I am at a loss and seeking suggestions on techniques to diagnose & fix the problem. The application behaves as if the 'event structure' for primary control gets corrupted or some size threshold is been exceeded. The whole concept, scanEngine based and simulated data, were functioning several days ago prior to numeruous edits and I can revert back to not using the scan engine and cRIO hardware with simulated data to validate correct function, but that is not the intended final path. At the present time, I am stuck and looking for ideas. All suggestions will be considered and appreciated. The applicatiion is company proprietary and can't be posted. Thanks in advance.

I can definitely understand your confusion, and on the surface it seems like everything should transfer over. However, when using simulated data you won't get errors that can occur once you introduce hardware. Errors can prevent events from occuring, there is also the issue of timing, to see if when using actual hardware, the timing causes issues. As I menationed before, there are a hundred different reasons why it would work with simulated data, but not actual hardware. Please let me know if you need further direction in your troubleshooting.
National Instruments
Applications Engineer

Producer/Consumer Design Pattern + DAQmx + Event Structure

Dear community users,
at the moment I try to implement the Producer/Consumer Design Pattern into my current project. For this purpose I am trying to make a "minimal-example" in which I use the Producer/Consumer Design Pattern for the data acquisition and analysis (display in GraphXY, calculation etc..) process. In the Producer Loop I perform the data readings via DAQmxRead.VI and in the Consumer Loop, in this example only, I display the data in a GraphXY. At the same time I want to control the data acquisition via an Event Structure, for example Start Measurement/Stop Measurement Buttons. To configure the measurement time, for example if the user only wants to measure 150 sec, I use the Time Out Event of the Event Structure. This is a technique which is often used, when data acquisition and Event Structures are used at the same time (Excuse me if this is wrong!). Due to understand the Producer/Consumer Design Pattern I looked up in the Template\Framework of LabVIEW.
In the attachment you will find my "minimal-example", which -sadly-, not working. What should I do ?
Thank you.
Best regards,
tugrul öztürk
Attachments:
daqEngine_PCP.vi ‏35 KB

Your VI will never stop due to the Ok Button that stops the producer loop is read OUTSIDE of the loop. Add an event case for it.
Move the Start and the Ok Button inside of their respective event cases. This will allow the latch to reset when they are read.
Change the Ok Button to a stop button.
Use a Greater Or Equal instead of Equal for the measurement time comparison. What if somebody randomly changes it to 0 on you? Again, you will never stop.
Is the DAQ only supposed to read for "Measurement Time". Right now, it constantly reads. So if you don't use the DAQmx Read, you will get a buffer overflow error. You need to put the DAQmx Start Task inside of the Start event case and then the Stop DAQmx Task inside of the Timeout event case when the measurement time is exceeded. You should also perform the read regardless inside of the Timeout event case.
I HATE telling the consumer loop to stop by destroying the queue. You can look data that way. Instead, send something an empty array. In the consumer, check for an empty array. If it is empty, stop. Destroy the queue only AFTER BOTH LOOPS HAVE COMPLETED.
You should also report your errors in some way. Simple Error Handler at the minimum.
Since you are using Continous Samples, don't limit the buffer. Leave the Samples per Channel unwired on the DAQmx Timing VI.
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