Pressure scanner VI - connection via ethernet port

[peteryoung]

Hi all

I am trying to create a simple VI which will communicate with some pressure tapping equipment, since the manufacturer's software does not do exactly what we need.  The equipment is connected via the ethernet port of my computer.

They supply LabView drivers on their website and I have managed to get these working. 

http://www.pressuresystems.com/netscanner_software.html

I've adapted these VIs slightly as I need to acquire data from 4 separate modules which have 4 different IP addresses (see attached).  There are 16 channels per module.

My VI simply uses a For Loop and runs a separate TCP read command for each module, however this appears to be quite inefficient as the program runs too slowly.  Ideally I'd like to be able to get up to 100 samples/second, across all 64 channels.  I've tried to trim down the VI as much as possible which has made a small improvement.

It takes about 50 milliseconds to do a 'read' command from each module, meaning that the fastest I can get is ~5Hz.

Does anyone have any experience with communicating with hardware via an ethernet cable?  Is there a more efficient way that I can structure the program so it runs quicker?

This is my first attempt at using LabView with non-NI hardware, so I'm slightly out of my depth here!

Many thanks

Pete

[Rico P]

Hi Pete,

Thanks for your post. Can you tell me all the hardware you are using. This will help me when finding a solution.

Kind regards

[Rico P]

Hi Pete,

There's a number of things to consider, the speed the hardware can transmit data, bandwidth, is it connected via a network and if so what else is using the network and finally the program.

Seeing as the program was developed by the company who made the hardware, I would recommend contacting them aswell because they will know their hardware and there program better.

Kind regards

[peteryoung]

Hi Rico

thanks for your reply.  i should have posted this info before....

we have a Netscanner 98RK with four 9816 modules

http://www.pressuresystems.com/9816-rk1.html

the computer is 1.6GHz with 1Gb of RAM and is running XP with LabView 8.2

cheers

Pete

[peteryoung]

also there are no other network devices connected when i'm running the program

[peteryoung]

sorry i misunderstood.  the hardware is connected directly to my computer with an ethernet cable (i.e. not via a network)

[Rico P]

Hi Pete,

I can't find anything wrong with your code that would make it run slower. I would ask the company that provided the code and hardware exactly how fast the hardware together with the code over your ethernet cable can run. It may even be a problem with the hardware. The only other thing I can think of is if you are writing to a file over the network it may cause it to run much slower, but looking at your default path it looks like your writing on the same PC.

I'm sorry I haven't been of more help.

Regards

[peteryoung]

hi Rico

many thanks for your help.  i managed to get some assistance from the manufacturers.  they have suggested other commands to use which will enable streaming from the device at higher sample rates

thanks

Pete

[Rico P]

Your welcome Pete.

Good luck with your application!!