Labview 2011 always disconnecting over wireless Ethernet bridge!

[blahblahfubar]

Hello, we recently upgraded from labview 2009 to labview 2011. We use a Labview cRio-9014 and FPGA backplane 9114. For connecting the cRio to our laptop we use Digi XPress Ethernet Bridge: Multipoint 900MHz industrial wireless part# XEB09. This program worked over our wireless link running labview 2009 with the old cRio software.

After upgrading the desktop, upgrading the cRio's software and recompiling the FPGA code we tested our setup via a wired ethernet connection and ran it all day with no problems. However once we switched to using our wireless ethernet bridges the cRio disconnects always 2-3 minutes after starting. It also does not allow us to reconnect without powercycling the cRio. The radio modems show a solid connect and no problems the whole time. Now I've searched through known issues and all over the forums without finding anyone having a similar issue so I hope someone can chime in and let me know if something else in LV2011 changed or what.

My current hypothesis is that labview 2011 uses UDP packets for status/keep-alive and our radio modems are not guaranteed to recieve all UDP packets. Please correct me since this is only a guess and I don't know what's going on under the hood on the cRio side.

P.S. I've captured the packet data using WireShark on the laptops side from deployment until disconnection but can't find any obvious problems. It's a fairly large file so let me know if it's needed and I'll try to find a way to upload it.

Hopefully someone can help.

Best Regards,

Sam Bingham

Great Lakes WATER Institute

[blahblahfubar]

attached is a smaller network pcap file containing only labview traffic between the cRIO and laptop.

[Patricia B]

Hello,

Thanks for posting the Wireshark capture. Would you mind posting a few more pieces of information about your system setup such as

cRIO hardware:

NI-RIO driver version:

host operating system:

Regards,

Patricia B.

[jezza]

I have the same problem.  Once I upgraded from Labview 2009 to 2011 (and NI-RIO 3.2.1 to 4.0) I always get disconnected after a couple minutes requiring a powercycle to reconnect.  My Wireshark log is similar to the one attached above although more hectic with many more of the bad TCP sends from my computer to the cRIO (cRIO TCP to my computer is fine, as are other protocols.)

I've done all the obvious and nothing changes: Tried different computers (a 32bit Win 7 and a 64bit Win 7), tried different cRIOs (a 9025 and a 9072), tried plugging direct into the ethernet port, different cables, different ip addresses etc. 

As a sanity check I reformatted the cRIO and re-intalled NI-RIO 3.2.1 2009. It has not disconnected all morning. 2010 does not disconnect either, though both exhibit several regular dropped TCP messages in Wireshark.  Could this be a 2011 bug?

[jezza]

Just got off the phone with ni.  It seems that the NI TimeSync. 1.1.1 program that gets checked when you select all the software is not compatible without a P2P server.  If it can't find the server it disconnects after whatever time.  In MAX, Add Software, select everything else but Uncheck this in the package and reinstall the software.  This will allow the cRIO to stay connected.  There are still lots of dropped TCP messages however, not sure about that. 

[blahblahfubar]

Our host OS is WIn7-64Bit, and XP-32bit but they all display the same behavior.

cRIO hardware: cRio-9014 and FPGA backplane 9114

Our system is has 4 modules installed NI-9205, NI-9401, NI-9401, NI-9870, although we are only using the serial ports on NI-9870.

I looked for the NI TimeSync to remove but it isn't listed in our installation

Contents of current installation:

CompactRIO Support 4.0.0
DataSocket for LabVIEW Real-Time 4.9.0
HTTP Client 1.2.0
HTTP Client with SSL Support 1.2.0
I/O Variable Remote Configuration Web Service 1.0
LabVIEW 2011 Adaptive Filter Toolkit 11.0.0
LabVIEW PID and Fuzzy Logic Toolkit 11.0.0
LabVIEW Real-Time 11.0
Language Support for LabVIEW RT 1.0.0.4
NI Application Web Server 2.0
NI System Configuration 5.0.0
NI System Configuration Network Support 5.0.0
NI Web-based Configuration and Monitoring 2.0.0
NI-RIO 4.0.0
NI-Serial RT 3.8.0
NI-VISA 5.1
NI-VISA ENET Passport 5.1
NI-VISA ENET-ASRL Passport 5.1
NI-VISA Remote Passport 5.1
NI-VISA Server 5.1
NI-VISA USB Passport 5.1
Network Streams 1.1
Network Variable Engine 1.8.0
Remote Panel Server for LabVIEW RT 4.0.0
Run-Time Engine for Web Services 4.0.0
SSL Support for LabVIEW RT 4.0.0
System State Publisher 2.0.0
Variable Client Support for LabVIEW RT 1.8.0

[Patricia B]

Hello,

Do you have a secondary NIC? Can you ping the device once it disconnects in MAX? I would like to know if anything can connect over the wireless bridge after MAX fails to connect.

Regards,

Patricia B.

[blahblahfubar]

I am able to ping the another device over the bridge after labview disconnects and max disconnects, so I'm fairly certain the issue is not with the radio modems.

[Che_T.]

Hi blahblahfubar,

To summarize the situation, here is my understanding:

Wired:

-LV 2009 and LV 2011 work

Wireless bridge

-LV 2009 works

-LV 2011 times out

Based on that evidence, it seems like the program is running fine.  It also suggests that it's not a resource error (CPU and memory are fine).  At this point, it'd be good to look at the console out of your device to see if any other clues can be found.  Please refer to the following link and post the data that you've generated.

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/354A5124E6A667988625701B004A77CD?OpenDocument

Regards,

[Jeremy_L]

Hi Sam,

Any chance you can get a MAX report from this system and post it here?  That will also help us get more information about your system to diagnose the problem.