New to labview - doing a serious project

[theseas]

Hi all

Im createing a data aqcquisition project to monitor and record four sensors, this data will go into the

 DAQ system then sent to a serial port rs232 which some how I gota send to the PC with labview. The PC

has a "PHOENIX CONTACT" port board pluged in  using parallel.Tho im wondering could I just connect the

 DAQ system to

 the PC's serial connection for labview to monitor the sensors????? Ive only started to use labview.

Im assumeing I can do this but how.?

If I cant well id probably hav to convert back from serial to parallel which is ok but just an extra step.

Cheers

Shawn

[JoeFriedchicken]

Hi Shawn,

I'm a bit confused about how your data acquisition will flow. Your four sensors will connect to your DAQ device and your DAQ device will connect to your PC. It sounds like the DAQ device is the Phoenix Contact port board you mentioned, but I'm not sure. Also, how does the DAQ device connect to your PC? You mentioned both parallel and serial, so is it both?

At any rate, assuming that you use the RS-232 connection, LabVIEW has simple interaction with serial ports. There is a group examples that install with LabVIEW which I think would be great resources for you as you design your project. They can be found in the Example Finder under Help » Find Examples.... From there, navigate to Hardware Input and Output » Serial to see the different examples. The Basic Serial Write and Read.vi would be a good place to start.

[theseas]

Hi joe

Thaks for replying.

Sensors > DAQ system > telemetry TX > telemetry RX  > PC

On the PC their is a green "Phoenix Contact"  < which is written on the back???  It looks like this picture : Which I have know clue what is for.  

But am assuming is intended for labview. This device is connected to the back of the PC via parallel

[JeffOverton]

That looks like a terminal block to me.  As in, you have a bunch of wires that come in, and you can arrange them by common purpose.  So if four wires all need the save voltage, you connect them to the same block as a voltage source, and if three other wires need constant current, you connect them and a current source to another block.

edit - yep

Message Edited by JeffOverton on 03-21-2008 08:18 AM

[JoeFriedchicken]

Hi Shawn,

I'm not familiar with Phoenix Contact terminal blocks, but if you could describe how you would control one, I may be able to suggest a starting point for getting it controlled by LabVIEW.

Basically, I would need to know how you communicate with your DAQ system. I see you've written telemetry Tx/Rx, but would you expand on that? Do you send commands as ASCII strings or write binary values to registers or something else?

LabVIEW can communicate with parallel ports, but it's so uncommon that most applications for them require lower-level programming in NI-VISA. Most drivers on the Instrument Driver Network are for GPIB-controlled instruments.

[theseas]

Ok well basically its ports are connected to the array of the parallel cable pins going to the PC.

Ok im trying to decide whether to tranfer the data from the PIC's to the telemetry system parallel or serial. Its looking like serial. This data is binary. Just dont have much clue about working with serial communication's.

Well its looking like serial is the way to go.

But programably not sure how to do that. Since I have to send 4 sets of 10 bits .

[theseas]

.....to send and receive

[Dennis_Knutson]

Your description of the system is very confusing to me. You mention DAQ, telemetry, and now a PIC. What do you actually have and what are you trying to ingterface to? The image of the phoenix connector blocks is basicaly worthless. It's just a terminal block. If you have some wires connected to the pc, what else is it connected to?

You also seem to be very confused about the differences between the serial and parallel ports. The parallel port is TTL compatible and would be more suited for binary data. In order to communicate to the serial port, your DAQ system would need to have an RS-232 interface (i.e. a UART).

[Pnt]

Note that yellow-green terminal block is ALWAYS ground. It is connected to earth internally (to the rail, to be more accurate)

[theseas]

Hi alll

"Ok im trying to decide whether to tranfer the data from the PIC's to the telemetry system parallel or serial. Its looking like serial. This data is binary. Just dont have much clue about working with serial communication's."

Sorry the DAQ is what I am describing here.