Anyone used Labview with Bayside I-Drive over serial connection

[DRP]

I need to send 3 pairs of speed and position setpoints from Labview over a serial connection to a Parker Bayside BDS I-Drive servo controller. They actually use the USS protocol from the Siemens drives. Has anyone already done this? And maybe could provide some pointers to a novice?

[RManion]

Hi DRP,

I was trying to look into this a little more and was wondering: How does the iDrive work?

It appears to be a controller/drive combo which you pass positions and velocities. It also appears as though this communication is done via serial.

Is this the case?

[DRP]

It can be operated either via a few digital commands to "preset" speed and position combinations.  This is quite limited   It can also be operated via serial commands.  I bought a utility with the drive that allows setup, operation and monitoring of the drive via serial.  So what I really want to do is to perform some of those same functions thru Labview.

The drive uses a protocol that is also used by Siemens vfds called USS.  I have a PDF from Bayside (about 2.5Mb) that describes it but it is a bit over my head.

Can you help?

DRP

[craigherdman]

DRP,

In order to use LabVIEW for any device then there either needs to be an instrument driver for the device (written in LabVIEW that generally calls lower level driver functions) or one needs to use the VIs that map to the correct protocol (GPIB, Serial, Ethernet, etc). VISA is an abstraction layer that provides a single interface into each of these various protocols. In your case your device seems to be able to be controlled through it's RS-485 port. More information on National Instruments RS-485 products can be found here:

 NI Serial Products

In order for your PC to communicate with this device you can take the advice from the manual and pick up an RS232->485 converter or you could pick up a USB->RS485 or an Ethernet->RS485 converter. In order to communicate with your device you would proceed to issue commands through VISA in LabVIEW.

You will find several VISA/Serial examples in the Example Finder in LabVIEW. Hopefully that can get you a start down the right path!

Craig H.

Message Edited by Craig H. on 07-13-2005 03:22 PM

Message Edited by Craig H. on 07-13-2005 03:22 PM