Remote access to PXIe-5644R VST card (RIO)

[ChrisMcClenaghan]

Good morning all

I have run into some problems trying to control remotely a PXI card from a development PC. I can VNC to the remote system but need to develop a remote and automated control strategy.

My goals are to

1. Control a PXIe-5644R VST using the NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel from a different PC without using VNC or Remote Desktop
2. Control a PXIe-5644R VST using a C++ application from a different PC 

System context

Developer PC:

• Windows 7 Pro 64
• NI MAX 18.0.0f0
• NI-VISA 18.0
• NI-RIO 18.0

Remote PXIe-1082

• Windows 7 Pro 32
• NI MAX 17.0.0f0
• NI-VISA 17.0
• NI-RIO 17.0
• Embedded Controller PXIe-8135 (Connected directly to developer PC via ethernet and second NIC)
• PXIe-5644R Vector Signal Transceiver
• other PXI-e cards...
• Keysight N5172B connected via USB to Embedded Controller

What works

1. Using NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel on PXI machine directly
2. On dev PC, and after various firewalls and restarts etc, IMAX can see remote PC and some of the devices (see below)
3. On dev PC, using VISA Interactive Control (see attached)
   1. Connecting to N5172B via VISA
   2. Connecting to 5644R via VISA

What doesn't work

1. Using NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel on dev PC to control remote PXI card. (No RF analysers detected, configure using IMAX etc..)
2. On dev PC, NI IMAX Remote Systems shows the USB instrument and PXI backplane but not the 5644R card (see attached)

What I've tried

I believe the VISA server to be working on the remote PC since I can interact with the VST and the USB device; I can see these on the I/O trace (attached).

I've enabled the RIO server and configured the firewall using http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/E10AEC4FFBB784368625795100790AA4?OpenDocument and https://www.ni.com/en/support/documentation/supplemental/21/remote-application-development-for-windo... as reference. The RIO Settings on the remote PC are not to use a static port and '*' access for remote devices. The server on the remote PC is running and automatically started.

Assuming my goals possible, what steps am I missing here? What further diagnostics can I provide?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Chris

[NIRebecca]

Hey Chris, 

Just wanted to check what version of NI-RFSA/NI-RFSG your using too? They're both available at:

NI-RFSA 17.0

NI-RFSG 17.0

Kind regards, 

Rebecca

[ChrisMcClenaghan]

Hi Rebecca

Thanks for following up.

On my development machine, I have v17.0 of both. These seem to be the latest from those web pages.

Interestingly, on the remote PXI machine, I have v17.1.2 of both. Not sure if that is significant.

Regards

Chris

[NIRebecca]

Hey Chris, 

Just reread the specs you provided, didn't see that this was a Window PXI 

First there's guidance for the VISA Server here: How Do I Control My VISA Device from Another Computer?

Second this isn't how I'd normally expected a PXI to appear on the network. They usually show up with the chassis under Remote Systems as per the below:

.

This is what made me double check your specs! This is how we use Real time PXIs, that have a Real Time OS installed. Having a look at your screenshot I'm assuming this was made by right clicking Remote Systems in MAX >> Create New >> Remote VISA system?

We don't actually use PXIs running Windows as remote targets. You can access them either through adding them in a LabVIEW project as a target, or by using remote desktop as you would with a normal PC.

Are you able to continue developing by simply remoting in using Windows Remote Desktop?

Thanks,

Rebecca

[ChrisMcClenaghan · Accepted solution]

For posterity and to close out this topic, here is my resolution.

I needed to use a custom solution in order to remotely control the VST card from my test scripts. I've implemented a an XML-RPC server application running on the remote Windows 7 controller card to accept network communications and then interface with the VST card using the niRFSG libraries as normal.

The connection flow is as follows:

[python tests] -> [python control classes] -> [python xmlrpc client] -> LAN -> [C++ XmlRPC server] -> [NI driver] -> [PXI card]

Resources to check out:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML-RPC
• http://xmlrpcpp.sourceforge.net/
• https://docs.python.org/3/library/xmlrpc.client.html
• https://documentation.help/NI-RFSG-C-Function/
• LabWindows CVI and C examples from installation