B+K LAN-XI module

[jackmoleary]

I'd like to use a B+K LAN-XI module with LABView software for sound measurement.  I don't know how to get started because this device normally communicates over a LAN connection to a PC network card through native PULSE software.  My documentation is minimal.  I can successfully ping the device from command window, using its IP address.  Help!

Thanks,

Jack

[Patricia B]

Hello,

My recommendation would be to contact the manufacturer of the hardware for the drivers. My ability to further address this question further for you is limited as you are referencing non-NI hardware. As I stated, the hardware manufacturer would be the best place to start with this.

Regards,

Patricia B.

[HBKLabVIEW]

Hello, 

did you try the open API?

https://www.bksv.com/en/instruments/daq-data-acquisition/lan-xi-daq-system/open-api

Best regards

[Kenneth]

Following this thread as I have a customer that wants to add a multi-channel LAN-XI device to their LabVIEW test system.  The customer also purchased the LabShop Pulse.  From the documentation provided, B+K Labshop Pulse, BK Connect, specific chassis documentation and the Open API doc, it seems that the Open API is the preferred interface to add this measurement system to an existing application.  

I have implemented a basic reader following the documentation by the manufacturer. I am providing the desired spectrum analysis in LabVIEW, but it seems that the Pulse component could similar provide this functionality as well.  The issue is that the Open API seems to be an exclusive OR relationship with the Pulse software.  Curious as to what others have discovered.

[HBKLabVIEW]

Unfortunately we from HBK do not offer a LabVIEW driver for LAN-XI, but the webXI interface you can download from github should allow you to

- setup the device (but if you have LabShop I would prefer to use it for setup or use TEDS based accels or microphones and everything will be setup automatically

- acquire data stream

The Open API is available free of charge. Just speak to our support team.

So you can add spectrum analysis in LabVIEW, but far easier is it to use the PULSE LabShop as it comes along without any programming. Please hook up with our support getting to know if PUlSE can run in parallel to the Open API and LabVIEW.

[Kenneth]

@HBKLabVIEW, thank you for your reply.  After spending 6 months trying to understand if/how to get LabShop pulse or BK Connect to work with a custom LabVIEW application, I found the Open API. Unfortunately, the customer's application does not run continuously and needs to take a snapshot of the vibration state in the middle of a series of End-of-line performance tests.  The operator has 6 tasks running at the same time.  So requiring the test operator to switch to another application, such as LabShop pulse, was a usability issue.

I implemented the necessary TCP/IP driver for multiple ports, one per channel that works as advertised.  I implemented a simple request / response interface that the existing application to take the snapshot during the needed testing steps. Because the Open API is based on native TCP/IP functions, it was a smaller code base to deploy also.

If you know of other LabVIEW customers that are interested, I would be happy to integrate my OpenAPI driver into their LabVIEW application.

[Saeed68]

I read your messages and realized that you worked on connecting the LAN-XI Open API with LABVIEW. Currently, I have a problem regarding getting the vibrational signals from the data acquisition system and importing them in the LABVIEW for further analysis. Do you know how it would be possible? I would appreciate it if you could guide me.

Best regards.

[Kenneth]

Hi Saeed68,

Yes, I can help.  How familiar/experience do you have with LabVIEW?  I implemented a solution as part of a QDSM but have experience with the AF also.  

The high-level design amounts to a re-configurable (mainly name & IP address) of the LAN-XI module and channel settings for LabVIEW to setup the appropriate TCP/IP streams.  The data can then be forwarded to the application for rapid analysis, such as a running FFT.

 regards,

Kenneth

[Saeed68]

Many thanks for your response. I have just started dealing with Labview and we want to get the data from the data acquisition system (LANXI API) and import them into Labview for further analysis like FFT and so on. Could you please tell me how it is possible?

Best regards,

Saeed

[Kenneth]

Saaed,

The code I created was part of a larger end-of-line performance and factory acceptance test.  The vibration test is performed after other test steps validate machine warm-up/run-in and performance test steps.  The user guided the test when performance was ready (i.e. machine operation was stable).  The vibration test required the program to use a command handler to start, configure and acquire data for 10 to 15 seconds. This was implemented more than a year ago, so I am working from memory.  

I configured the communication for each channel to be returned following B+K's examples: https://github.com/hbk-world/LAN-XI-Open-API-Examples. I recommend starting with the API and an example and getting those to work first.  If you have specific questions, please DM me.

Regards,
Kenneth