Cannot connect to RT Desktop Target - Help Needed

[manojrr]

Hello,

LabVIEW - 2021 (64 bit windows). Connected the PC to NI-9145 EtherCAT slave expansion chassis. 

For real time controller have Installed INtime Realtime windows execution from Ackermann/Tenasys in the host PC. Triggered the RT node and it is running, was able to ping to the IP and it was okay. But, once I open LabVIEW project and tried connecting to the RT desktop, I am facing an issue. Can you give me some inputs on this?

Attaching a snap hereby:

Thanks,
Manoj

[ZYOng]

Try the steps in Failed to Connect to the Target When Using a NI Real-Time Target in LabVIEW

[manojrr]

Thanks ZYong, will try the steps. May I also know how to find out which driver version of NI RIO is in my computer?

[ZYOng]

You can get the software versions installed on your RT target in NI MAX. 

I don't think that you need a NI-RIO driver for PXI RT controller.

[manojrr]

May I know why you mentioned by PXI RT controller?. My setup includes  a host PC with INtime realtime system assigned one of my CPU core. This PC is connected to a NI 9145 etherCAT slave expansion chassis. I am now using LabVIEW 2021 to try and connect to the RT system. So where does PXI RT controller come here in the picture?.

[ZYOng]

---

@manojrr wrote:

May I know why you mentioned by PXI RT controller?. My setup includes  a host PC with INtime realtime system assigned one of my CPU core. This PC is connected to a NI 9145 etherCAT slave expansion chassis. I am now using LabVIEW 2021 to try and connect to the RT system. So where does PXI RT controller come here in the picture?.

---

I meant the desktop RT controller. I wonder how did you assign one of your CPU cores to run RTOS? Are you using a Real-Time Hypervisor?

[manojrr]

For RTOS, we are using INtime execution for Windows from Ackermann/Tenasys. This software library installation assigned one core dedicated to RTOS. So yes, it is indeed a real-time hypervisor. 

Thanks,

Manoj

[rolfk · Accepted solution]

I don't know INtime but from the little I understood from browsing through the documentation on the TenaSys site I do not believe that you can target the RTOS inside an INtime node from a LabVIEW project. The important part for a LabVIEW project to connect to an RTOS system is that this RTOS system has the LabVIEW Realtime runtime kernel installed. However LabVIEW Realtime Runtime only exists for these four targets and also only for NI hardware (with the exception of LabVIEW for Pharlap ETS which also can be installed on a standard PC provided it has the specific hardware systems that Pharlap ETS expects)

- NI Pharlap ETS (on x86 hardware)

- NI VxWorks (on PPC hardware)

- NI Linux RT (on x64 and ARM hardware)

The INtime node appears to run its own RTOS that is not compatible to any of the above, so I can't see how that would work. If INtime has the possibility to provide a virtual hardware platform similar to how VmWare or VirtualBox work, then you could install NI Pharlap ETS on it. However that does require a runtime license to be legal and NI has discontinued both NI Pharlap ETS and NI VxWorks around 2020/2021 and I'm not sure if you still can obtain a NI Pharlap ETS runtime license. It's definitely not anymore available in the webshop.

NI Linux RT (for x64) could technically be installed on such a system too, but there is no runtime license from NI available that you could use, so it would be illegal. You only get a license to use this on NI provided hardware. And no, the license is not really for the Linux kernel, that is GNU covered since it derives from the GNU Linux kernel, but the Linux kernel while important is only one part of the entire picture. You also need the entire LabVIEW realtime runtime libraries and associated IO drivers and they are NI proprietary licensed, not some open source license.

[manojrr]

Thanks for the detailed response, Rolf. 

I will take some time to digest the information and get back with some questions. I see your signature as TU Delft. It's a super nice coincidence that I am in the same area as well. 

Regards,

Manoj

[manojrr]

Hello Rolf,

We have decided to purchase a NI RT master controller for the project. Thanks again for your response.