XPS Controller

[Mattetc]

Hi,

I'm using LabView to program the Newport XPS Controller. This instrument has LabView drivers supported by Newport.

At the moment I am simply trying to learn how to control a single axis group, ie. one stage only.

I am able to get the stage to displace by a controlled amount but I am having trouble making Labview keep track of where the stage is.

A homing function is supposed to return the stage to a unique reference position but when I use the driver 'Group Home Search' it moves nowhere.

Possibly I need to set a reference position? I can't see how to do that with the given drivers, the only other option would be to get Labview itself to keep track of the stage.

Any assistance you could provide would be appreciated.

Matt

[Vimal_F]

Hello Matt,

Can you tell us more about your project(hardware, software,...)?

Also, could you upload some screen shots of your LV code so we can get an idea of what you are doing?

Could try and contact Newport and see if they have any examples we can work with?

Thank you,

Vimal Fernandez
ELP Engineer

Applications Engineering

[Mattetc]

Hi Vimal.

Thank you for getting back to me. 

I have solved this problem now, but for the benefit of those that may encounter this problem again:

1. Make sure you use the Absolute Move driver, the Relative Move will of course only move relative to the current position. 

2. You must use the Kill Group, Initialize, Home Search Drivers (in that order) before any move function

3. Place a while loop only around the Absolute Move and Current Position Get drivers. Do not place the while loop around the Kill Group or Initialize driver.

(The group's current position will be erased on every iteration of the while loop if you do this.)

4. The XPS controller can be interfaced with via a webface GUI, which you will find out about in the XPS manual. Although this interface is not useful for a full scale experiment it is certainly useful for troubleshooting problems in Labview, by checking this GUI for the status and configuration of your movement

groups. 

5. You definitely need to configure your groups through the webface GUI mentioned above. Don't just plug in your movement groups and expect to control them with Labview automatically.

6. Newport have horrible technical support (unlike NI, who have excellent customer support). If you have a local vendor who sells newport products try to direct your enquiry through them. In australia Newspec are much better to ask than Newport. 

Ok, that's all. Thanks again for replying and I hope this helps others. 

Matt

[勇少]

Hi，Matt

I'm using LabView to program the Newport XPS Controller too.  I am trying to learn how to control a single axis group, ie. one stage only.

Can you show me your VI program or give me some adviser? I'm so confused

Any assistance you could provide would be appreciated. Thank you！！

[amezam]

Hello,

Thanks for posting at NI forums! I found this forum on the XPS motion controller and LabVIEW; they give some VIs that might be useful for you. I also found this manual for the XPS Controller in which they mentioned a built library of VIs you can add to your functions palette. In their website, they list some steps you have to follow in order to download them. If you have them, I believe you could use them as a start.  

Best Regards,

Alina M

[MOAL007]

Hello Matt,

How did you put a while loop around the current displacement and single-axis?

I done everything your list said so far which is excellent. You are right too that Newport have terrible technical support.

Thanks

[Mattetc]

When I first posted on the XPS equipment I was very inexperienced, this was almost 2 years ago now. I did not even have a firm grasp of LV basics.

I can tell you that what I was describing in my first post was quite trivial. You can do everything you need to do with the driver set that is supplied by Newport.

So in answer to the recent posts I would suggest:

- Get training on LV basics, such as core 1 and 2.

- Specifically when dealing with the XPS stages, see the attached VI (LV2012) for an extremely simple demonstration of how to make the stages work using the 'simple' architecture.

- Before the VI will work you need to configure the stages through the XPS webface GUI. The XPS manual and quickstart guide will provide details.

- Hint: Using the webface GUI to diganose problems with the stages is very useful. You can use it (among other things) to figure out if there is a controller or stage error, or if you just programmed something badly.

Hope this helps.

Matt 

[Mattetc · Accepted solution]

It would help if I attached it...

[vhnguyen]

Hi all, i'm s student and i'm doing an intership for programming the robot using XPS by MatLab, I had a problem with the Group Move Abort  to stop the Group Move Absolute because I can not start a new command when Group Move Absolute is doing, I have to wait for until it finish the Move Absolute to start a new line of command, I've tried doing it by open a new window of matlab to do it and it worked (1 windows for the command Move, other for Abort), but i cannot do it in my principal program because it's only a script file and I don't know how to do it like the case I use 2 command windows in Matlab?

Do you have any idea about how to solve the problem?

Thanks in advance for your answer. 

[PatJamSim]

Hello vhnguyen,

My first question for you - have you considered using LabVIEW as the application in which to do your programming?  This forum thread has code available to do much of what it is you are trying to do, so I would highly recommend utilizing that code to your advantage!  Also, LabVIEW has a lot of other options for interfacing and programming robots built in to the software, which can make your job as a programmer much easier.

That being said, this forum exists to answer questions about LabVIEW.  While this thread does address XPS, your question is on a completely different program that LabVIEW forum-goers may not be familiar with.  I would recommend visiting The MathWorks® website, or one of their supporting web pages.  Check out the following links:

http://www.mathworks.com/

http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/

Good luck with your search!