Data Acquisition Step Type

[ds1638]

Hi, is there a step type to perform Data Acquisition and Basic comm control such as RS232 and GPIB within teststand ?

This question was raised when I was training one of our Technicians today, he asked/suggested that having a step type which performs Data Acquisition and comm control would reduce there development time down dramatically, They have just started to use Teststand on small cycle test rigs as part of an evaluation stage. They have no experience with LabVIEW or CVI, they basically want a quick  and easy way to produce a test sequence with Data Acquisition and comm control.

if there is anything like this at the moment can you possibly reply. If there is not,  is this a something which will be avaible in the future ?

Message Edited by ds1638 on 12-09-2008 02:44 PM

[Dennis_Knutson]

Data Acquisition usually refers to a DAQ board from NI so I think what you are looking for is a generic NI-VISA step type and a specific RS-232 step type. I have a NI-VISA step type that was originally written with LabVIEW 6.1 and for use with TestStand 2. I've atached that below. I don't have the .ini file handy and don't have time to recreate it but from the code, you should be able to see what needs to be added to the step properties. The basic step is a modified Pass/Fail Step.

It's not that difficult to create your own custom steps. I've done a lot and it only takes a little while longer than doing a code module in LabVIEW or CVI. The extra time is in creating the edit step.

I've got an RS-232 step type but part of it is product specific so it is proprietary and I can't post that. Look at the VISA example and the other examples of custom step types that are on the developer zone and see how far you get.

[Josh_W]

In addition, iIf you are using LabVIEW, TestStand is able to call LabVIEW express VIs.  You could use the DAQ assistant or Instrument I/O assistant to perform your hardware operations.