LabVIEW, DSC and TestStand

[Tim_S]

An option has been proposed to me to use LabVIEW as a front end for TestStand and the Data Supervisory and Control Module in a test executive application where there is data acquisition, OPC communication, reporting, calibration, error logging, parallel execution and test/limits configuration. (The reason for LabVIEW front end is DSC and TestStand won't meet customer requirements alone.) The last time I saw TestStand was version 1 (there was lots of colorful metaphors used at the time) and I've not used the DSC module.

What has people's experiences been with any combination of these?

Thanks,

Tim

[Lars915]

We don't use DSC, but we use various combinations of LabVIEW as a front end to control TestStand while it's calling LabVIEW in a driver layer, both in production and in new product development. The latest version of TestStand is far superior to versions 1 and 2, and is quite a step up from 3.X.

You may want to take another look at TS4.x. They've done a lot of work on appearance, and the user interface layer (used by LabVIEW) is vastly different than all other releases.

[Tim_S]

QUOTE(Lars915 @ Jan 30 2008, 04:57 PM)

We don't use DSC, but we use various combinations of LabVIEW as a front end to control TestStand while it's calling LabVIEW in a driver layer, both in production and in new product development. The latest version of TestStand is far superior to versions 1 and 2, and is quite a step up from 3.X.

You may want to take another look at TS4.x. They've done a lot of work on appearance, and the user interface layer (used by LabVIEW) is vastly different than all other releases.

Thanks.

The activeX interface from LabVIEW to TS4.x looks like a significant learning curve task; I'm not sure what to make of it yet. I'm still trying to wade through the manuals. DSC is rather dissapointing in that it doesn't have very good example code nor can I find any manuals installed with DSC.

Tim

[crelf]

QUOTE(Tim_S @ Feb 1 2008, 01:12 PM)

The activeX interface from LabVIEW to TS4.x looks like a significant learning curve task

It is, and it isn't. Like any boundary between two environments, there's going to be times where you need to know each of them intimately. That said, simple things (like showing the running sequence, selecting a sequence to run, etc) is pretty straight forward - have a look at the sample LabVIEW OIs that ship with TestStand. If you have intermediate TestStand and LabVIEW knowledge, then you should be able to work it out fairly quickly. If you need to do anything more advanced than that, then you'll need to put in some time to gain the knowledge - but that's true for just about anything the software engineering world...QUOTE(Tim_S @ Jan 29 2008, 07:59 PM)

An option has been proposed to me to use LabVIEW as a front end for TestStand and the Data Supervisory and Control Module in a test executive application where there is data acquisition, OPC communication, reporting, calibration, error logging, parallel execution and test/limits configuration.

From the very-upper-level description that you've given, it sounds like the option that's been given to you is a good idea. TestStand for the sequencing, DSC for OPC and config, LabVIEW for DAQ, Calibration (maybe the NI Cal is a better option?), and LabVIEw for the OI - sounds about right to me.