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eliminated technical debt and gained remote configuration capabilities with turbine monitoring built on NI sbRIO eliminated technical debt and gained remote configuration capabilities with turbine monitoring built on NI sbRIO maintain Enabled scalable deployment supporting 50+ monitoring units annually Technology at-a-glance NI sbRIO Cyth built the turbine speed and overspeed monitoring system on the NI sbRIO-9608 with Cyth's CircaFlex existing Rockwell PLC infrastructure for drop-in replacement Commercial off-the-shelf platform: NI sbRIO

RIO Because of the small size and low cost of NI Single-Board RIO, we decided to deploy with an NI sbRIO The sbRIO-9612 contains an onboard real-time processor, reconfigurable FPGA, and analog and digital I The sbRIO-9612 onboard analog inputs are connected to the infrared sensors via some custom signal conditioning

Outcome Overall, Vantage Power’s double-decker hybrid powertrain system incorporated Circaflex and NI sbRIO Technical Specifications 1 x Circaflex 315 1 x Mezzanine Board 1 x NI sbRIO-9651SOM 1 x Custom Weather-proof

a clinical environment Project Summary Cyth developed a precision timing and control system using sbRIO Technology-at-a-glance NI sbRIO -9606 running 20MHz FPGA control loop CircaFlex for I/O system integration The core hardware architecture included: NI Single-Board RIO (sbRIO-9606) containing a Xilinx FPGA and The FPGA on the sbRIO, programmed in LabVIEW, enabled the primary control loop to run up to 20MHz, while Software features included: Control paradigm defined in software and compiled to the sbRIO’s onboard

The Syringe Lubrication Inspection Solution We paired the NI Single-Board 9651 (sbRIO) SOM with our Circaflex Use of Circaflex and the sbRIO’s deterministic nature enabled the synchronization of the camera and lighting All of this is controlled and synchronized using the NI sbRIO 9651 SOM and the Cyth Circaflex platform measuring inputs and outputs (pulse and steps) are controlled by the pairing of the NI Single-Board 9651(sbRIO Telecentric, HP Illuminator (beam diameter 60 mm), White 1 x RC Series LED Strobe Controller 1 x NI sbRIO

Technology at-a-glance Hardware NI sbRIO-9608 Cyth CircaFlex-315 Stepper drives (x4) pH monitoring module probe, mass flow controller, etc.) monitors and controls bioprocesses, (2) control system hardware (sbRIO gas release valve) control module Fluid flow control module Cyth selected the NI single-board RIO (sbRIO -9608 The CircaFlex platform enhanced the sbRIO’s capabilities by: Simplifying connectivity and signal The major components included in the final design were: NI sbRIO-9608 Cyth CircaFlex-315 NI LabVIEW NI

achieved micron-scale visual quality inspection using Cyth's vision and motion solution built on NI sbRIO capabilities with a micrometer-scale syringe lubrication inspection system built by Cyth using the NI sbRIO pharmaceutical contracts through enhanced quality assurance capabilities Technology at-a-glance NI sbRIO validation rate   Synchronized Motion & Image Acquisition Cyth built the validation solution using the NI sbRIO CircaFlex provided built-in signal conditioning and hardwired connection to FPGA I/O on the sbRIO-9651

We implemented IMPT with PBS in the DDS using three sbRIO-9626 embedded controllers. We can sample the analog I/O available on the sbRIO-9626 at 10 kHz to continuously monitor critical feedback We used the sbRIO-9626 to meet the analog I/O and digital I/O requirements for sampling the dose plane

*As Featured on NI.com Original Authors: Stijn Schacht, Test & Measurement Solutions Edited by Cyth Systems The Challenge Lifting 20-metric-ton unbalanced trays containing uncured concrete more than 6 meters, using 4 hydraulic cylinders while maintaining a strict accuracy of two millimeters. The Solution Implementing a custom control algorithm in CompactRIO to control the four hydraulic cylinders to move the unbalanced load. Custom Hydraulics and Hydraulic Control At Test & Measurement Solutions, we specialize in custom industrial hydraulics. We manufacture a series of custom and special cylinders including large hydraulic cylinders with strokes of up to 8 m in length and cylinders with bores with internal diameters of up to 700 mm. Recently, customers started to request complete mechanical control of these custom hydraulic systems. For this reason, we wanted to further develop our expertise in precision positioning and control systems. For relatively simple hydraulic systems, such as systems where one or two cylinders need to be controlled, custom control mechanisms can usually be developed using off-the-shelf controllers and programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Communication with these systems is typically established with industrial field buses and digital I/O lines. To control more complex machines, however, we apply NI CompactRIO. These systems are useful for applications that need additional custom requirements, such as precise position control over the whole stroke, or high velocity and synchronized motion of multiple cylinders. While adding these requirements to off-the-shelf PID controllers is usually not possible, CompactRIO provided a rugged and reliable industrial solution for custom control. A Heavy Task Our customer manufactures prefab concrete slabs, which need to be dried for 24 hours before they can be taken out of their trays and stored vertically. To save space in the factory, a storage system was built that includes 10 shelves positioned around a central elevator. The concrete at this point is still fluid and needs to be stored perfectly horizontally. Each filled tray weighs 20 tons (12m x 2.5 m size; 10 cm thick prefab concrete, 10 tons, on a 10-ton steel tray). To store on the shelf, the tray needs to be lifted to an equal height as the shelf and then moved onto it. For lifting this much weight, we use 4 hydraulic cylinders that each have a 3 m stroke and use a chain to lift the shelf over 6 m. While the position of each cylinder during this movement must stay accurate to within 2 mm, our measurements showed that we could actually achieve 0.1 mm accuracy. Each cylinder is actively controlled to compensate for slight weight abnormalities; it’s common that some concrete slabs have an uneven weight distribution due to holes that accommodate staircases or windows. Since such heavyweight cannot be stopped or moved instantly, PID control loops are used within software to create a gradual velocity profile that ramps up to the maximum velocity of 45 mm/s (cylinder shaft) and 90 mm/s (table) and to ramps down to stop moving as well. Position feedback is obtained by a magnetostructive encoder that is built in a hollow shaft inside the cylinder. This helps protect the system against damage. The accuracy of this position sensor is 5-10 µm and communicates over SSI (Synchronized Serial Interface) protocol. CompactRIO for Hydraulic Control Hydraulic control is often seen as an easy control system. But to position hydraulic cylinders accurately over a whole stroke requires extensive control intelligence since hydraulic systems are non-linear by nature. The dynamic behavior of a cylinder that is at its initial position is not comparable to the dynamic behavior when the cylinder is at its middle or end position. The resonance stiffness and frequency vary as a function of the shaft position, caused by the compressibility of the hydraulic fluid. We needed to take this resonance frequency into account to meet the accuracy requirements of the heavy-weight system. To accurately control the movement, a PID controller would need to continuously adapt to control parameters depending on the shaft position. This is something that is not possible to realize with PLCs. Also, we needed to include analog measurements in our control system. PLCs often contain considerable amounts of noise since they are not measurement-class hardware. To accurately control our hydraulic cylinders, we needed a non-linear control algorithm based on the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) model based controllers (MBCS). These control algorithms provide tighter process tolerance, faster settling, less overshoot, and more efficient tuning capabilities. After evaluation, we found that a full-state feedback control algorithm proved to give the best results. System Setup The system setup consists of an operator interface and a CompactRIO controller. The operator interface is realized using a Touch Panel and communicates over Ethernet with CompactRIO. CompactRIO combines a Real-Time processor, a reconfigurable field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and industrial I/O modules. All parts have been programmed using LabVIEW graphical programming software. Parallel processing in FPGA The FPGA on the CompactRIO is used in our application as a fast-working custom parallel processing unit. With the FPGA, we read the digital signals from each cylinder-encoder over a synchronous serial interface (SSI), convert this to an actual position, and transfer it to the real-time processor. In parallel, the FPGA uses several digital I/O lines for gracefully handling emergency stops. To prevent equipment damage, the cylinders must be halted safely within a short time. If an emergency stop occurs this is fed directly to the RT controller to calculate a controlled stop of the system (using a steep velocity ramp down). The FPGA keeps track of the time so that if the system is not completely stopped within a short period, the FPGA stops any movement directly. In addition, we use the FPGA to sample 16 analog input sensors that measure the pressures of the cylinders and other states. This is all converted to measurement units and transferred to our Real-Time control loop. Control Loop Implemented in a Real-Time Controller All acquired sensor data, such as pressure, positions, and velocity, is fed to the LabVIEW Real-Time control algorithm. The control loop is based on a full-state feedback control algorithm. The FPGA sends a clock signal (interrupt) every 5 ms to the real-time controller to start its control calculation for all four cylinders. The reason for this is that the clock signal on the FPGA is more accurate and the most recent data is used, so the control loop is in the same state as the mechanical system. Current data is used to determine the actual state, and adjust settings accordingly. The controller then calculates new values for the regulated flow, as the steerable unit. The real-time controller also checks if the system is working within tolerance. Pressures, valve positions and reference positions are read. If these values do not meet preset tolerances, we can compensate in software for mechanical wear, or detect when a sensor or actuator wears or fails. This error management and diagnosis is active during usage and pre-startup. Touch Panel The operator controls the elevator using a touch panel. Communication with the CompactRIO system is implemented using Ethernet over TCP/IP communications. The touch panel application is written in LabVIEW, using the Touch Panel module, and based on command-based communication. The application uses a clear menu and runs a state machine (with states like start lifting, diagnose, and stop). The current state and error conditions and diagnosis information are displayed on the panel when needed. After installation, we discovered that our hydraulic system was capable of lifting a concrete slab with an accuracy of 0.1 mm at 45mm/s (cylinder shafts). We developed this application in just two months. Since we developed the software modularly, we can reuse most of the content and adapt the software for future systems. Original Authors: Stijn Schacht, Test & Measurement Solutions Edited by Cyth Systems

*As Featured on NI.com Original Authors: Sorin Grama, Promethean Power Systems, USA Edited by Cyth Systems The Challenge Every day, dairy processors are challenged with transporting milk between millions of individual farmers in villages throughout India to central processing facilities in distant cities. They rely on twice-a-day collections of warm milk, which results in high transportation costs and frequent spoilage. The Solution Using the NI Single-Board RIO control platform, Promethean Power Systems built a thermal battery-powered refrigeration system to cool and store raw milk at the villages where the milk is produced, which cuts both transportation and chilling costs for dairy farmers. In India, roughly $10 billion USD of perishable food items spoil each year because of the poorly developed cold supply chain and unreliable energy sources in rural areas. The dairy industry is particularly vulnerable to spoilage because approximately 80 percent of animals are kept on small farms scattered across rural India. This makes collecting quality milk time-consuming and costly. Farmers can experience as much as 30 percent spoilage in the hot season. Currently, to keep milk from spoiling before it reaches the dairy plant for processing, farmers can use specialized bulk milk chillers (BMC) to keep milk cool. However, the unreliable grid electricity supply in rural India means the refrigerators must operate using diesel-powered generators, which is an undesirable solution that increases capital and operating costs. Sorin Grama and Sam White, the founders of Promethean Power Systems, recognized these challenges and set out to design a milk refrigeration system better suited for remote, rural areas. Left: Promethean Power rapid milk chiller, Right: A farmer in India, pouring milk inside the collection center. Developing a Rapid Milk Chiller Grama designed a rapid milk chiller (RMC) for village-level collection centers that could consistently keep milk cool until it was picked up and transported to a dairy plant or a central collection center. However, a milk cooling system is a mission-critical application that must run 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, so they supplemented the poor grid infrastructure with a thermal battery for a superior system that can operate even during extended periods of power outage (Figure 1). A key component of the system’s design was the control system that manages the operation of the entire system. It controls a refrigeration compressor that converts the electrical power to cooling power and stores the energy as thermal energy—a specialized ice tank. This ice is later used to cool the milk during the morning and evening collection times when grid power may not be available. The control system monitors and controls all temperatures, records data for food safety validation and communicates via SMS with a central facility if there are any emergencies. Grama knew he needed to design an embedded control system to perform these tasks, yet provide a very simple operating interface for the farmers, so they used the NI Single-Board RIO platform and the LabVIEW Real-Time Module as the heart of their system. Benefits of the Rapid Milk Chiller Capable of chilling up to 500 liters per collection, the RMC stores cold energy in the form of a thermal battery, providing farmers with the ability to chill and store milk even when the power is out. Using the stored energy, the RMC can cool raw milk to 4 °C in a matter of seconds, arresting bacteria growth and drastically improving milk quality. The system also creates more flexibility in the supply chain by eliminating the need to route milk through costly central chilling centers, which can reduce transportation costs by up to 40 percent. Furthermore, by eliminating the use of diesel generators the system can reduce operating cost by 50 percent. With the potential to install as many as 1000 milk chillers in the next 3-5 years, each new RMC system has the potential to impact more than 30-40 farming families thereby having a direct impact on approximately 30000 dairy farmers and 1 million milk drinkers in India. This will be achieved by eliminating large amounts of milk spoilage and providing higher quality milk. The Benefits of Working with the Planet NI Program The founders of Promethean Power Systems wanted to work with the Planet NI program because they knew the goals of the program are to nurture innovation and assist companies developing technologies that will have a social impact. Planet NI provided hardware and software for Promethean Power Systems to use to design, prototype, and deploy its RMC. As a result of the project, Indian village collection centers can now preserve the hundreds of liters of milk collected each day. Prior to the RMC, dairy processors had to quickly transport the milk to central chilling centers, and milk often spoiled because it could not reach these centers in time. Cooling the milk at the source results in premium-quality, healthier milk that can be used for higher value products like cheese and baby formula, which positively impacts the economies of small farming villages by providing higher revenues for dairy farmers. The solar photovoltaic array powers the refrigeration system located in the blue-roofed building. Original Authors: Sorin Grama, Promethean Power Systems, USA Edited by Cyth Systems

The Circaflex and NI sbRIO monitor and control all functions of the Califia device which is crucial for the Outcome Overall, the high-speed communication and control capabilities of the Circaflex and NI sbRIO

Developing the Control System of an Ocean Exploration Rover Since 1960 Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) have played a crucial role in oceanic exploration. Not only capable of advanced robotics, ROVs are able to collect deep-sea data without affecting the health and behavior patterns of marine ecosystems. Marine rovers are an indispensable tool in ocean exploration. It was with a bit of urgency that a world-renowned oceanic research institution approached us concerned about the future of their ROV. Their device ran on a Compact FieldPoint (cFP) control system, which was obsolete and could no longer be replaced or repaired. With their vehicle constantly in use, there was a high risk of a future failure resulting in a very long time out-of-service. The upgrade would have to be confidently managed with limited access to the ROV, and the plan was put into place to begin without delay. For this application, the NI Compact-RIO (cRIO) combined with our installation methodology was decided as the best hardware and course of action. To migrate LabVIEW code from an obsolete cFP to a high-speed cRIO is not an easy task, especially when it concerns an ROV that is difficult to test and is not available for development. In fact, even under normal circumstances, surprises often arise when companies try to migrate control software and hardware themselves. After meeting with our engineering team and learning how to not only migrate LabVIEW code but understand what the code is doing and why it's doing it, encouraged this oceanic research agency they picked the right people for the job. Our team was allotted 80 hours to modify their embedded code and deploy it onto the ROV's new Compact-RIO. On top of that, we were also asked to modify their top-level Graphical User Interface (GUI) for their Windows computer. All this was successfully completed in under 60 hours. In collaboration with the client, we decided to utilize the remaining time by having our software team clean up and streamline any code deemed inefficient. During the control software and hardware migration, it became clear that the customer had some additional needs that could be met. These included software control and data acquisition features that were never improved over time rendering some of the ROV’s sensors obsolete. Since the sensors were compatible with the existing wiring and control I/O modules, we were likewise able to achieve their migration to a new control system. Since the project had gone so well already and the code was being edited, the choice to add an additional feature could be handled easily. However, the architecture of the code was not compatible with having more signals collected and was not able to handle certain states, which required an in-depth re-architecture. With just another 60 hours, our engineering team was capable of programming the architecture with the flexibility it required for the future. Overall, we were able to migrate the client’s LabVIEW code and control system architectures from their compact FieldPoint system to a modern CompactRIO system. This has benefitted the high-speed I/O and communication capabilities of their ocean ROV as well as prepared them for future flexibility needs. From the project’s conception to its end, we were able to provide the customer with the changes they needed within their budget and timeline to ensure the continued function and improvement of their oceanic rover.

article, we'll explore how to control a stepper motor using National Instruments' Single-Board RIO (sbRIO RIO Platform and LabVIEW and CircaFlex™ in Stepper Control National Instruments' Single-Board RIO (sbRIO The sbRIO, programmed using LabVIEW RT and LabVIEW FPGA, handles the logic of motor control—deciding The sbRIO processes the image and converts the necessary movement from pixels to millimeters. The sbRIO outputs these pulses through its FPGA using LabVIEW FPGA, which gives precise control over

delivers lung simulation tool to MedTech startup, bringing complex mathematical models to life on NI sbRIO cardiovascular-pulmonary system Transitioned manufacturing to Cyth Systems Technology at-a-glance NI sbRIO The NI sbRIO-9651 was selected as the control platform to integrate into the final solution because it What are the key benefits of NI sbRIO-9651? This COTS daughterboard for the NI sbRIO enabled: rapid connectivity to digital TTL lines and analog

Complimenting the capabilities of the NI-sbRIO our engineering team designed the Circaflex 580, an embedded conditioning to step down the high voltages present at the substation (50 – 150 kVs) to a signal level the sbRIO

key circuit breaker health indicators and selectively logs data based on pre-determined thresholds sbRIO Cyth developed a custom CircaFlex daughterboard to mate with the NI sbRIO-9651. The NI sbRIO-9651 in the CBOLM continuously reads the signal trace inputs. When a circuit breaker event occurs, datalogging is triggered by the sbRIO to ensure that the data immediately without sacrificing reliability Code Portability: Existing cRIO code was seamlessly transitioned to the sbRIO

We are working with the customer to develop an inflight control system using the NI sbRIO that will travel

The control, based on an NI sbRIO-9631 embedded control and acquisition device, manages a 210-bar hydraulic

By leveraging the NI Single-Board RIO (sbRIO) and Cyth’s embedded Circaflex board, our team was able

ensure safe operation Left and Center: The V3 ERS controller contains a custom daughterboard and an NI sbRIO

testing Develop and deploy a cRIO-based system that can be optimized for future deployments on NI's sbRIO

using research-grade control systems Technology at-a-glance Hardware: NI cRIO-9063 chassis NI cRIO-9038 NI cRIO-9063 & NI cRIO-9038 CompactRIO controllers.

Left: NI cRIO-9038 8 slot chassis featured in the Hotbar fixture control system, Right: NI 9152 C Series

of automated circuit breaker testing system with DUT (Devices Under Test) Right: NI cRIO-9063 & cRIO 9038

Left: NI cRIO-9038, Right: NI cDAQ-9178 Engine Sensor Simulation Before connecting our ECU system based

Left: Electronics Control Cabinet, Right: NI-9038 & NI-9063 cRIO Controllers Why CompactRIO?