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Software platform recommendation?


BradP

Question

Everything I've read about the Analog Discovery 3 product line looks like a good fit for an engineering test system I need to build two copies of.  I am looking for a recommendation on which of the supported application software platforms might best fit the intended usage scenario, preferably from someone who has broad experience with the three options I'm familiar with: LabView, Python and Visual Studio, who is in a position to understand which platform would likely be the least effort for my usage case.

The desired objective is an automated test system where an unknown load is connected, a test is selected and a button is pushed on the UI, the test runs and, depending on the selected test, a current vs voltage plot or voltage and current waveforms over time are output.  It appears the Analog Discovery 3 product line has the resources and flexibility to implement most any conceivable permutation of such a test. 

The issue here is that the test has to be repeatable and duplicatable across the two systems, which will be located 1,000 miles apart.  I need to be able to develop a test in my shop, transmit it to the remote system, and have personnel at the remote site (who are not trained in electronics) hook up the load and run the test.  Then I retrieve the results from the remote system for analysis.  I need to be confident the same test is being run remotely as what I developed locally.  In other words, there are no adjustments or settings for the remote operators to mess with - every variable in the test is initialized and controlled by the software program or script.  The operator's only option is selecting the desired program or script to run.

I'm not familiar with what the Analog Discovery 3 looks like in the Python ecosystem.  I'm wondering if Python scripts would be the way to go here, or if I should just plan on sending a complete LabView program for each test I want to run.  I am familiar with what DAQ devices look like in LabView.  I think Visual Studio is probably too elaborate for a simple application like this.  So I think my question boils down to this: Which is likely the least-effort way to build a fully automated test that leaves no variable uninitialized and can be readily transmitted and administered remotely?

Best, Brad

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Hi @BradP,

I have moved your question to a more appropriate section of the Forum.

I do not know how in depth or how long your individual tests are going to be, but you can use the WaveForms application to save your workspace that will maintain all of your settings; I routinely use the saved setups to test units that are sent my way and just click the 'run all' button to get the workspace going. If you need need to save repeated acquisitions, you can use use the logging feature to save every Nth acquisition or just use the recording feature to save some amount of data to a particular file location.
You can see an example of logging in this thread here:

As for the Python ecosystem, there are a number of examples built into the WaveForms installation that you can use to get started: image.png.

There is a VI set for LabVIEW that provides some limited access to device features that you could use, but I don't know what all features you are looking for:

As for the remote sharing of data, WaveForms is largely (outside of the user manually checking for updates within app) offline. In terms of data sharing, if you save data to some folder that is connected to a cloud service (Office365, Dropbox, etc) then you could have saved acquisition data be easily synced and viewed remotely that way.

Otherwise if you wanted to do the remove access in hardware, I would recommend using the ADP3250/ADP3450 with it's Linux mode so that you could set up and run the various WaveForms API functions directly on the device. There is some more information about this on this thread here:

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
JColvin

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JColvin, thanks for the response and the plethora of information!  It will take some time to go through it but I will post again if I have any more questions...

Best, Brad

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