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Power Electronics Add-On Custom Device

Power Electronics Add-On Configuration Page

In the System Explorer window configuration tree, expand Targets >> Controller >> Custom Devices and select Power Electronics Add-On to display this page.  If this is a new VeriStand project, see the instructions in How to Add the Power Electronics Add-On to the System Definition.

This page includes the following components, configurable at edit-time only:

Ribbon Buttons

Add License.PNG Add License

Launches the OPAL-RT License Manager dialog window. Browse to a deployment license file to install it to the host machine.

Launch HCM

Launches the Hardware Configuration Manager. The Hardware Configuration Manager (HCM) is a tool used to create, edit, and remove Hardware Configurations

Right-Click Menu

 

Enable/Disable

Specifies if the Power Electronics Add-On real-time engine is Enabled or Disabled.

Disabling the Power Electronics Add-On using the right-click menu does not impact the system definition. A user can continue to view and modify the system definition and the custom device files will still be deployed to the real-time target. However, the Power Electronics Add-On engine will not execute on the target.

Power Electronics Add-On Main Page

Version

Specifies the version of the Power Electronics Add-On.

Configuration

Selected Hardware Configuration for the project.  The configuration defines the types of FPGA boards to be targeted and the features available in their firmwares.

Configuration Description

Description of the features included in the selected hardware configuration.  For more detailed information about a configuration, navigate to its Help page under Default Hardware Configurations.

Target

Name of the FPGA target onto which the corresponding bitfile will be deployed.  This must match the name of the FPGA target as displayed in the NI Measurement and Automation Explorer.

Bitfile

File name of the bitfile to be deployed to the FPGA target.

Target Credentials

Username

Specify the username for the NI Real Time Target.  The default target username is admin. Target credentials can be modified in the NI Measurement and Automation Explorer.

Password

Specify the password for the NI Real Time Target.  The default target password is an empty string. Target credentials can be modified in the NI Measurement and Automation Explorer.

Advanced Performance

Enable Telemetry Channels

Allows telemetry parameters to be exposed as VeriStand Channels. See Telemetry Channels below for more details.

Processor Assignments

Launches the Processor Assignments dialog window.

Power Electronics Add-On Section Channels

This section includes the following custom device channels: 

Advanced Channels

 

Element Name

Type

Units

Description



Reset Models

Input



This channel resets all models in the custom device, such as eHS cores and machine model cores.

Set this channel to one of the following values:

  • - All models in the custom device will execute as configured

  • - All models in the custom device will be set into a Reset mode until the Reset Models channel is set back to 0.

Models in Reset mode do not react to inputs, and their outputs should not be considered as valid. Please refer to the Reset Model Behavior section for more information.

 

Telemetry Channels

Section

 

Contains the Telemetry Channels. This section is made available when Enable Telemetry Channels is enabled.

Telemetry Channels

When Enable Telemetry Channels is enabled, the Telemetry Channels section is added to the configuration tree. The channels are grouped according to the process to which they belong. FPGA Communication Processes 1, 2, and the Low Latency FPGA Communication Processes are responsible for CPU-FPGA communication (read/write), while the Waveform Acquisition Process is responsible for the acquisition of stream data from waveforms.

FPGA Communication Process 1

 

Channel Name

Type

Units

Description

 

Actual Loop Rate

Output

Hz

The execution rate of the FPGA Communication Process.

 

Iteration

Output

 

The iteration count of the FPGA Communication Process.

 

Write Time

Output

us

Time taken by the FPGA Communication Process to write the values of the input VeriStand channels to the FPGA model inputs.

 

Read Time

Output

us

Time taken by the FPGA Communication Process to read the outputs of the FPGA models and publish them to the output VeriStand Channels.

 

Iteration Duration

Output

us

Time taken to execute the last entire iteration of the process.

 

Finished Late Count

Output

 

Number of iterations that have exceeded the specified Loop Rate for this process.

FPGA Communication Process 2

 

Channel Name

Type

Units

Description

 

Actual Loop Rate

Output

Hz

The execution rate of the FPGA Communication Process.

 

Iteration

Output

 

The iteration count of the FPGA Communication Process.

 

Read Time

Output

us

Time taken by the FPGA Communication Process to read the outputs of the FPGA models and publish them to the output VeriStand Channels.

 

Write Time

Output

us

Time taken by the FPGA Communication Process to write the values of the input VeriStand channels to the FPGA model inputs.

 

Iteration Duration

Output

us

Time taken to execute the last entire iteration of the process.

 

Finished Late Count

Output

 

Number of iterations that have exceeded the specified Loop Rate for this process.

Low Latency FPGA Communication Process (One per FPGA Target with Low Latency Support)

 

Channel Name

Type

Units

Description

 

Actual Loop Rate

Output

Hz

The execution rate of the Low Latency FPGA Communication Process.

 

Iteration

Output

 

The iteration count of the Low Latency FPGA Communication Process.

 

Write Time

Output

us

Time taken by the Low Latency FPGA Communication Process to write the values of the input VeriStand channels to the FPGA model inputs.

 

Read Time

Output

us

Time taken by the Low Latency FPGA Communication Process to read the outputs of the FPGA models and publish them to the output VeriStand Channels.

 

Iteration Duration

Output

us

Time taken to execute the last entire iteration of the process.

 

Finished Late Count

Output

 

This data is not available for Low Latency FPGA Processes.  The channel value is always -1.

 

Late Samples

Output

 

Number of samples that have been sent late from the Low Latency Process to the Low Latency Engine on the FPGA. This indicates that the CPU has fallen behind.

 

FPGA System Loop Time

Output

Ticks

Measured execution rate of the Low Latency Engine on the FPGA.

 

CPU Load Time Value

Output

Ticks

Time measured from the start of the FPGA-to-CPU write data transfer to the completion of the CPU-to-FPGA read data transfer.

 

CPU Load Time Maximum

Output

Ticks

Maximum CPU Load Time Value.

 

Transfer Sequence Number

Output

 

FPGA-to-CPU Transfer Sequence Number. This value is incremented by the FPGA engine after the FPGA-to-CPU data is transferred to the CPU.

 

FPGA Communication State

Output

 

Last reported state of the Low Latency Engine on the FPGA.

Waveform Acquisition Process

 

Channel Name

Type

Units

Description

 

Actual Loop Rate

Output

Hz

The execution rate of the Waveform Acquisition Process.

 

Iteration

Output

 

The iteration count of the Waveform Acquisition Process.

Reset Model Behavior

When the Reset Models channel is asserted, all models in the custom device will be reset and placed into a paused state until the channel is deserted. When the models are in the reset state, certain outputs of the model will not be set to back to 0, Instead, they may retain their latest valid value before the reset channel was asserted. This behavior is a known issue in the product and may change in the future. 

Related Links

How to Add the Power Electronics Add-On to the System Definition

 

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