Frankonia FC05 driver

Discussion and questions regarding the RadiMation device drivers that control the measurement equipment.
amunoz
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Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 15:42

Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by amunoz »

Hi,

i write this post because in our lab we have a Frankonia FC05 turntable which is controlled through GPIB & a Frankonia propietary program.

We are now migrating to radimation and we want to control it in order to automate the measurements. In the device driver list for turntables, both Frankonia FC02 & FC03 are supported in Radimation. I tested both with no luck. Response from Radimation is that device is not connected. I double checked that turntable is working and has a correct GPIB address.

I compared FC-03 & FC-05 SCPI commands and there are quite similar...

Is there any way to control a FC-05 turntable / mast with a FC-03 driver? Or do we need a specific FC-05 driver from you?

Thank you in advance,

A. Munoz

P.D. O.S. is Windows 7 64-bit
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joro
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by joro »

Hello Mr. Munoz,

It is correct that we did not have a device driver for the Frankonia FC 05.
It is also correct that the device drivers of the Frankonia FC02 and FC03 are not working when they are used in combination with the Frankonia FC05.
During the initialisation and checking of the FC02/FC03 device driver we check if the controlled equipment is really a FC02 or FC03. In your situation that check will is not succesfull and therefor the response from RadiMation is that the device is not connected.

A few minutes ago I created a device driver for the Frankonia FC 05. That device driver will correctly check if the Frankonia FC05 is connected.
You can download the updated set of device drivers from our RadiWiki site. (http://wiki.dare.nl/wiki/index.php/Device_drivers).

Please be aware that I have not been able to test the correctness of this updated FC05 device driver. It is possible that other problems are still present in the control of the Frankonia FC05.
If you observe problems, please let us know.

With best regards,

John
amunoz
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Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 15:42

Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by amunoz »

Hello John,

first of all, i want to thank you for your promtly answer. Last week i had some time to test the new drivers. The instalation of the turntable and antena mast now gives no error and the hardware is properly detected.

But the problem arises when you try to use them. I've tried to change antena polarization and the antena completed the change but surprisingly radimation reported a "timeout while waiting for *OPC? command". Regarding to the turntable it behaves more or less the same. It completed the commanded movement but gave a *OPC timeout. After that, antenna mast & turntable became deaf and i have to close the program & hard reset turntable & mast.

In order to have another point of view, i debugged GPIB commands of the FC05 Frankonia control program and i saw no *OPC command. Either the *OPC command was not working and they (Franconia) decided to make a workarround or they make a common implementation for RS232 (USB) & GPIB.

In any case, i captured FC05 GPIB commands with NI Spy. Files were captured with the following conditions:
turntable_movement.nitrace -> Turntable was @ 10º, then i started FC05 and commanded to move turntable to 0º. After movement was completed i exited the program.
mast_polarization.nitrace -> Turntable was @ 0º, antenna in vertical polarization. Then i start FC05 and commanded to change polarization to horizontal (as you will see, there's no OPC check) and after movement was completed i exited the program.

I hope this helps. Thank you very much,

Toni
Attachments
NI Capture.zip
(4.34 KiB) Downloaded 476 times
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joro
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by joro »

Hello Toni,

Thanks for testing the device driver for the Frankonia FC 05. I'm sorry that the device driver for the FC05 is not working correctly yet. Thanks for reporting what is working, and what's not working.
Regarding the *OPC discussion: There are several possibilities to determine if a device is ready with performing it's actions. A very common method is to us *OPC (or *OPC?), however there are also some other methods to do this. Frankonia seems to use the "STAT:OPER:COND?" command to determine the current status. I'm not sure why they are NOT using the *OPC because it is more common to use that command.

I also checked the commands in our device driver and the commands that Frankonia is using. They seem to be the same (with some non-critical differences). The only difference is the *OPC that is not used by Frankonia.

I'm really interested in a NI-SPY file of the communication between RadiMation and the FC05. If you could create a NI-SPY/IO-Trace file of that communication, it would help me a lot.

With thanks in advance.

John
amunoz
Posts: 19
Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 15:42

Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by amunoz »

Hello again John,

i've had some time to capture the NI trace you asked for. I agree with you that usually *OPC command is used. Why they (Frankonia) have not used it is out of my understanding.

The NI file attached logs the interaction just before i started anechoic chamber (multiband) test. There is some time breaks in the capture (eg. line 1008) which represent user dialog confirmation (*OPC command timeout, etc).

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask for anything else you need.

Regards,

Toni
Attachments
FC05.zip
FC05 NI trace
(16.84 KiB) Downloaded 441 times
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joro
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by joro »

Hello Toni,

(Sorry for the delay, but I had to fix some complicated problems that took a lot of time...)

Thanks for capturing the communication betwen RadiMation and the Frankonia FC05. It contains some interesting information, like:
  • On line number 514, the current angle of the FC05 is requested. The answer is received on line number 515.
  • On line number 518, the current angle of the FC05 is requested again. The answer is received on line number 519.
  • On line number 522 the turntable is commanded to turn to 0 degrees
  • On line number 524, the current angle of the FC05 is requested again. But this time no answer is received
The strange thing is, that the FC05 does respond correctly twice to the turntable angle request, but once it is turning it doesn't respond anymore.

To further investigate this issue, I made some improvements to the device driver of the Frankonia FC05. This improvements are:
  • Wait 500 ms after we commanded the turntable to turn to another angle (hoping that we are not over-stressing the turntable controller)
  • Include an additional question to request the status of the FC05 just like Frankonia does ("STAT:OPER:COND?") to determine if this helps in the communication
  • Wait 100 ms after each turntable angle request (hoping that we are not over-stressing the turntable controller).
I also crosschecked all the commands again with the end-user manual of the FC05. All the commands that we are using are listed in the manual (also the *OPC?).

Could you please check the updated device driver (it is already available on the RadiWiki site), and send me an updated NI-SPY file again?

Thanks in advance,

John
amunoz
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Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 15:42

Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by amunoz »

Hi John,

yesterday i installed the new drivers and tested them with radimation (5.3.34). Surprisingly, now the FC05 doesn't get recognised in the first check and radimation returns a timeout. After the check, the turntable and mast were responsive (tested with FC05 propietary program). I tried to reboot computer & hard reset turntable & mast controller but the results were the same.

Then i tried to reinstall the old drivers again (because both table & mast were at least recognised) but i was unable to find them locally. I'll download them again today.

Instead, i used NI console and issued the same commands radimation does. The weird thing is that turntable answered correctly (¿?) at least up to *IDN?.

Attached you will find the captured NI Spy trace of the Radimation check process (after configuring the GPIB addr).

Thank you in advance,

Toni

P.S. Don't worry about the answer delay. You're lightning fast compared to what i'm used to. :-)
Attachments
DRV20120424_FC05.zip
NI Spy capture of Radimation driver check
(1.97 KiB) Downloaded 444 times
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joro
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by joro »

Hello Toni,

Thanks for providing the NI-SPY file. I'm currently unsure why the FC05 is not responding anymore to the commands of RadiMation.
Is it correct that the Frankonia FC05 is configured to GPIB address 15?

I also noticed that the Frankonia program is using a '\n' at the end of each command (This should not be necessary for SCPI devices). So I also updated our device driver to include a '\n' for all FC05 specific commands. The updated drivers are already available on the RadiWiki site.

You also wrote:
Instead, i used NI console and issued the same commands radimation does. The weird thing is that turntable answered correctly (¿?) at least up to *IDN?.
Does this mean that you did get a response on the *IDN? question, when you tried it manually?

Another possibility (but I do not expect that it will be the case) is that we are sending commands to the FC05 too fast. Maybe it is better to slow down the GPIB communication.
On the device driver configuration window where you configure the Primary GPIB address, there are also some 'advanced' settings which can be configured. Please specify a 'GPIB Delay' of '100000' microseconds.

Another question you have is:
Then i tried to reinstall the old drivers again (because both table & mast were at least recognised) but i was unable to find them locally.
Every time when an update of the device driver system is done, a backup-copy of the old device drivers is also made. This backup copy is present in the 'C:\Program Files\DARE Instruments\RadiMation\Version 5.8.34\Backup\' directory. (The real directory name can be different based on the 32-bit or 64-bit operating system, and the language of the operating system). The 'Backup' directory contains several date encoded sub-directories, which indiate the date and time when the last update of the device drivers has been performed. The Frankonia FC05 device driver is included in the RADATTT.DLL file. Copying the RADATTT.DLL file to the 'Version 5.8.34' directory will restore the old driver.

Thanks in advance,

John
amunoz
Posts: 19
Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 15:42

Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by amunoz »

Hi John,

sort answer to your questions:
Is it correct that the Frankonia FC05 is configured to GPIB address 15?
Yes
Does this mean that you did get a response on the *IDN? question, when you tried it manually?
Yes

Regarding the drivers i'll give them a try in a couple of hours, but first i will rescue the "old" driver to check everything was not a system fluke. Then i'll check the new drivers either with GPIB delay of 0 and 100ms (to check if the problem was lying here).

Regards,

Toni

P.S. I don't know wether you prefer to make a complete driver bundle each time (updates many users at a time), but for me would be also fine to exchange only the updated dll (radattt.dll).
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joro
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by joro »

Hello Toni,

Thanks for the fast feedback. I'm curious for the results.
P.S. I don't know wether you prefer to make a complete driver bundle each time (updates many users at a time), but for me would be also fine to exchange only the updated dll (radattt.dll).
It depends. Sometimes we only sent a .DLL if it has some debugging options included (like extra messageboxes), but more often we provide a complete Drivers.exe bundle.

With best regards,
John
amunoz
Posts: 19
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by amunoz »

Hello again John,

bad news, new drivers (20120425) don't detect (in the driver check) the FC05 neither with null delay nor with 100ms delay. I noticed that advanced settings for the driver are not remembered between configurations.

After that I reinstalled the first version (20120411) and FC05 is detected again and behave as commented in previous messages.

As usual, i attach a NI Spy log of the new drivers check process.

Thanks,

Toni
Attachments
20120425_FC05.zip
NI trace capture of the driver check process
(1.75 KiB) Downloaded 455 times
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joro
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by joro »

Hello Toni,

:( That is not what I expected.
I checked the difference in our device driver between the '20120411' and the '20120425' version. There is a difference, .......
However if that difference makes any influence, then the Frankonia FC05 is not GPIB 488.2 compliant!
For 488.2 compliant devices we are using the GPIB SRQ line to get notified when data is available in the output buffer of a GPIB device. When the SRQ line change is detected, we check if data is available (using the MAV bit in the STB) and we read the data. Based on the NI-SPY files you captured, I never see the SRQ line changing, which is strange. During my cross-checking of the previous drivers I detected that in older versions a strange construction was present that did not use the SRQ line to read data from the FC05.
I now restored that original function again (and I made some additional improvements), so I expect that the device driver will now at least be able again to determine if the Frankonia FC05 is connected. (I now begin to understand why we have so many problems controlling this FC05 device)

The updated device driver is already available on the RadiWiki site. Could you be so kind to test this update again?

With best regards,
John
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joro
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by joro »

The problems with control of the Frankonia FC05 is a registered in our issue tracking database. It is known as:
#4318: Driver: Frankonia FC 05
amunoz
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by amunoz »

Hi John,

although i had not write down explicitly before i came to the same conclusion as you: Frankonia controller implementation is somewhat wrecked.

That said, i check the latest drivers and now FC05 is correctly detected. But now, when the measure is started a runtime error (28) appears. After a while another one (400) and when you push both buttons, Radimation shuts down inmediately.

As usual, i captured NI trace and a screen print. Hope they help.

Regards,

Toni

P.S. I asked Frankonia distributor for a firmware update, but i get the feeling that there's no such update :-(
P.S.2 If there is some way to test SRQ line response (even with manual commands or some kind of script -Matlab-) please let me know.
Attachments
20120426_FC05.zip
NI Trace of test initialitation
(11.09 KiB) Downloaded 441 times
Screen capture
Screen capture
Run time error.png (246.7 KiB) Viewed 20284 times
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joro
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by joro »

Hello Toni,

Thanks for sending me the screenshot and the ni-spy capture.
At least it is now clear the Frankonia FC05 is behaving differently then we expected. At this moment there is no need for you to investigate it further. The NI-SPY file from your previous post (20120425_FC05.zip) , does contain enough information for me to contact Frankonia to discuss this behaviour with them.

I'm sorry that we are now observing some other unexpected errors. I have some idea's how I can verify this tomorrow, but I have to do it with some equipment that I'm having in the office. I will keep you updated.

With best regards,
John
amunoz
Posts: 19
Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 15:42

Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by amunoz »

Hi John,

Received. If there is anything else i could do meanwhile, please let me know.

Thanks,

Toni
amunoz
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by amunoz »

Hi again John,

do we have any updates on the subject?

Regards,

Toni
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joro
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by joro »

Hello Toni,

I got a confirmation from Frankonia, that they do not have an update for their firmware of the FC05 yet.

I modified our device driver for the FC05 to provide a workaround for the FC05 problem.
Also the run-time errors '28' and '440' should be fixed with these updated device drivers.

Could you test the updated device drivers?

Thanks in advance!
John
amunoz
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Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 15:42

Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by amunoz »

Hello John,

this morning i tested the new drivers. Unfortunately the debugging stopped at the FC05 driver check with a 'FC05 not connected'.

The surprisingly point is that i tried to log communication with the NI Spy, but it shows no GPIB interaction at all (i double checked that NI spy was working)!!

Any ideas?

Toni
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joro
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Re: Frankonia FC05 driver

Post by joro »

Hello Toni,

Thanks for testing the updated device drivers. I'm sorry that the Check for the connection is not working.
To solve the issue with the run-time errors '28' and '440', I had made some changes. It now seems that I forgot to restore one important change.
It is correct that you do not see any GPIB related communication.

I have already updated the device drivers again to fix the issue with the GPIB communication in the Check for the device connection.
Would you be so kind to test the updated device drivers again?

With thanks in advance,
John
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