Fieldbus NI-FBUS Monitor User Manual TM NI-FBUS Monitor User Manual June 2004 Edition Part Number 371171A-01
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Important Information Warranty The AT-FBUS and PCMCIA-FBUS are warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of shipment, as evidenced by receipts or other documentation. National Instruments will, at its option, repair or replace equipment that proves to be defective during the warranty period. This warranty includes parts and labor.
Compliance Compliance with FCC/Canada Radio Frequency Interference Regulations Determining FCC Class The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has rules to protect wireless communications from interference. The FCC places digital electronics into two classes. These classes are known as Class A (for use in industrial-commercial locations only) or Class B (for use in residential or commercial locations). All National Instruments (NI) products are FCC Class A products.
Contents About This Manual Conventions ...................................................................................................................ix Related Documentation..................................................................................................x Chapter 1 Introduction NI-FBUS Monitor Overview .........................................................................................1-1 Windows of the NI-FBUS Monitor .............................................................
Contents Filter Window................................................................................................................ 3-9 Packet View .................................................................................................... 3-10 Packet Display Formats .................................................................... 3-10 Packet View Toolbar ........................................................................ 3-11 Statistics View............................................
Contents Glossary Index © National Instruments Corporation vii NI-FBUS Monitor User Manual
About This Manual This manual describes the NI-FBUS Monitor utility, its features, and how to install and use it. The NI-FBUS Monitor utility is intended for use with Windows 2000/NT/XP. Conventions The following conventions appear in this manual: » The » symbol leads you through nested menu items and dialog box options to a final action. The sequence File»Page Setup»Options directs you to pull down the File menu, select the Page Setup item, and select Options from the last dialog box.
About This Manual monospace bold Bold text in this font denotes the messages and responses that the computer automatically prints to the screen. This font also emphasizes lines of code that are different from the other examples. monospace italic Italic text in this font denotes text that is a placeholder for a word or value that you must supply. NI-FBUS In this manual, the term NI-FBUS, when used alone, refers to the NI-FBUS Communications Manager.
1 Introduction This chapter contains an overview of the NI-FBUS Monitor. NI-FBUS Monitor Overview The NI-FBUS Monitor is a Win32 application used to monitor, debug, and analyze fieldbus data packets. The NI-FBUS Monitor detects communication on the bus, capturing data packets that are passed between fieldbus devices. These packets are time-stamped and displayed in real time in active packet view of the NI-FBUS Monitor.
2 Installation and Configuration This chapter contains instructions for installing and configuring your NI-FBUS Monitor software and your fieldbus interface. Installing the Software If you are installing the NI-FBUS software over an existing version, write down your card configuration and any port configuration parameters you changed from their defaults. Reinstalling may cause you to lose any existing card and port configuration information.
Chapter 2 Installation and Configuration Started Manual, both of which are included in PDF-format on the NI-FBUS Communications Manager CD. Configuring the Software If you are installing an AT-FBUS board, the physical settings on the board must match the software settings you configure. To read your IRQ line from your board, look at the number printed on the board under the jumper. Configuration Steps for Windows 2000/NT/XP 1.
Chapter 2 Installation and Configuration If the process and the driver start up successfully under Windows NT, you can configure the nifb driver to load at system startup. Change the StartupType for the nifb driver to Automatic through the Devices window in the Control Panel. If you are using Windows NT, you can also move the NIFB shortcut to the StartUp folder to make it start up automatically when your computer boots or restarts.
Windows and Menus 3 This chapter describes each of the menus and windows in the NI-FBUS Monitor utility. List of Windows Main Window Multiple Document Interface (MDI) window that contains all the other windows and toolbars. Filter Window Displays data packets and statistical information. Each filter window has its own packet filter. Filter Dialog box you can use to select which data packets to capture. The options are as follows: FDL Filter—Filters packets by the Fieldbus Data Link (FDL) layer.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Packet View Toolbar Gives access to view options for the packet view. Statistics View Toolbar Gives access to view options for the statistics view. Standard Toolbar Gives access to commonly used functions in a toolbar format. About the NI-FBUS Monitor Interface The NI-FBUS Monitor consists of windows and data objects. The main window is the large desktop window that contains all other windows of the NI-FBUS Monitor. It has a menu bar and various toolbars.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Figure 3-1 is a graphical example of the relationships between the windows and the document. The gray area represents the graphical area that appears on the desktop. The documents on the left are data objects invisible on the desktop. Even if a window is split using the Split Filter Window function, the filter window still has only one filter attached to it. Note Figure 3-1.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Figure 3-2. Main Window When you start the NI-FBUS Monitor, it opens a new filter window and a new capture document. The capture document contains the actual data packets that are captured from the bus. The filter window is a graphical representation of the data stored in the capture document. The filter window is minimized in Figure 3-2. By default, the NI-FBUS Monitor opens the standard toolbar at the top and the Packet View toolbar on the left of the main window’s frame.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Standard Toolbar Figure 3-3 shows the standard NI-FBUS Monitor toolbar. Figure 3-3. Standard Monitor Toolbar Following are descriptions of the standard toolbar buttons: New Capture creates a new capture document. Open Capture opens an existing capture document. Save Capture saves the current capture document. Cut removes a selected capture document. Copy duplicates a capture document to Clipboard for pasting. Paste pastes a capture document to a different location.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Filter Settings shows the filter settings for the current filter window. Add Filter Window creates a new filter window and filter for the current capture document. Split Filter Window splits the filter window into a multi-paned filter window. Cascade Window arranges the open documents in a diagonal order. Tile Window arranges two filter windows in vertical order. Help opens the NI-FBUS online help utility.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Save As Saves the current capture document with a new name. Print Prints the current capture document. Print Setup Sets up the printer and printer options. Recent File List the most recently saved files. Exit Exits the NI-FBUS Monitor. Capture Menu The Capture menu allows you to control the capture. To view this menu, click the Capture option at the top of the main window, or right-click in the filter window.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus View Menu You can use the View menu instead of the toolbars to configure the active filter window views. Packet Menu The Packet menu has the same options as the packet view toolbar. Refer to the Packet View Toolbar section for a description of each option. Statistics Menu The Statistics menu has the same options as the statistics view toolbar. Refer to the Statistics View Toolbar section for a description of each option.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Statistics Toolbar Shows the Statistics View toolbar. Status Bar Shows the status bar. Help Menu You can use the Help menu to display information about the NI-FBUS Monitor. Filter Window The filter window displays the data in a capture document, and can display this data in different formats. The filter window has three tabs located in the bottom left of the window that you can use to switch between statistics view and packet view.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Packet View You can use the packet view to display and manipulate data packets. This view is the main medium of interaction between you and the capture document. To select the packet view, click the Packets tab at the bottom left of the filter window, or select Packet View from the View menu. Figure 3-5 shows the filter window in packet view. Figure 3-5.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus see an asterisk, refer to the Improving Performance section of Chapter 4, How To Use the NI-FBUS Monitor. A pound sign (#) next to a packet number means that the NI-FBUS Monitor received the packet that arrived right before the indicated packet. The format of the time measurement is as follows: Hours:Minutes:Seconds.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Following are descriptions of the buttons, checkboxes, and drop-down lists on the Packet View toolbar: Radio Buttons Simple Displays a short view of the data in a packet. Decode Fully decodes the data in a packet. Hex Displays a hexadecimal dump of the data in a packet. Checkboxes Time Displays the time stamp of a packet. LAS\TM Displays the LAS and Time Master information of a packet. FDL Displays the FDL portion of a packet.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Drop-Down List Time Measured Allows you to select the time calculation to perform on the packet. The options are as follows: Absolute—Shows the absolute time relative to the start of the NI-FBUS Monitor utility. Idle—Shows the idle time between packets. From Start—Shows the time from the start of one packet to the start of the next packet. From End—Shows the time from the end of one packet to the end of the next packet. Transmission—Shows the time it took to transmit a packet.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Figure 3-7. Filter Window Showing Statistics View Statistics View Toolbar The Statistics View toolbar allows you to select which graphs you would like to see. This toolbar is not visible by default. You can view this toolbar by selecting Statistics Toolbar from the Toolbars menu. Deselecting the box for a chart removes the corresponding chart from the view, and checking the box for a chart displays the chart. Figure 3-8 shows the Statistics View toolbar. Figure 3-8.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Following are descriptions of the checkboxes on the Statistics View toolbar: Bandwidth Displays the relative bandwidth between FDL, FAS, and FMS packets. FMS Displays the FMS Service volume. FDL Displays the FDL PDU volume. Verbose Displays detailed statistics and spells out parameter names. Live List View The Live List View shows what devices on the fieldbus are active. This view lists active devices as alive and inactive devices as dead.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus refilter the data and display the desired packets, click on the packet types that you want to view again. The data filtered out during capture is not accessible. For example, after capture, you cannot recover Pass Token (PT) FDL packets if they were not enabled during capture. Basic Filter Logic A filter behaves differently depending on whether you select addresses on the Filter by Address tab.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus FDL Filter Tab The FDL Filter tab filters packets at the FDL layer and lists all of the FDL PDU types for easy selection. Select the checkbox by an FDL type to capture that type of packet. The Show Transfer Errors checkbox enables the display of data-transfer errors. A data-transfer error can occur if a packet does not have the proper checksum attached to it, which can be caused by bus noise. The NI-FBUS Monitor displays protocol errors along with the packets.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus FMS Filter Tab The FMS Filter tab filters packets by FMS service and lists all the FMS Services available. Select the FMS PDU Type using the radio buttons on the left of the dialog box to view the services corresponding to that PDU type in the FMS Services box. Select a checkbox to enable capture of the corresponding packet type. Figure 3-10 shows the FMS Filter tab. Figure 3-10. FMS Filter Tab NI-FBUS Monitor User Manual 3-18 ni.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Filter by Address Tab The Filter by Address tab filters data for a specific address or addresses. The NI-FBUS Monitor detects and lists all the currently detected addresses in the Detected Addresses box of the Filter by Address tab. The NI-FBUS Monitor captures data only for the selected addresses, and no other addresses. If you want to capture data for all addresses, click the Clear All button to ensure that no other addresses are selected.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Figure 3-12. Capture Settings Tab Following are descriptions of the options on the Capture Settings tab: NI-FBUS Monitor User Manual Bus Name Allows you to select a fieldbus interface board. Schedule Allows you to select a fieldbus schedule configuration file. Max num of packets Allows you to enter the maximum number of packets you want the NI-FBUS Monitor to capture.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Stop packet on reception error (HW) Stops continuous capture when a reception error occurs. Write to file Writes captured data directly to the file specified in the field. If you select Continuous capture when max reached, the NI-FBUS Monitor writes data to the file until you stop the capture. During a continuous capture, the number of packets retained in memory does not exceed the value in the Max num of packets field.
Chapter 3 Windows and Menus Toolbar Settings Tab The Toolbar Settings tab allows you to select which toolbars the NI-FBUS Monitor displays. Select the Show Tool Tips checkbox to activate the tool tip help for most controls. To view the tips, pause your cursor over a control. Figure 3-14 shows the Toolbar Settings tab. Figure 3-14. Toolbar Settings Tab NI-FBUS Monitor User Manual 3-22 ni.
How To Use the NI-FBUS Monitor 4 This chapter describes how to perform basic tasks with the NI-FBUS Monitor. Starting the NI-FBUS Monitor To launch the NI-FBUS Monitor application, double-click the Fieldbus Monitor icon in the Fieldbus Software program group. Starting Capture To start capture, complete the following steps: 1. (Optional) Before starting a capture, you might want to open the filter to select specific packets to capture.
Chapter 4 How To Use the NI-FBUS Monitor Stopping Capture You can stop data capture in one of two ways: • Select Stop Capture from the Capture menu or click the Stop Capture button on the standard toolbar. • Select Capture»Settings and click the Capture Settings tab in the Settings dialog box. Click the Stop capture when max reached button to stop capture after the NI-FBUS Monitor receives the number of packets specified by Max num of packets.
Chapter 4 How To Use the NI-FBUS Monitor Viewing Data You can view data in a filter window, and switch between tabs to view all the information, or you can split the window and view all tabs simultaneously. To split the current Filter window into four panes, select Window»Split Filter Window or click the Split Filter Window button on the standard toolbar. The split window allows you to look at different parts of the capture at the same time.
Chapter 4 How To Use the NI-FBUS Monitor Improving Performance This section contains hints for improving the performance of the NI-FBUS Monitor on systems slower than the platform recommended mentioned in the Recommended Minimum Platform section of Chapter 1, Introduction. Conserve Memory Close unnecessary applications, and set Max num of packets on the Capture Settings tab to a low value (less than 500).
A Pinout Information This appendix contains information about the pinout of the fieldbus connectors. One cable for either the PCMCIA-FBUS or AT-FBUS is included in your kit. The following figures show the pinout of the fieldbus connectors so you can make your own cable if you need a longer cable than the one in your kit.
Appendix A Pinout Information Figure A-2 shows the PCMCIA-FBUS cable. An arrow on the cable points to pin 1 of the screw terminal block. PC M V- - CIA D H -FB S + US D +,P OR V T1 J2 J1 Figure A-2. PCMCIA-FBUS Cable Figure A-3 shows J2, the screw terminal block pinout for the PCMCIA-FBUS cable. 1 2 3 4 5 Power – Data – Shield Data + Power + Figure A-3. Screw Terminal Block Pinout All of the signals on the screw terminal block provide a direct connection to the 9-pin DSUB.
Technical Support and Professional Services B Visit the following sections of the National Instruments Web site at ni.com for technical support and professional services: • Support—Online technical support resources at ni.
Appendix B Technical Support and Professional Services If you searched ni.com and could not find the answers you need, contact your local office or NI corporate headquarters. Phone numbers for our worldwide offices are listed at the front of this manual. You also can visit the Worldwide Offices section of ni.com/niglobal to access the branch office Web sites, which provide up-to-date contact information, support phone numbers, email addresses, and current events. NI-FBUS Monitor User Manual B-2 ni.
Glossary Symbol Prefix Value p pico 10 –12 n nano 10 –9 µ micro 10 – 6 m milli 10 –3 k kilo 10 3 M mega 10 6 G giga 10 9 T tera 10 12 A alive Active and functioning on the fieldbus. ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. asynchronous Communication that occurs at times which are not predetermined. AT-compatible Compatible with the 16-bit Industry Standard Architecture. B B Bytes bandwidth The capacity of a bus to transmit data.
Glossary C capture document An NI-FBUS monitor document in memory that contains all the settings and data of your capture. CD Compel Data. channel A pin or wire lead to which you apply or from which you read the analog or digital signal. checksum A method used to ensure that data is transmitted correctly. Communication Stack The hierarchy of layers in a layered communications model that performs the services required to interface the User Application to the Physical Layer of the fieldbus.
Glossary Fieldbus Data Link layer The second lowest layer of the fieldbus communications stack. Fieldbus Messaging Specification layer The layer of the communication stack that defines a model for applications to interact over the fieldbus. The services FMS provides allow you to read and write information about the OD, read and write the data variables described in the OD, and perform other activities such as uploading/downloading data, and invoking programs inside a device.
Glossary P PC Personal Computer. PDU Protocol Data Unit. PN Probe Node. PR Probe Response. processor The central controlling and computing part of a computer. protocol error An error in data transfer that has to do with the way the data is sent. PT Pass Token. R RAM Random Access Memory. RT Return Token. T TD NI-FBUS Monitor User Manual Time Distribution. G-4 ni.
Index C display settings tab layout (figure), 3-21 overview, 3-21 documentation conventions used in manual, ix NI resources, B-1 related documentation, x drivers (NI resources), B-1 capture document, 3-2 relationship to window (figure), 3-3 capture menu filter settings, 3-7 find data, 3-7 finding data, 4-2 hexadecimal data, 3-7 high priority updates, 3-7 live updates, 3-7 reset capture, 3-7 saving data, 4-2 scrolling live updates, 3-7 settings, 3-7 smooth live updates, 3-7 start capture, 3-7 starting capt
Index M filter window description, 3-1 functional overview, 3-9 layout (figure), 3-9 live list view, 3-15 packet view, 3-10 packet display formats, 3-10 schedule view, 3-15 statistics view, 3-13 layout (figure), 3-14 filters basic logic, 3-16 filter dialog box, 3-16 filter operation after capture, 3-15 filter operation during capture, 3-15 overview, 3-15 FMS filter tab layout (figure), 3-18 overview, 3-18 main menu bar capture menu, 3-7 file menu, 3-6 help menu, 3-9 overview, 3-6 packet menu, 3-8 statist
Index R software re-installation (caution), 2-1 standard toolbar, 3-2 start driver in NT, 2-2 starting the monitor, 4-1 statistics view toolbar, 3-2 window overview, 1-1 related documentation, x S screw terminal block pinout, A-2 settings dialog box capture settings tab, 3-19 description, 3-1 display settings tab, 3-21 functional overview, 3-19 options, 3-1 overview, 3-19 toolbar settings tab, 3-22 single filter, 3-2 software (NI resources), B-1 split filter window button, 4-3 capture menu, 4-3 example
Index toolbar menu options, 3-8 toolbar settings tab layout (figure), 3-22 overview, 3-22 training and certification (NI resources), B-1 troubleshooting (NI resources), B-1 save capture button, 3-5 split filter window button, 3-6, 4-3 start capture button, 3-5 stop capture button, 3-5 tile window button, 3-6 statistics menu live list view, 3-8 options, 3-8 statistics view toolbar checkboxes bandwidth, 3-15 FDL, 3-15 FMS, 3-15 verbose, 3-15 description, 3-2 functional overview, 3-14 layout (figure), 3-14 s