Setting Up the SLSC Extension of a Real-Time Controller

This article is intended to walk the reader through the steps required for setting up the SLSC Extension of a Real-Time (PXI or CompactRIO) Controller.

In order to set up a SLSC system as extension of a Real-Time Controller:
 

1. Make sure that the Real-Time Controller has both a primary and a secondary network interface

 

2. Ensure that both the SLSC and the Real-Time Controller drivers are installed on your host machine

 

• The SLSC drivers are the NI-SLSC that can be downloaded here

 

• The Real-Time Controller drivers depend on the familiy of controller you are using
  • CompactRIO controllers require the NI CompactRIO  drivers
  • PXI controllers require the PXI Platform Services  drivers

 

3. Directly connect to the host machine both the SLSC chassis (SLSC-12001) and the Real-Time Controller (through its primary network interface) with an Ethernet cable and make sure that both the SLSC and the Real-Time Controller are correctly recognized by the host machine.

 

• Open NI Measurment & Automation Explorer (MAX)

 

• Check if SLSC-12001 is recognized in NI MAX by navigating to Devices and Interfaces»Network Devices
  • If the SLSC is not recognized, check the network adapter and firewall settings of the host machine and perform a Factory Reset on the SLSC to restore its default IP address (DHCP or Link Local)

 

• Check if the Real-Time Controller is recognized in NI MAX by navigating to Remote Systems
  • If the Real-Time Controller is not recognized, check the troubleshooting steps documented here

 

4. Adjust the SLSC-12001 and the Real-Time Controller secondary network adapter settings in order for them to be referred to the same subnet. You can achieve such result:

 

• Dynamically: Connect the SLSC to the secondary network adapter of the Real-Time Controller with an Ethernet cable and perform a Factory Reset on the SLSC, in order for the SLSC to obtain a compatible IP Address from the Real-Time Controller network interface it is connected with

 

• Statically: Navigate to the Network Settings tab of the SLSC and the Real-Time Controller and manually change their network interfaces settings so that such interfaces are in the same subnet; disconnect the SLSC from the host machine and connect it to the Real-Time Controller network interface you just set. An example of subnet setting to realize could be:
  • IPv4 Address field set to 192.0.2.1 and Subnet Mask set to 255.255.255.0 (Real-Time Controller)
  • IPv4 Address field set to 192.0.2.2 and Subnet Mask set to 255.255.255.0 (SLSC-12001)

After performing the above steps you should now be able to use SLSC-12001 as extension of the Real-Time Controller.

Please note that after connecting the SLSC to the Real-Time Controller you will not be able to detect the SLSC chassis from the host machine anymore (in NI MAX, the Devices and Interfaces»Network Devices tree of the Real-Time Controller will not populate with the SLSC item, differently from when the SLSC is directly connected to the host machine).

In order to make sure that the SLSC Extension has been correctly configured, you can:

• In LabVIEW, run the Configuration VI (installed with the NI-SLSC in the labview\examples\SLSC directory) on the Real-Time Controller and check if the SLSC is discovered

 

• In VeriStand, create an empty System Definition File and manually add the SLSC item of the Controller, specifiying the SLSC IP Address (if static) or the hostname (if dynamic - after the Factory Reset, the SLSC host name is reset to "SLSC-12001-<8-digit serial number>"). Verify if the deployment of the System Definition File happens correctly.

NOTE: If you need multiple SLSC chassis to connect to the same Real-Time controller or Host PC, you will need to connect them to a network switch and configure the IP addresses of all of them to be on the same sub-net. The Real-Time controller will not display the SLSC chassis under its own Network Devices, but will be able to communicate with them regardless.