Design And Implementation Of A Cross-operating System Instrument Driver Platform Based On Vala Language

The automatic test system(Automatic Test System,ATS)uses the instrument control software in the PC(Personal Computer)to communicate with multiple instruments,and the development of the instrument control software requires the instrument driver platform to provide a communication interface and an instrument function interface.The instrument driver platform includes a software library that complies with the Virtual Instrument Software Architecture(VISA)specification and the Interchangeable Virtual Instruments(IVI)specification.The current mainstream instrument driver platform is provided by foreign commercial companies and lacks security.It is guaranteed that the VISA library and IVI library implemented independently in China are not adapted to the domestic operating system.This article uses Vala language,which is easy to transplant and expand,and implements a cross-operating system instrument driver platform that works in Windows and Neo Kylin operating system according to the VISA specification and the IVI specification.The main contents of this article are as follows:(1)Study VISA specifications and design requirements for core module resource templates and resource managers to realize cross-process resource lock,VISA event mechanism,dynamic attribute control,resource reading and writing,instrument resource management and discovery functions.Combined with the software design mode,the dynamic loading software library provided by the Vala language is used to implement the VISA plug-in mechanism,and provide plug-in management and plug-in loading functions.(2)Study the IVI specification and conduct demand analysis and scheme design for the attribute engine,class-driven and shared component parts,and use the generic mechanism of the Vala language to realize the scope check,data caching,attribute authority control,and duplication of different attributes in the attribute engine module Property management and callback function.Use Vala language Property mechanism to realize the serialization and deserialization of shared components,dynamic loading of proprietary drivers,and physical database management functions.(3)Combine the commonly used GPIB,USBTMC and VXI-11 communication interfaces of measuring instruments,design corresponding communication plug-ins,and realize the basic I/O interface and formatted I/O interface proposed by the VISA specification.According to the function generator,oscilloscope,spectrum analyzer,radio frequency signal source,programmable power supply and digital multimeter 6types of instrument driver specifications,the specific functions of the class driver are realized.(4)Analyze the different bus drivers in the Windows operating system and the Neo Kylin operating system,use Vala language to encapsulate the underlying driver interfaces provided by different operating systems,and use the software construction system to formulate compilation strategies to complete cross-operating system adaptation.According to the realization function of this text,design the test plan,analyze the test result.The test results show that this article has implemented a VISA library that can control GPIB instruments,USBTMC instruments and VXI-11 instruments in Windows and Neo Kylin operating system,as well as function generators,oscilloscopes,spectrum analyzers,radio frequency signal sources,programmable power supplies and digital IVI library implemented by multimeter 6 types of instrument drivers.