Crate niexpctrl_backend
source ·Expand description
niexpctrl_backend
- NI Experiment Control and Streaming
niexpctrl_backend
provides a seamless interface to control and stream experiments involving
National Instruments (NI) devices. It extends the foundational functionalities of the nicompiler_backend
crate
to define interaction behavior with NI hardware, while maintaining an optimized and user-friendly
interface for its users.
Core Functionalities:
-
NI Device Streaming and Control: With the
experiment
module, users can access a refined version of theExperiment
struct fromnicompiler_backend
that incorporates NI-specific functionalities, enabling direct streaming to NI devices and their resets. -
NI-DAQmx Specific Operations: The
nidaqmx
module offers a suite of functionalities that interfaces with the NI-DAQmx C library, translating Rust calls into NI-DAQmx specific tasks. -
Utilities and Helpers: The
utils
module provides additional utilities and helper functions.
Integration with nicompiler_backend
:
This crate is designed to be a natural extension of nicompiler_backend
.
The primary Experiment
struct depends on, and extends its counterpart
in nicompiler_backend
, maintaining general experiment behaviors and additionally introducing methods
specific to NI device management.
Refer to nicompiler_backend
for general implementations unrelated to NI streaming behavior.
Where to Start:
-
Experiment Design and Control: The
experiment
module provides implementation of how device tasks are concurrently streamed. -
Device Management: The
device
module implements streaming and synchronization behavior. -
NI-DAQmx Operations: The
nidaqmx
module provides Rust wrapper methods for calling the NI-DAQmx C library, translating functionalities for seamless NI device operations. -
Utilities: For general utilities and helper functionalities, explore the
utils
module.
Example usage with streaming
Rust
Recall the same example snippet from nicompiler_backend
.
We additionally call exp.stream_exp(50., 2);
after the experiment has been designed and compiled to
stream the experiment with a streaming buffer of 50ms, and two repetitions.
Refer to StreamableDevice::stream_task
for more detailed information on streaming behavior.
use niexpctrl_backend::*;
let mut exp = Experiment::new();
// Define devices and associated channels
exp.add_ao_device("PXI1Slot3", 1e6);
exp.add_ao_channel("PXI1Slot3", 0);
exp.add_ao_device("PXI1Slot4", 1e6);
exp.add_ao_channel("PXI1Slot4", 0);
exp.add_do_device("PXI1Slot6", 1e7);
exp.add_do_channel("PXI1Slot6", 0, 0);
exp.add_do_channel("PXI1Slot6", 0, 4);
// Define synchronization behavior:
exp.device_cfg_trig("PXI1Slot3", "PXI1_Trig0", true);
exp.device_cfg_ref_clk("PXI1Slot3", "PXI1_Trig7", 1e7, true);
exp.device_cfg_trig("PXI1Slot4", "PXI1_Trig0", false);
exp.device_cfg_ref_clk("PXI1Slot4", "PXI1_Trig7", 1e7, false);
exp.device_cfg_samp_clk_src("PXI1Slot6", "PXI1_Trig7");
exp.device_cfg_trig("PXI1Slot6", "PXI1_Trig0", false);
// PXI1Slot3/ao0 starts with a 1s-long 7Hz sine wave with offset 1
// and unit amplitude, zero phase. Does not keep its value.
exp.sine("PXI1Slot3", "ao0", 0., 1., false, 7., None, None, Some(1.));
// Ends with a half-second long 1V constant signal which returns to zero
exp.constant("PXI1Slot3", "ao0", 9., 0.5, 1., false);
// We can also leave a defined channel empty: the device / channel will simply not be compiled
// Both lines of PXI1Slot6 start with a one-second "high" at t=0 and a half-second high at t=9
exp.high("PXI1Slot6", "port0/line0", 0., 1.);
exp.high("PXI1Slot6", "port0/line0", 9., 0.5);
// Alternatively, we can also define the same behavior via go_high/go_low
exp.go_high("PXI1Slot6", "port0/line4", 0.);
exp.go_low("PXI1Slot6", "port0/line4", 1.);
exp.go_high("PXI1Slot6", "port0/line4", 9.);
exp.go_low("PXI1Slot6", "port0/line4", 9.5);
exp.compile_with_stoptime(10.); // Experiment signal will stop at t=10 now
assert_eq!(exp.compiled_stop_time(), 10.);
exp.stream_exp(50., 2);
Python
Functionally the same code, additionally samples and plots the signal for PXI1Slot6/port0/line4
.
The primary goal of the Experiment
object is to expose a complete set of fast rust-implemented methods
for interfacing with a NI experiment. One may easily customize syntactic sugar and higher-level abstractions
by wrapping nicompiler_backend
module in another layer of python code,
see our project page for one such example.
from nicompiler_backend import Experiment
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
exp = Experiment()
exp.add_ao_device(name="PXI1Slot3", samp_rate=1e6)
exp.add_ao_channel(name="PXI1Slot3", channel_id=0)
...
exp.device_cfg_trig(name="PXI1Slot3", trig_line="PXI1_Trig0", export_trig=True)
exp.device_cfg_ref_clk(name="PXI1Slot3", ref_clk_line="PXI1_Trig7",
ref_clk_rate=1e7, export_ref_clk=True)
...
exp.sine(dev_name="PXI1Slot3", chan_name="ao0", t=0., duration=1., keep_val=False,
freq=7., dc_offset=1.)
...
exp.compile_with_stoptime(10.)
exp.stream_exp(50., 2)
Re-exports
pub use crate::experiment::Experiment;
pub use crate::device::*;
pub use crate::nidaqmx::*;
pub use crate::utils::*;
Modules
- Struct and methods corresponding to NI-hardware channels. See
BaseChannel
for implementation details. - Implements the
StreamableDevice
trait fornicompiler_backend::Device
to support streaming operations on NI hardware. - NI Device Streaming and Control with the
experiment
Module - Provides definitions and implementations for instruction-related functionalities.
- Provides a minimal rust wrapper for parts of the NI-DAQmx C library.
Macros
- A macro to generate boilerplate implementations for structs representing experiments.
Structs
- Represents a physical channel on an NI device.
- Represents a National Instruments (NI) device.
- Manages an instruction along with its associated metadata during experiment editing.
- Struct for a general instruction, consisting of type and arguments.
- A utility class for time-tracking.
Enums
- Enum type for different instructions. Supported instructions:
CONST
,SINE
- Enum type for NI tasks. Channels are associated with a unique task type, which affects their behavior. Currently supported types:
AO
(analogue output),DO
(digital output)
Traits
- The
BaseChannel
trait defines the core methods required for a channel’s interaction with NI devices. It encapsulates both editing and compilation behaviors of a channel. - The
BaseDevice
trait defines the fundamental operations and attributes of a National Instruments (NI) device. - This trait defines the behavior of the
Experiment
struct through default trait implementations.
Functions
- Extracts the port and line numbers from a given channel string.
Type Aliases
- Type alias for instruction arguments: a dictionary with key-value pairs of string (argument name) and float (value)