Chapter 4
Installing and Using the FieldPoint Software
©
National Instruments Corporation
4-3
OPC Server
OPC (Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control) is an industry
standard interface that uses Microsoft’s Component Object Model (COM).
The FieldPoint OPC server provides an interface to the I/O items
configured in the FieldPoint Explorer and software packages that are
capable of using OPC, including recent versions of Microsoft’s Visual
Basic and Visual C/C++ programming environments, and other third-party
software packages.
For more information on the FieldPoint OPC Server, refer to the
section, later in this chapter.
Other Options for Communicating with FieldPoint Devices
It is also possible to communicate with the FieldPoint system using an
Optomux-compatible server, or by sending ASCII commands directly to
and from the serial port of the host computer. Examples of cases where one
of these methods might be useful include the following:
•
Communicating with FieldPoint from a computer running an operating
system other than Windows NT/98/95
•
Communicating with FieldPoint from a device such as a PLC; to
integrate FieldPoint devices into an existing Optomux-based system
•
Using a programming environment that does not support the
OPC interface
If you choose one of these communication methods, refer to the
FP-1000/1001 Programmer Reference Manual
for details on the protocol
used by the FieldPoint network modules. You can, however, still use the
FieldPoint Explorer to configure the FieldPoint devices before running
your software.
For more information on using FieldPoint with Optomux servers, refer to
the
Using FieldPoint with an Optomux Server
section, later in this chapter.
Data Throughput with the FieldPoint Servers
The rate at which data can be transferred between a FieldPoint bank and a
computer is determined by the number and type of I/O channels and the
baud rate. You can download a calculator to determine the data throughput
from
ftp.natinst.com/support/FieldPoint/server
. This
calculator is available as both an Excel Spreadsheet and as a
LabVIEW/BridgeVIEW VI.