The software chain

Here is a brief description of all the software you’re going to use:

• • Comedi:

  • A set of drivers that allows your machine to interface with a great number of data acquisition (DAQ) boards.

  • RTAI:

  • Real Time Application Interface - an extension to Linux Kernel that allows the execution of processes with hard real-time features.

  • Scicoslab:

  • A popular scientific computation environment - provides a CACSD (Control Applications Computer Aided Control System Design) GUI for modeling and control.

  • RTAI-Lib

  • Adds a toolbox to Scicoslab to interface with DAQ’s ports, as well as compiling real-time executables.

  • QRTAILab:

  • QRTAILab can connect to a running target and monitor scopes, meters and LEDs, as well as changing model parameters on-the-fly.

  • RTAI-XML:

  • This software is composed of two parts: a server running in background on your real-time control machine, and a GUI client that allows you to monitor target and control its parameters from a remote machine through the TCP/IP protocol.