Analog input (ADC) and output (DAC) modules play a substantial role in device level control of accelerator and large experiment physics control system. In order to get the best performance some features of analog modules including linearity, accuracy, crosstalk, thermal drift and so on have to be evaluated during the preliminary design phase. Gain and offset error calibration and thermal drift compensation (if needed) may have to be done in the implementation phase as well. A natural technique for performing these tasks is to interface the analog VO modules and GPIB interface programmable test instruments with a computer, which can complete measurements or calibration automatically. A difficulty is that drivers of analog modules and test instruments usually work on totally different platforms (vxworks VS Windows). Developing new test routines and drivers for testing instruments under VxWorks (or any other RTOS) platform is not a good solution because such systems have relatively poor user interface and developing such software requires substantial effort. EPICS CA protocol and ActiveX CA interface provide another choice, a PC and LabVIEW based test system. Analog 110 module can be interfaced from LabVIEW test routines via ActiveX CA interface. Test instruments can be controlled via LabVIEW drivers, most of which are provided by instrument vendors or by National Instruments. Labview also provides extensive data analysis and process functions. Using these functions, users can generate powerful test routines very easily. Several applications built for Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) Beam Loss Monitor (BLM) system are described in this paper.
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