Design and Development of API's,Web based Control Structure and Device Driver for Solid State Recorder

Abstract

Space Applications Center has a technology development project toward realizing a high capacity, high speed solid state recorder. These recorders will be primarily used in data holding mechanisms in development, test and archival applications. Thus access to the recorders are necessary for a variety of purposes. Firstly, it is used for transient storage before crunching raw data into processed data in image processing stations. The storage and archival of both raw and processed data is also a major point for the access of Recorders. Also, the screening and testing data for integrity and errors during development phases of instruments is done to generate the data. Lastly, the major purpose for the access to the Recorder is to use various parts of automatic test equipment that apply long-period tests on such instruments.

These impose special control requirements on the Recorders that can be exercised with a direct Recorder-PC USB Connectivity and with the Recorder and a Control PC sharing the same network. Further, USB Connectivity necessitates a device driver for the Recorder being developed in order to be able to connect with the host computing environment. This project work envisages the design and development of the following for the Solid-State Recorder:- A Device Driver for the SSR to provide USB Connectivity. A Set of APIS for controlling the recorder from an application. A Web based control structure for the recorder.

The operating system of choice is Linux as the intended application environments are Linux based. The API development needs to cater to a special requirement as well. The SSR hardware, under development at SAC, actually uses a USB protocol device manufactured by a Company called FTDI. This device, RS232H, has a limited set of host-callable functionalities supplied by the vendor. As no support is available from the vendor for internal IC access, the requirement compounds the development. The API developed need to interface with the calling applications as normal APIs but need to use the FTDI reduced-library of functions for communication with the hardware-end. A special architecture is thus envisaged which embeds a complete command structure inside a write/read interface provided by the IC vendor and when the host application calls an API, communicates the appropriate command to the target unit (SSR) through this route. The command interpretation and handlers are being implemented as part of the Recorder development.

The web control structure is necessary for not only the SSR under development, but also an imported Recorder from a company called Galleon Embedded. The Ethernet interface of the Recorder under development is not yet functional and the control framework developed under this project currently addresses the Galleon recorder. A GUI catering to the various user requirements of the Galleon Recorder has been developed in Microsoft VC++ 2010 and designing of Web page for the same is currently under progress.