Frequently Asked Questions
about the CTI Software Libraries for Acuity sensor systems.
This page is continually revised as we add new questions from our
customers. Please check back frequently!
General Questions
Which library do I need?
My antivirus software says the setup file downloaded from your website has a virus? Should I be worried?
Does the CTI-AR4000 library work with sensors using the high-speed interface card?
How are the libraries licensed?
I would like to try the software. Do you offer demo copies?
Can I use more than one sensor on the same computer?
I already have an Acuity sensor. Can I use the CTI libraries with it?
Hardware, Operating System and Language Questions
Do you support multi-core CPUs?
What PC hardware do I need?
Do you support the PC104 High-Speed Interface card?
What operating systems are supported?
Which versions of Linux are supported?
Windows is not a true real-time Operating System. Is that a problem for high-speed data collection?
I'm using DOS. Do you provide a DOS version of the libraries?
Which languages are supported?
Which compilers can I use?
I'm writing a multi-threaded program. Are the libraries thread-safe?
High-Speed Interface Card Questions
Do you support the PCI high-speed interface card?
What kind of performance can I expect?
Can I use the high-speed interface card at the full 50,000 samples per second?
Do you support the high-speed interface card's interrupt capability?
Do you poll the high-speed interface card to determine when data is ready?
Serial Communications Questions
What serial communications are supported?
My PC only has one serial port, and I'm adding a third-party serial card. Can I use that card with the CTI libraries?
Programming and Support Questions
Are your libraries compatible with National Instruments Labview?
How can I acquire data and write it to a file on disk?
How can I get range data into an Excel spreadsheet?
I have a data acquisition problem. Can you help me solve it?
I have a support question, or a question that is not answered
here. Where do I go for help or more information?
Q: Which library do I need?
A: If you are using any member of the AR600 sensor
family, you need the CTI-AR600 Software Library.If you are using any
member of the AR4000 sensor family, and are not using the high-speed interface card,
you should use the CTI-AR4000 Software Library.
If you are using the high-speed interface card, you should use
the CTI-HSIF Library.
Q: My antivirus software says the setup file downloaded from your website has a virus? Should I be worried?
A: All Crandun software libraries give
the user the option to connect to the Crandun website and check for a more recent version of the software during the
installation process. Some antivirus scanners (in particular, the Kaspersky antivirus products) seem to falsely detect
the code which connects to our website as a virus.
All Crandun software is carefully scanned before distribution, and does not contain viruses.
Q: Does the CTI-AR4000 library work with sensors using the
high-speed interface card?
A: Yes, although the functionality provided
by the high-speed interface card will not be accessible. Full functionality over the serial
interface is still available. To take advantage of the high-speed interface card functionality, the
CTI-HSIF Library should be used for the ISA or PC104 High-Speed Interface Card,
and the CTI-HSIF-PCI Library should be used for the PCI High-Speed Interface Card
Q: How are the libraries licensed?
A: The libraries are licensed to one particular
Acuity sensor. The software may be installed on multiple computers, and
the sensor hardware may be moved amongst multiple computers, provided that each licensed copy
of the software is used with only one sensor.
Please see the License Agreement shipped with the software for more details.
Q: I would like to try the software. Do you offer demo copies?
A: Yes. Time-limited demonstration copies may be arranged.
Please contact
Schmitt Measurement Systems Inc. for further information.
Q: Can I use more than one sensor on the same computer?
A: Yes. The CTI libraries will support as many sensors as can be
physically attached to a given PC. Each distinct sensor must have a uniquely addressable
serial port (COM1, COM2, /dev/ttyS0, etc.).
Note that each sensor requires a licensed copy of the CTI library.
Q: I already have an Acuity sensor. Can I use the CTI libraries with it?
A: In most cases, yes. Some older sensors may require a firmware
upgrade to be fully compatible with all features of the CTI libraries.
Please contact Schmitt Measurement Systems Inc.
with your sensor's model and serial number for further information.
Q: Do you support multi-core CPUs?
A: Yes, the Crandun libraries run very effectively on multicore and
multi-CPU machines. The libraries are fully multi-threaded and can take full advantage of the multiple hardware execution units in newer multi-core machines.
Q: What PC hardware do I need?
A: The hardware requirements for the libraries are very minimal.
For the Windows versions of the libraries, the minimum recommended hardware is a PC
with 128MB of memory. For the Linux libraries, we recommend at least 64MB of memory.
If other applications are to be run simultaneously with the data
collection application, more memory is recommended. The minimum processor speed is
dependent on the rate at which you will be collecting data. Using the CTI-AR200, CTI-AR600 or
CTI-AR4000 Library to collect data over the PC's serial interface imposes much less load on
the CPU than using the CTI-HSIF or CTI-HSIF-PCI library and high-speed interface card.
For serial data collection, we recommend a 300MHz or faster CPU. For data collection
using the high-speed interface card, we recommend a 1GHz or faster CPU.
Q: Do you support the PC104 High-Speed Interface card?
A: Yes. The
CTI libraries fully support the PC104 version of the high-speed interface card.
Customers using PC104 systems may want to consider the Linux version of the libraries,
particularly for "headless" operation. Linux tends to have a
smaller "footprint" which is better suited to PC104 systems, which
usually have less memory than desktop PCs.
Q: What Operating Systems are supported?
A: The CTI
Software Libraries are supported on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Linux.
Windows 3.x and Windows 95 are not supported. Windows 98 and NT are also no longer supported,
although the library does run on these OSs. Windows Vista is not supported at this time.
Please check this website for the most up-to-date list of supported platforms.
Q: Which versions of Linux are supported?
A: Presently, we
support the 2.6 kernel, which is used in most current Linux distributions.
Please check with your Linux vendor to determine
which kernel version is used in your distribution.
Q: Windows is not a true real-time Operating System.
Is that a problem for high-speed data collection?
A: Although
it is correct that Windows is not a true "hard real-time"
operating system, the strong demand in the marketplace for high-speed, time-critical
applications on the Windows platform - such as gigabit networking and streaming
broadband audio/video - has provided the tools and foundation required for building
high-performance data acquisition applications, such as the CTI libraries, on Windows.
The CTI libraries have been carefully built to
take advantage of these facilities, and as a result, we are able to collect samples from the
high-speed interface card at the full 50,000 calibrated samples per second on a standard
Windows platform.
For those customers building embedded systems, those using the PC104 version of the high-speed
interface card, or for those situations where unattended ("headless") operation is desired,
we suggest that our Linux products be considered.
Q: I'm using DOS. Do you provide a DOS version of the libraries?
A: Sorry, no.
We have had very little request for DOS support, and do not intend to port the libraries to
this (obsolete!) operating system.
Q: Which languages are supported?
A: The CTI Software
Libraries are usable from C, C++ on both Windows and Linux.
On Windows, Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Applications are also supported.
Although not supported, any language which adhers to the standard calling conventions for
Windows or Linux should work.
The following files permit using the libraries from Delphi®. Please note that these are
provided strictly AS IS, and are UNSUPPORTED by Crandun Technologies Inc.
Delphi declaration file for the CTI-HSIF-PCI library.
Delphi declaration file for the CTI-HSIF library.
Q: Which compilers can I use?
A: On Windows,
we currently support the Microsoft Visual C/C++ version 6.0 compiler, as well as Microsoft
Visual Basic version 6.0. Although not supported, any compiler
which adhers to Microsoft's standard DLL calling convention should also work.
On Linux, we support the gcc 4.x compilers.
Q: I'm writing a multi-threaded program. Are the libraries thread-safe?
A: Yes. The
CTI libraries are fully thread-safe.
Q: Do you support the PCI high-speed interface card?
A: Yes. Please see our
PCI library page for more details.
Q: What kind of performance can I expect?
A: Using
appropriate hardware
(see the question "What PC hardware do I need?")
you will be able to collect data from the Acuity sensor systems at the full rated speed
of the sensors.
Q: Can I use the high-speed interface card at
the full 50,000 samples per second?
A: Yes.
On a very modest PC (500 MHz), collecting samples from the
high-speed interface card at the full 50,000 calibrated samples per second results in
about 40% CPU utilization.
Q: Do you support the high-speed interface card's interrupt capability?
A: Yes, the
high-speed interface card's "half-full" interrupt is fully supported.
Q: Do you poll the high-speed interface card to determine when
data is ready?
A: No. To achieve
maximum performance, the CTI libraries make full use of the interrupt generation
capabilities of the card and do not poll the card.
Q: What serial communications are supported?
A: Both RS-232
and RS-422 communications at any of the baud rates
supported by the sensor hardware can be used. Each sensor must have a uniquely addressable
serial port (COM1, COM2, /dev/ttyS0, etc.).
Q: My PC only has one serial port, and I'm adding a third-party
serial card. Can I use that card with the CTI libraries?
A: As long
as the third-party card is supported by the operating system, and
provides a uniquely addressable name for each serial port it will work.
On Windows, note that the serial
port name need not follow the "COM1", "COM2" convention. Some third-party serial cards
provide port names such as "PORTA", "PORTB", etc. These will work fine with the CTI libraries.
Q: Are your libraries compatible with National Instruments Labview?
A: Yes. The CTI libraries
may be accessed from Labview by following these
instructions on National Instruments web site.
Q: How can I acquire data and write it to a file on disk?
A: Please see our Code Sample library.
for Visual Basic, C and C++ examples of how to acquire data to a disk file.
Q: How can I get range data into an Excel spreadsheet?
A: Each CTI library comes with an Excel spreadsheet that can be
used "out of the box" to acquire data from a sensor directly into the spreadsheet.
Please see our Code Sample library.
for the source code and a downloadable copy of this spreadsheet.
Q: I have a data acquisition problem. Can you help me solve it?
A: We provide telephone and email support for questions directly
related to the CTI Software Libraries.
If your question/problem is more general in nature, we would be happy to discuss our
custom programming services with you.
Q: I have a support question, or a question that is not answered
here. Where do I go for help or more information?
A: Please read our CTI Software Libraries page
to see if your question is answered there. Product datasheets,
full Programmer's Guide and Reference Manuals, along with numerous sample programs can be
found there.
If you still have an unanswered question, please contact us
or Acuity Research Inc. and we will provide
a prompt answer.
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