CPCA: The Cloud Platform of Complex Virtual Instruments System Architecture

Virtual instruments is a program that implements functions of an instrument by software which could replace the work of real instruments to save resources. The functions of these sensor-based systems are limited and they commonly cannot manage related information, such as sensors and monitoring objects, due to special requirements. The procedure of development and integration often suffers from low efficiency because of non-standard technologies. To solve the aforementioned problems, an integrated system architecture based on complex virtual instruments (CVI) is proposed, which could not only extend the function of virtual instruments but also ease the development procedure of the system. By analyzing the characters of existing virtual instruments systems, this paper presents the data interaction standard, which has been applied by two IEEE standards, and the architecture, which consists of configuration subsystem, data collection simulation subsystem, Web service registration center, and so on. We also offer a light universal client which could dynamically load the DynamicLinkLibrary of different CVIs, in order to replace the complex integration procedure by scheduling different components. To valid the architecture, three existing systems are reconstructed by the proposed prototype subsystems. The result shows that the proposed architecture is efficient and feasible.