Configuring the Digital Inputs and Outputs

To establish the communication via a digital I/O device, you first have to select the respective device in the "I/O" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup and configure the device for the process integration MERLIC can be used in machine vision systems that are integrated in a manufacturing machine. The machine controller, e.g., a programmable logic controller (PLC), must be able to control an integrated vision system, to monitor the execution, and to query the results. Therefore, MERLIC provides a process integration mode to enable the communication with a machine controller. The process integration mode can be started with the application "MERLIC RTE" that is provided with the MERLIC installation.. If you have selected a device, you can get information about which signals are transmitted via the respective input channels and modify the configuration. In addition, you can start to configure the channels for the digital outputs.

To ensure a correct configuration of the input and output channels, the information about the available signals of MERLIC should also be considered. The assignment of the input and output channels to the respective commands and signals is crucial for the correct usage of MERLIC in process integration mode. For more information on the available signals and commands, see Commands and Signals (Digital I/O).

Enabling the I/O Device

First, you have to select and enable the desired device in the MERLIC RTE Setup:

1. Open the MERLIC RTE Setup and go to the "I/O" tab.
2. Click on " Refresh" to update the list of available I/O devices. For more information, see Setting Up I/O Devices.
3. Select desired device and enable it via double-click or by clicking the " Enable device" button.

After enabling the device, the respective configuration of the device will be shown on the right. If multiple I/O devices are enabled, make sure to select the desired device whose configuration you want to see.

Configuring the Digital Inputs

MERLIC assigns the input signals to the available device channels automatically according to the default configuration. The configuration area in the "I/O" tab displays the current pairs of MERLIC signals and digital I/O channels. The digital input channels are listed in the section "Input". You can change the default configuration of the channels manually in the configuration area.

For digital I/O devices the following signals are available:

Signal	Description
StartSingleJob	Triggers a single execution of the MERLIC Vision App.
PrepareRecipe	Triggers a recipe change. The respective ID of the recipe to be loaded must be defined in advance via the signals "RecipeIdBit0" to "RecipeIdBit3".
RecipeIdBit0	Represents the 1st bit of the recipe ID.
RecipeIdBit1	Represents the 2nd bit of the recipe ID.
RecipeIdBit2	Represents the 3rd bit of the recipe ID.
RecipeIdBit3	Represents the 4th bit of the recipe ID.

Assigning the Digital Input Channels

1. Select the I/O device from the list of devices.
2. For each signal whose configuration you want to modify, select the desired input channel from the respective drop-down menu.

   

3. Save the configuration via the " Save" button. Your configuration is saved as long as the device is enabled. If you disable the device, that is, remove it from the list of enabled devices, the respective changes will be lost and the default configuration is restored.

In the example configuration below, the signal for "StartSingleJob" is transmitted via the input channel "di_0.0".

Configuring the Digital Outputs

MERLIC assigns the output signals to the available device channels automatically according to the default configuration. The configuration area in the "I/O" tab displays the current pairs of MERLIC signals and digital I/O channels. The list of available signals and digital output channels is shown in the section "Output". If desired, you can change the default configuration of the channels manually in the configuration area.

For digital I/O devices, the following signals are available for the transmission:

Signal	Description
Error	Indicates if an error occurred.
Ready	Indicates if MERLIC is ready for execution or a recipe change.
ResultState	Indicates the state of the state of the queried result data. If it is set to 1, the processing was carried out correctly and the queried results are up-to-date. If it is set to 0, the processing failed or was aborted. In this case, no results might be available or the existing result values might not be up-to-date, for example, the values might be outdated and from a previous execution. 0 (Undefined/Processing/Aborted/Failed): The processing failed or was aborted. 1 (Completed): The processing was carried out correctly.
Resultn	Represents the n-th MVApp result that has been defined for the MVApp that is referenced in the recipe file. These output signals can be used to transmit an MVApp result to the digital I/O device.

Assigning the Digital Output Channels

1. Select the I/O device from the list of devices.
2. For each signal whose configuration you want to modify, select a the desired output channel. You have to select a different channel for each signal.

   

3. Save the configuration via the " Save" button. Your configuration is saved as long as the device is enabled. If you disable the device, that is, remove it from the list of enabled devices, the respective changes will be lost and the default configuration is restored.

This way, you can select which output channel transmits a specific signal. Assigning an output channel to a result is optional. Therefore, it is possible to select the entry "--" instead of a channel.

As an alternative way to display a list of available devices for the process integration mode with their default configuration you can start MERLIC RTE with the command line option "--devices" from the directory where MERLIC is installed. For more information, see Starting MERLIC RTE on Windows.

Resetting the Configuration

To restore the default configuration for your device, you can reset the changes by clicking on " Reset to default" at the bottom of the "I/O" tab.