UniPi

UniPi is a hardware developer/vendor, which is focused on industrial microcomputers.

Hardware recommendations

To get max performance and avoid slowdowns, it’s highly recommended to use at least UHS-I Class SD Card or faster for UniPi Neuron series.

Installation

Local

You may install EVA ICS directly on UniPi computers. As UniPi uses non-standard Raspbian distribution, append –force-os raspbian to EVA ICS installer (run all commands as root):

curl https://pub.bma.ai/eva3/install | sudo sh /dev/stdin -a --force-os raspbian

It’s also recommended to double-check is UTF-8 locale supported properly and if no - reconfigure it with

dpkg-reconfigure locales

Remote

Universal Controller talks with UniPi via Modbus. To let UniPi Modbus daemon answer remote requests, change LISTEN_IP in /etc/default/unipitcp:

LISTEN_IP=0.0.0.0

then restart UniPi Modbus daemon:

systemctl restart unipitcp.service

1-Wire

If installed locally, EVA ICS can use UniPi 1-Wire bus directly.

For Neuron series, owfs virtual bus for Universal Controller must be created as:

eva uc owfs create local1 "i2c=/dev/i2c-1:ALL" -y

For Axon series:

eva uc owfs create local1 "/dev/i2c-0 --w1" -y

Inputs/outputs

EVA ICS has 4 pre-built PHI modules for UniPi (model Axon S115), which can be also used as the templates for other UniPi models. As all models use very similar Modbus register maps, PHIs are compatible or require only slight modifications.

  • unipi_axon_s115_ain analog input

  • unipi_axon_s115_aout analog output

  • unipi_axon_s115_din digital inputs

  • unipi_axon_s115_dout digital outputs

It is also possible to use generic Modbus drivers for any UniPi model. Refer to UniPi documentation for the register mapping and register types.

Consider, UniPi has IP address 192.168.1.100 and EVA ICS Universal Controller is installed on remote host (for local installation use “localhost” or “127.0.0.1” for Modbus virtual port configuration). If your UniPi has RS485 port, you may also connect device via RS485-1 (default).

# create Modbus virtual port
eva uc modbus create upi1 tcp:192.168.1.100:502 -y
eva uc modbus test upi1

# download PHIs
eva uc phi download https://pub.bma.ai/eva3/phi/unipi/axon/unipi_axon_s115_ain.py
eva uc phi download https://pub.bma.ai/eva3/phi/unipi/axon/unipi_axon_s115_aout.py
eva uc phi download https://pub.bma.ai/eva3/phi/unipi/axon/unipi_axon_s115_din.py
eva uc phi download https://pub.bma.ai/eva3/phi/unipi/axon/unipi_axon_s115_dout.py

# load PHIs
eva uc phi load upi1_ain unipi_axon_s115_ain -c port=upi1,unit=1 -y
eva uc phi load upi1_aout unipi_axon_s115_aout -c port=upi1,unit=1 -y
# DIN/DOUT PHIs can update states by themselves, let's update them every
# second
eva uc phi load upi1_din unipi_axon_s115_din -c port=upi1,unit=1,update=1 -y
eva uc phi load upi1_dout unipi_axon_s115_dout -c port=upi1,unit=1,update=1 -y

# let's create sensors for DIN2 and 3 and AIN
eva uc create sensor:upi1/din2 -y
eva uc create sensor:upi1/din3 -y
eva uc create sensor:upi1/ain -y

# assign drivers to sensors
eva uc driver assign sensor:upi1/din2 upi1_din.default -c port=2 -y
eva uc driver assign sensor:upi1/din3 upi1_din.default -c port=3 -y
eva uc driver assign sensor:upi1/ain upi1_ain.default -y

# PHI for AIN doesn't update the state, so set sensor to update it e.g.
# every second:
eva uc config set sensor:upi1/ain update_interval 1 -y

# let's create units for DOUT2 and 3 and AOUT
eva uc create unit:upi1/dout2 -y
eva uc create unit:upi1/dout3 -y
eva uc create unit:upi1/aout -y

# enable unit actions
eva uc action enable unit:upi1/dout2
eva uc action enable unit:upi1/dout3
eva uc action enable unit:upi1/aout

# assign drivers to units
eva uc driver assign unit:upi1/dout2 upi1_dout.default -c port=2 -y
eva uc driver assign unit:upi1/dout3 upi1_dout.default -c port=3 -y
eva uc driver assign unit:upi1/aout upi1_aout.default -y

# let's set analog output to 3.3 volts
eva uc action exec unit:upi1/aout 1 -v 3.3