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. 2014 Mar 25;9(3):e92108. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092108

Figure 1. Bioreactor Communication.

Figure 1

The PCU communicates with the computer using Labview Virtual Instrument Software Architecture (VISA). A VISA resource is created with the PCU serial port specified by the user at run time. The VISA resource is used to open and configure a connection between the PCU and PC (1&2). A separate VISA resource is created for each of the four Bioflo110 reactors. To avoid communication errors caused by race conditions, the “VISA Lock” function is used by each control system to obtain sole access to the serial port (3). The VISA resource is used to write messages using the “VISA Write” function (4), and read responses using the “Read VISA” function (5). After finishing communication with the PCU the “VISA Unlock” function is used to release access to the serial port.