PDF (double-sided) - Physics Department, UCSB - University of ...

Architecture to manage network connections with maximum performance. The
second thread, the GUI thread, handles the user interface. It keeps the list of
active connections current and makes sure the application stays responsive to
user interaction. These two threads interact “rarely” and in a way that minimizes
impact on the network thread.
The LabRAD Manager provides several features, the most important of which
is Packet routing between Server and Client Modules. In the process of routing,
the Manager ensures that the data contained in a Request Packet matches the
types registered by the Server as acceptable. During this check, the Manager also
converts the units of any Values or Complex Values that are sent to a Setting
that specifies units in the accepted types. For this, the LabRAD Manager parses
composite unit strings into their base components and respective fractional exponents.
For example “m/s ∧ 2” will get parsed into “m” with exponent 1 and
“s” with exponent -2. This is done for the source unit string and the target unit
string. To find the conversion factor the Manager divides the source units by the
target units by subtracting the exponents of all base components in the target
units from the exponents in the source units. All base components that end up
with exponent 0 are then dropped. Now, for the first time, the Manager tries to
identify the base components and to convert them to SI units. This allows the
Manager to handle unsupported units as long as they drop out during the division
144