APP005.TXT TestPoint Application Note APP005.TST Associated Source File PID.TST Associated Source File (c) Capital Equipment Corporation 1995 ________________________________________________________________ Closed Loop Control Using PID ________________________________________________________________ TestPoint can perform closed loop control using the PID algorithm. Closed loop control under Windows is limited in ways that pertain to accuracy and safety. Mouse movement and key presses or any user initiated activity takes precedence over the currently running application. These events introduce a time lag in the control system that could result in bad data, improper control and system instability. Therefore, no other applications should be running and no interactive procedures are allowed. This is true regardless of measurement speed. The operative buzz words are preemptive multitasking. Windows doesn't have preemptive multitasking and cannot assign a higher priority to TestPoint than user initiated events.