Powerful virtual instrument development environment - Version 6.1

August 2002 System Integration & Control Systems Design

Many already use, or know of National Instrument’s LabVIEW and its capabilities. For the benefit of the uninitiated, LabVIEW is a remarkable graphical programming development environment based on the G programming language for data acquisition and control, data analysis, and data presentation. It gives the user the flexibility of a powerful programming language without the associated difficulty and complexity because its graphical programming methodology is inherently intuitive to scientists and engineers.

For anybody looking for a faster way to program their instrumentation systems without sacrificing performance, this was precisely the motive for LabVIEW - A faster way to implement and set up test and measurement, data acquisition and control, scientific research, process monitoring, and factory automation.

Engineers and scientists around the world rapidly create measurement and control applications using its easy-to-use graphical development environment. LabVIEW 6.1, expands the Internet capabilities and measurement intelligence of LabVIEW 6i by delivering powerful new features:

Web-based control

* Users may remotely control LabVIEW from any standard Web browser - anywhere in the world - without programming. Users may remotely control an application in a hazardous environment, even working from their homes. This is initiated by embedding their VI front panel in a standard Web browser via a simple menu selection.

Integrated networking

* Now users can import or export XML-formatted data using LabVIEW, to easily share data with Web or database applications.

* Communication with wireless devices using VIs for wireless infrared data communication.

Enhanced measurement analysis

* Pulse and transition measurements are included as an out-of-the-box, standard means to characterise digital signals with a set of four new VIs that return 12 different measurements. The new tools are used to characterise the timing, transition, and levels of digital signals. These types of analysis can be used to characterise the performance of signals generated by digital electronics. The new VIs are based on a draft of an IEEE standard, 'IEEE Standard on Transitions, Pulses, and Related Waveforms'.

* Point-by-point analysis library delivers the ability to perform single-point data analysis. The library includes more than 100 VIs, and offers true deterministic point-by-point execution by generating a result with each point of input data, instead of requiring an array of values before presenting a result.

* Enhanced Performance for Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) Analysis: By applying an improved algorithm, NI has improved the speed of the FFT algorithm by almost 10X over the FFT algorithm of LabVIEW 6i. Users upgrading from LabVIEW 5.1 or earlier will see performance improvements of at least 200X for some block lengths.

Event driven programming

* The new event structure in LabVIEW 6.1 enables the user to better design sophisticated user interfaces that respond to mouse clicks, keyboard entries, and more.

Source code control

* Project management is improved by integrating LabVIEW projects with source code control environments such as Microsoft Visual Source Safe and Perforce. The new source code control improvements in Version 6.1 allow the user to perform all of their common source code control functions directly from the LabVIEW development environment.

For more information: National Instruments SA, 011 805 8197, [email protected], www.ni.com

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