The LabVIEW Graphical Development Platform, Part III – An Integrated Platform for Design, Control, and Test

This paper is the third in a series outlining the core platform benefits for design, control, and test system development using the graphical development approach. For the complete series, refer to the documents below:

Table of Contents:

	Introduction

The LabVIEW development platform offers the technical advantages described in this paper to many different application areas and industries. However, the language has been broadened with a wide family of add-on modules and toolkits to extend the general approach to solve application-specific challenges. In general, the platform spreads across three different horizontal application areas as shown in Figure 1:

• Automated test and measurement
• Industrial measurement and control
• Embedded design and prototyping

Figure 1. The General LabVIEW Platform

	The LabVIEW Automated Test and Measurement Platform

For automated test applications, LabVIEW delivers that wide array of hardware I/O compatibility and specialized analysis needed for making measurements in different domains. In addition to the hardware compatibility, the platform delivers a spectrum of tools in terms of system automation required and measurement analysis. For example, in terms of automation, the LabVIEW platform has tools for:

Interactive measurements – with SignalExpress, users can interactively use virtual instruments (plug-in or stand-alone instruments controlled with a PC) interactively on the benchtop. For fast and easy measurements where even a simple programming approach is overkill, SignalExpress enables the users to configure measurements, compare results with simulation data, and store the measurements on the computer

Automated test systems – with NI TestStand, users can define extensive sequences of tests, developed as individual LabVIEW programs, with complex pass/fail logic to drive execution flow. In addition, NI TestStand integrates with enterprise systems for storing test results in a database or tracking units through MES systems.

For automated measurements – LabVIEW adds vertical intellectual property in terms of analysis routines specialized for specific areas of measurements, such as:

• Communications test – modulation tools and advanced spectral measurement routines are available as add-ons to the LabVIEW core package
• Sound and vibration – for monitoring dynamic audio signals for audio quality or structural response in validation test
• Machine condition monitoring – using specialized rotational order analyis algorithms (wavelets, joint time-frequency analysis)
• Image processing – for automated inspection and machine vision applications

Figure 2. The LabVIEW Automated Test and Measurement Platform

See Also:
LabVIEW RF and Communications Tools
LabVIEW Sound and Vibration Tools
LabVIEW Machine Vision/Inspection Tools
LabVIEW Machine Condition Monitoring Tools
TestStand Test Management Software
SignalExpress Interactive Measurement Software
DIAdem Interactive Technical Data Analsysis and Management Tool

	The LabVIEW Industrial Measurement and Control Platform

For control applications, LabVIEW has a different set of add-ons that extend LabVIEW. Specifically, LabVIEW offers extensions to core graphical platform in the areas of control methodologies, distributed monitoring and control functionality, and real-time industrial platforms.

With LabVIEW, control engineers can use the same platform to develop and evolve their control strategies across different approaches and technologies, such as:

• PID control – for relatively simple control applications
• Advanced control design – for advanced control, LabVIEW tools include plant and controller modeling tools based on traditional control algorithms or based on I/O signals using advanced system identification approaches. In addition, LabVIEW has a continuous dynamic system execution add-on for using these models with traditional control blocks such as transfer functions, integrators, differentiators, and feedback loops
• Motion control – for controlling industrial machines needing machine control
• Playback – the inherent LabVIEW I/O capabilities make it a natural tool for acquiring load data (road loads for automotive, signals in communications, etc) to be used for driving simulations or new prototypes of hardware

For executing control algorithms in production systems, the LabVIEW real-time extension for running on industrial platforms is very popular. In addition, many users in the machine design and industrial control areas consider the LabVIEW ability to program FPGAs embedded on I/O boards as an even more reliable approach for control algorithm deployment. By programming the hardware itself in the FPGA, the system is that much more secure and reliable in production – a unique advantage of LabVIEW in being able to bridge embedded FPGA programming with industrial control using the same intuitive programming approach.

For distributed monitoring and control systems, LabVIEW adds higher, system-level capabilities to the specific control scheme tools, such as:

• Data logging and historical database
• Alarming
• Trending
• Security

Figure 3. The LabVIEW Industrial Measurement and Control Platform

See Also:
LabVIEW Datalogging and Supervisory Control Software
LabVIEW Advanced Control Design Tools
LabVIEW Real-Time Software

	The LabVIEW Embedded Design and Prototyping Platform

Designers are aware of LabVIEW as a measurement tool. Many of them value the ability to collect physical measurements with LabVIEW and incorporate it into their design and simulation tools during the design process for behavioral modeling or design validation, as described earlier in this paper. By combining the huge libraries of signal processing and control algorithms with off-the-shelf hardware, designers can quickly design, prototype, and deploy their systems using LabVIEW. Some of the key attributes of the LabVIEW platform for system design include:

• Huge library of analysis and math functions – LabVIEW has hundreds of functions covering a wide spectrum of traditional algorithms in math, signal processing, probability and statistics, and control that make up key building blocks for any custom algorithm
• Native I/O integration – Because real-world physical data is so easily acquired in LabVIEW, users find it especially valuable to test their algorithms with actual data as an iterative approach to tuning them
• Off-the-Shelf, Real-Time Prototyping platforms – LabVIEW can implement native algorithms developed on real-time platforms with integrated I/O. With off-the-shelf platforms like CompactRIO and PXI, users can quickly prototype their embedded systems using a processor, FPGA for integration logic, and a wide array of I/O. This feature is especially valuable where the testing and design processes come together, in dynamic control systems where HIL testers must dynamically simulate the environment that control algorithms are attempting to control. (For this particular scenario, LabVIEW can also host The MathWorks, Inc. Simulink® algorithms on a real-time platform as well for rapid prototyping of control systems)

Simulink® is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.

Figure 4. The LabVIEW Embedded Design and Prototyping Platform

	Conclusion

From the simplest benchtop design labs to the advanced world of embedded design, the LabVIEW graphical development platform is driving productivity for scientists and engineers. The combination of the intuitive graphical programming language, compatibility with a wide variety of I/O, and the growing community of users building on the LabVIEW platform is driving it further into vertical applications. By migrating to the more productive graphical development approach, while still using the open LabVIEW environment to retain and reuse their legacy algorithms or exchange data with their design and simulation tools, engineers are able modernize their development tools and streamline the entire product life cycle without completely starting over.

Refer to the complete series of LabVIEW platform white papers at the links below: