LabView 8.6 adds wireless, enhances multicore and FPGA features
By Martin Rowe, Test & Measurement World -- EDN, September 18, 2008
National Instruments continues to expand the horizons for LabView, its popular graphical programming language. With the introduction of Version 8.6, LabView can now control the company's wireless data-acquisition products, and the software also extends beyond its traditional test-and-measurement base into multicore processing and embedded-system design. LabView 8.6 lets you make remote measurements using a Wi-Fi connection to data-acquisition devices. You can connect to wireless devices through technologies such as Bluetooth, GPRS (general packet-radio service), and GSM (global-system-for-mobile) communications.
Using these technologies, you can develop a wireless-sensor network and control it with LabView. You can also download drivers for numerous proprietary wireless-sensor networks, and, using the LabView Wireless Toolkit, you can test wireless devices that use any of these technologies.
Engineers often use sensors to collect data on mechanical devices, and, with LabView 8.6, you can collect simulations of mechanical devices and then collect data on a real device and integrate the data into the model. This feature lets you see how the model reacts so you can make any necessary design changes.
Multicore processors let computers perform tasks in parallel. LabView 8.6 can automatically assign a processor to a task, or you can optimize your system by assigning processors to tasks. Using multicore processors, you can run automated test functions in parallel and improve system throughput. LabView 8.6 also has more than 1200 data-analysis functions for multicore processors. LabView lets you program custom functions into NI's CompactRIO (reconfigurable-input/output) line of measurement modules, but, with previous versions, you had to directly program a module's FPGA. With LabView 8.6, you no longer need to program the FPGA. Instead, you can use new development and integration features to add functions to an FPGA. Predefined functions include FFTs (fast Fourier transforms) so that you can convert data to the frequency domain in the module.
The software lets you convert LabView applications into Web services that run on desktop or real-time processors. Users can gain access to your applications through any Web-enabled device, including smart phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), and PCs. This new feature in LabView 8.6 means that you can develop remote user interfaces for your applications using technologies such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), JavaScript, and flash. The software has a base price of $1199.
