Effective LabVIEW Programming _BEST_
LabVIEW has been used by millions of engineers and scientists to develop sophisticated test, measurement, and control applications. While LabVIEW provides a variety of features and tools ranging from interactive assistants to configurable user-defined interfaces, it is differentiated by its graphical, general-purpose programming language (known as G) along with an associated integrated compiler, a linker, and debugging tools.
Effective LabVIEW Programming
To better understand the major value propositions of LabVIEW graphical programming, it is helpful to review some background on the first higher-level programming language. At the dawn of the modern computer age in the mid-1950s, a small team at IBM decided to create a more practical alternative to programming the enormous IBM 704 mainframe (a supercomputer in its day) in low-level assembly language, the most modern language available at the time. The result was FORTRAN, a more human-readable programming language whose purpose was to speed up the development process.
The engineering community was initially skeptical that this new method could outperform programs hand-crafted in assembly, but soon it was shown that FORTRAN-generated programs ran nearly as efficiently as those written in assembly. At the same time, FORTRAN reduced the number of programming statements necessary in a program by a factor of 20, which is why it is often considered the first higher-level programming language. Not surprisingly, FORTRAN quickly gained acceptance in the scientific community and remains influential.
Fifty years later, there are still important lessons in this anecdote. First, for more than 50 years, engineers have sought easier and faster ways to solve problems through computer programming. Second, the programming languages chosen by engineers to translate their tasks have trended toward higher levels of abstraction. These lessons help explain the immense popularity and widespread adoption of G since its inception in 1986; G represents an extremely high-level programming language whose purpose is to increase the productivity of its users while executing at nearly the same speeds as lower-level languages like FORTRAN, C, and C++.
LabVIEW is different from most other general-purpose programming languages in two major ways. First, G programming is performed by wiring together graphical icons on a diagram, which is then compiled directly to machine code so the computer processors can execute it. While represented graphically instead of with text, G contains the same programming concepts found in most traditional languages. For example, G includes all the standard constructs, such as data types, loops, event handling, variables, recursion, and object-oriented programming.
Historically, FPGA programming was the province of only a specially trained expert with a deep understanding of digital hardware design languages. Increasingly, engineers without FPGA expertise want to use FPGA-based custom hardware for unique timing and triggering routines, ultrahigh-speed control, interfacing to digital protocols, digital signal processing (DSP), RF and communications, and many other applications requiring high-speed hardware reliability, customization, and tight determinism. G is particularly suited for FPGA programming because it clearly represents parallelism and data flow and is quickly growing in popularity as a tool of choice for developers seeking parallel processing and deterministic execution.
While G code provides an excellent representation for parallelism and removes the requirement on developers to understand and manage computer memory, it is not necessarily ideal for every task. In particular, mathematical formulas and equations can often be more succinctly represented with text. For that reason, you can use LabVIEW to combine graphical programming with several forms of text-based programming. Working within LabVIEW, you can choose a textual approach, a graphical approach, or a combination of the two.
Variable Names: In text based programming you'd try to keep your variable names logical and informative to make reading code easier. From what I've learned the wires can be labeled or named, and serve a similar role. How do you decide which wires are important to label, and which should be left? Are there any good general practices on how to name them (and specifically, do you just use the label thing or are there better ways)? Same questions for shift registers, etc.
This paradigm shift is basically what causes the biggest hindrance in the learning process of people new to LabVIEW programming. The conventional academic setting usually focuses on text based programming courses and it makes the mind think on a certain pattern. This pattern is quite useful for conventional programming languages but it sometimes becomes a reason for less than optimum learning experience if you decide to learn tools like LabVIEW.
When I attended NI week last year, I attended several different workshops that were designed to help increase LabVIEW knowledge and proficiency. My favorite workshop went over tips and tricks for building effective user interfaces in LabVIEW. One of the major benefits of coding in LabVIEW is that provides built-in libraries of controls and indicators. Because LabVIEW was designed with engineers and scientists in mind, this library includes context-specific controls such as knobs, dials, and switches along with indicators such as meters, gauges, and thermometers.
This paper leads to developing a Labview based ECG patient monitoring system for cardiovascular patient using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol technology. The designed device has been divided into three parts. First part is ECG amplifier circuit, built using instrumentation amplifier (AD620) followed by signal conditioning circuit with the operation amplifier (lm741). Secondly, the DAQ card is used to convert the analog signal into digital form for the further process. Furthermore, the data has been processed in Labview where the digital filter techniques have been implemented to remove the noise from the acquired signal. After processing, the algorithm was developed to calculate the heart rate and to analyze the arrhythmia condition. Finally, SMTP technology has been added in our work to make device more communicative and much more cost-effective solution in telemedicine technology which has been key-problem to realize the telediagnosis and monitoring of ECG signals. The technology also can be easily implemented over already existing Internet.
Most of the work has been done based either on hardware or on software. In the case of hardware, to transmit the ECG data, transmitter and receiver had been used, which increases the cost of the device, whereas the developed one integrated with hardware along with software to transmit the data anywhere using SMTP technology. Thus, the complete device becomes more user friendly as well as cost effective.
National Instruments said it is transforming the way engineers and scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation and embedded applications. NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells to a broad base of more than 30,000 companies worldwide, with its largest customer representing approximately 4 percent of revenue in 2010 and no one industry representing more than 15 percent of revenue. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has approximately 5,500 employees and direct operations in more than 40 countries.
With the above in mind, others have correctly foreseen that the next revolution in hearing aid technology will involve wireless technology (e.g., Bluetooth) within portable computers and hands-free cell phones transmitting to an earpiece1,3 and, while such a revolution status has yet to be achieved, the progressive immergence of a limited variety of tablet-based hearing aid tools has since commenced (e.g., assistive listening device connectivity/streaming, ear-assisting apps, tablet-based hearing aid programming).7,8 The practical and easy-to-follow nature of the exemplar to be presented also inherently supports the likely future wider-spread availability of tablet-based hearing aid solutions within mainstream healthcare, whilst also providing a basis for student (research and learning) projects within biomedical engineering.
Simeoni14 critiques the multifaceted assessment approach of Bioinstrumentation and summarizes its official on-line 2012 student evaluation survey from the time of that study: 83% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that assessment and its feedback were fair, clear and helpful, while 80% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the course was well organized, and that teaching of the course was effective in helping student learning. These percentages are relatively high for a physics/instrumentation course undertaken by health science students, with the 33.3% survey response rate, while meaningful, reflecting the institution-wide challenge of engaging students with official on-line evaluations. The above evaluation scores were again supported in 2014 with values of 90 and 85%, respectively.
The powerful and easy-to-use XJTAG boundary scan development system meets thegrowing market need for a cost-effective solution for testing tightly-packedprinted circuit boards populated with JTAG devices such as BGA and chip scaledevices, which cannot be tested by traditional methods.
Toastmaster is great - meeting June 3Come and join us in the Wilson Hall 7th Floor Racetrack Thursday, June 3 at 12:00 p.m., you can bring your lunch! In Toastmaster, you will learn self-growth, how to plan and relax, how to present an idea whether you have time to prepare or just 10 seconds. You will learn to listen and think effectively, how to prepare and give speeches with confidence in a wide range of situations. Best of all, you'll practice in a friendly, supportive environment, with people who are there for the same reasons. 041b061a72