LabWindows/CVI Inside NI - Q3 2009

[Adri_K.]

   

Can you believe that the 15th annual NIWeek has come and gone? If you are not familiar with NIWeek, it is the industry's premier event on graphical system design that attracts the world's brightest engineers, educators, and scientists. For three days, National Instruments hosts interactive technical sessions, targeted summits, hands-on workshops, and exhibitions on the latest developments for design, control, automation, manufacturing, and test. The conference also features keynote presentations and demonstrations that highlight how engineers and scientists can use NI graphical system design to test, measure, and fix inefficient products and processes to improve everyday life.

This year we had over 3,000 registrants and over 2,500 attendees, making this the largest NIWeek ever! If you were unable to join us this year for NIWeek, you can still view the NIWeek 2009 keynote videos and slides and get a closer look at how you can Do More with NI products! You can also view the prentation slides for all the sessions that were given during the week.

The Graphical System Design Achievement Awards is the National Instruments technical application contest, showcasing the most innovative projects based on NI software and hardware. The 2009 Graphical System Design Achievement Awards received its largest number of submissions in paper contest history, totaling 112 submissions from 187 authors in more than 25 countries. Be sure to take a look at the award winning papers and start thinking about submissions for next year!

I was very happy to see several LabWindows/CVI users in attendance and I hope you enjoyed the events that were held throughout the week. Just to name a few of the activities that were held for LabWindows/CVI users, we had developers lunches, technical sessions, certification exams and demos. The following technical sessions were given during NIWeek and focused on LabWindows/CVI applications, new technologies, roadmaps and techniques for development.

• Porting a Legacy Control System to PXI with LabWindows/CVI Real-Time
• Learn how Dave Wheeler and Nate Mackley, from Mantaro Networks, converted a factory control system that was ported from a Multibus II architecture to the PXI platform. Discover the economic benefit of the conversion, why engineers chose PXI and LabWindows/CVI Real-Time, how they ported the ANSI C software, key lessons learned, and the performance characteristics of the final system.
  
  
• What’s new in LabWindows/CVI Version 9.0 and Beyond
• Explore the new features of LabWindows/CVI 9.0 and LabWindows/CVI Real-Time. Learn how you can detect memory leaks earlier, reduce compile times, and integrate the latest PXI, PXI Express, and PC hardware in your real-time applications.
  
  
• Application Debugging Tools in LabWindows/CVI
• Learn how LabWindows/CVI helps developers avoid, identify, and eliminate bugs. Get an overview of automatic run-time checking, the various debugging windows, and remote debugging. Plus, find out how the new resource tracker easily sniffs out pesky memory leaks, and get some pointers on how to deal with bugs in release binaries.
  
  
• Using the C API for the LabVIEW FPGA Interface
• Eric Starkloff, National Instruments Vice President of Test Product Marketing, highlights FPGA technologies as one of the 2009 major trends Learn more about the C Interface to LabVIEW FPGA  tool that allows a C/C++ developer to program the processor within FPGA and NI reconfigurable I/O (RIO) hardware, such as NI CompactRIO, NI FlexRIO, and R Series FPGA I/O by proving a FPGA communication API into the driver layer.

Did you miss the CD Shattering Demo at NI Week 2009? Don't worry, we caught it all on video! The demo uses LabWindow/CVI Real Time on a PXI embedded controller. The motor speed is controlled through the LabWindows/CVI Real-Time application and performs lifetime testing of a CD by spinning it and measuring the speed of the disc. There are two control modes: spin up and down through cycles, and spin until failure. You can interact with the motor control and analyze measurement displays using the LabWindows/CVI Real Time module, an ASP.NET web page with Measurement Studio web controls, network variables and TDMS data files.

Many of the NIWeek activities enabled the LabWindows/CVI team to gather feedback and get a more in-depth understanding for features that you would like to have integrated into the product. If you were unable to attend NI Week, your voice can still be heard. Use the community discussion board to collaborate with other users and the LabWindows/CVI team on feature ideas. If you would like to get a better idea of the LabWindows/CVI commitment to innovation and feature development that is under way, check out the What's new in LabWindows/CVI Version 9.0 and Beyond session and view the roadmap for LabWindows/CVI.

I look forward to hearing about the applications other LabWindows/CVI developers are creating using LabWindows/CVI and hope to have you at NIWeek 2010 to present on your projects.

I look forward to seeing you next year for NIWeek 2010! Mark your calendars and register today for NIWeek 2010!

Adri Kruger

LabWindows/CVI Product Manager