LabVIEW 8.20 Combines Distributed System Technology, Simplified Custom Controller Hardware Design and Display Tools in a Single Environment.AUSTIN, Texas – Aug. 8, 2006 – National Instruments announced LabVIEW 8.20, the 20th anniversary edition of the LabVIEW graphical system design platform for control, test and embedded system development.
NI LabVIEW 8.20 enhances the industrial measurement capabilities of LabVIEW with new features designed for advanced analysis and control, improved distributed system management and new targets for human-machine interfaces (HMIs). For instance, new libraries in LabVIEW allow engineers to use streamlined FPGA targeting tools to implement high performance, hardware-based machine monitoring and protection systems and the new LabVIEW Touch Panel Module, which helps them to use the same software to create Windows CE-based HMIs.
By introducing technology that simplifies custom controller hardware development and provides new display targets, LabVIEW 8.20 engineers and machine builders can use one software tool to design and deploy industrial systems performing high-performance measurements, FPGA-based advanced analysis and control, communication to existing systems, and human-machine interfacing. Single Software for Measurement, Analysis, Control and Visualization LabVIEW is consistently rated as a popular software choice for measurement, and LabVIEW 8.20 builds on this leadership position and further extends these measurement capabilities in the industrial domain.
The new LabVIEW Touch Panel Module, along with new shared variable capabilities for communicating with handheld devices, makes it possible for automation engineers to quickly add Windows CE-based HMIs to their measurement and control systems. With the shared variable, engineers can easily display values from their real-time controller code directly on custom operator interfaces often used in embedded machine control and monitoring systems, further simplifying the development of handheld systems for field monitoring applications. For high-channel-count systems, the LabVIEW 8.20 Datalogging and Supervisory Control Module adds programmatic channel configuration tools to help developers dynamically define up to 2,500 channels.
LabVIEW 8.20 also improves the performance of Ethernet-based communications for distributed systems by two times and provides open communication to existing hardware and software through native Modbus and OPC support. “The success of LabVIEW over the past 20 years is a result of its intuitive graphical programming environment that a broad set of engineers working in many different domains can use,” said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments.
“LabVIEW continues to evolve into a powerful control software solution, bringing custom measurement and real-time execution capabilities together with industrial and advanced control algorithms for a unique, integrated platform stretching across many different applications.”
Improved Analysis and Control Algorithms
With LabVIEW, engineers can develop control systems spanning from simple PID control to advanced dynamic control systems, which helps them choose the appropriate hardware and control methodology without changing their software development approaches. With this latest version of LabVIEW, NI has improved the execution speeds of PID control loops by up to 14 times and execution speeds of the LabVIEW Simulation Module for advanced control algorithms by up to nine times, making it possible for engineers to develop and execute complex control models of more than 1,000 nodes. The LabVIEW 8.20 FPGA Module adds new machine monitoring functions for implementing filters, alarming and measurements so engineers can build FPGA-based machine protection systems.
By combining the rugged, compact design of CompactRIO; the reliability of FPGA-based implementation; and the ease-of-use of LabVIEW FPGA, developers now can embed powerful protection monitoring and control systems into their industrial machines.If engineers have already designed their algorithms in other software, with the Simulation Interface Toolkit 3.0 for LabVIEW 8.20, they can integrate models they developed in the The MathWorks, Inc Simulink environment into LabVIEW for real-time control prototyping and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing.
And, with the new External Model Interface introduced in LabVIEW 8.20, engineers can use the values from third-party plant models in the LabVIEW Simulation Module. The LabVIEW 8.20 Simulation Module works with third-party models from Dynasim and Plexim GmbH.
Rapid Control Prototyping and Deployment Tools
LabVIEW 8.20 streamlines the prototyping and deployment of control systems in industrial computers, FPGAs or custom designs – all using the same LabVIEW graphical programming approach. The new LabVIEW FPGA Wizard automatically generates FPGA I/O and timing code to embed control logic directly into FPGA hardware for high performance and reliability.
With the LabVIEW FPGA Wizard, engineers have a simple approach to harness the latest FPGA technology, which means they can focus more on their control system logic.Engineers can implement FPGA-based controllers with LabVIEW 8.20 on plug-in boards in a standard desktop PC for fast, low-cost system prototyping or in modular National Instruments CompactRIO or PXI hardware platforms for rugged, industrial deployment of control systems. For the first time, engineers can use LabVIEW to take advanced control algorithms and target them directly to custom board designs based on 32-bit microprocessors using the LabVIEW Embedded Development Module.
About National Instruments
For 30 years, National Instruments has been a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation – a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists in industry, government and academia approach measurement and automation. Leveraging PCs and commercial technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for test, control and design applications through easy-to-integrate software, such as NI LabVIEW, and control hardware for PXI, PCI, PCI Express, USB and Ethernet. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,900 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. For the past seven years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.