Faster Time to Measurement – Advances in LabVIEW Instrument Control

Instrument Control with LabVIEW

• LabVIEW can communicate with virtually any instrument

• Tools for parsing, analyzing, and presenting instrument data

LabVIEWInstrument drivers Direct I/O

Serial Ethernet PXIGPIB VXI Other

Instrument Instrument Instrument Instrument Instrument Instrument

Instrument I/O Asst.

Choosing an Instrument Control Interface

Is there an instrument

driver?

Application Needs?

DevelopInstrument

Driver?

Plug and Play

IVI

SimilarDriver

Created?Modify Existing Driver

Build From Template

Direct I/O

Yes

NoAdvanced Functionality

Ease of Use

Yes

NoNo

Yes

Source CodeAvailability

Using Instrument Drivers

Is there an instrument

driver?

Application Needs? Plug and Play

IVI

Yes

Advanced Functionality

Ease of UseSource CodeAvailability

Instrument Drivers

• Organized library of functions to control instruments– Each function performs multiple instrument instructions– Grouped by operation type

• Configure• Action/Status• Data• Utility

• Tool to simplify instrument control• Set of functions that reduce development time

LabVIEW Plug and Play Instrument Drivers• Combination of functionality and ease of development• Source code available

– Intuitive to use– Easy to debug

• Robust, multi-platform• Certified and Supported by NI• Use common architecture

– Increase performance and portability• Include examples• Thousands available

Instrument Driver Finder• Find, download and install instrument drivers from within

LabVIEW• Automatically discovers connected instruments • Direct Connection to

Instrument Driver Network (www.ni.com/idnet)

• No longer need to restartLabVIEW

Demo #1

• Instrument Driver Finder– Find connected instruments– Search for and install appropriate driver– Open example finder and run an example application

IVI Instrument Drivers• Advanced functionality

– Simulation– Interchangeability– State caching

• Limited instrument coverage (but includes most popular instruments)

• IVI-C – Common architecture– Certified and supported by NI

SignalExpress IVI-C Steps • Interactive,

non-programming environment

• Support for over 300 common stand-alone instruments

• Made possible through IVI’s interchangeability

Demo #2

• SignalExpress IVI-C Steps– Acquire with IVI Scope step– Frequency or time domain measurement

Direct I/O

Is there an instrument

driver?

Application Needs?

DevelopInstrument

Driver?

Plug and Play

IVI

Direct I/O

Yes

Advanced Functionality

Ease of UseSource CodeAvailability

No

No

Instrument I/O Assistant 2.0

• Parameterized Inputs– Can now change instrument

commands during run time• Improved performance• Better code generation• Available in

– LabVIEW– LabWindows/CVI– Measurement Studio

Demo #3

• Instrument I/O Assistant– Configure assistant with a channel parameter– Analyze data and plot on front panel

Creating Instrument Drivers

Is there an instrument

driver?

Application Needs?

DevelopInstrument

Driver?

Plug and Play

IVI

SimilarDriver

Created?Modify Existing Driver

Build From Template

Direct I/O

Yes

Advanced Functionality

Ease of Use

Yes

No

Yes

Source CodeAvailability

No

No

Project-Style Instrument Drivers

• Improved source code organization

• Uses LabVIEW library– Provides unique namespace to

avoid naming collisions– Ability to restrict access to

underlying code• Improved version management

Instrument Driver Project Wizard

• Interactive wizard guides you through instrument driver creation

• Reduces development time• Supports most common

instrument types

“The new Instrument Driver Project Wizard in LabVIEW 8 reduces instrument driver development time by more than a week.”

- David Fink, Software Engineer, Tektronix

Instrument Driver VI Creator

• Configuration-Based interface• Generates LabVIEW code• Inherits Instrument Driver

Properties– Icon banner– Library

Demo #4

• Instrument Driver Creation– Create Scope driver with wizard– Open and explore initialize VI– Run VI creator and create a measurement VI

Other Instrument Control Improvements

• NI Spy integration• Regular expression parsing• Byte ordering

– Flatten/Unflatten– File I/O

• VISA I/O name control• Refresh in dropdown• Displays open sessions

Advances In Instrument Control• Instrument users

– Instrument Driver Finder– Instrument I/O Assistant 2.0– SignalExpress IVI-C Steps

• Instrument driver developers– Project-Style instrument drivers– Instrument Driver Wizard– Instrument Driver VI Creator

• Miscellaneous– VISA I/O Name Control– String parsing– NI-SPY

Visit the Consultation Zone

• Discuss products and configure your application• Get estimated costs or a quote to take with you• Request a FREE consultation – an NI engineer visits your

office to: – Discuss your application and specialized topics– Demonstrate customized applications, examples, and products

• Schedule an on-site seminar at your location