LabVIEW

NI's LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment that fully integrates Sheldon Instruments' hardware for real-time data acquisition, real-time control, and data analysis for use under Windows or Linux. LabVIEW is drastically improved when used with QuVIEW and any of Sheldon Instruments' hardware.

Sheldon Instruments has taken a unique approach with QuVIEW, accelerating most of the LabVIEW functions, with speed increases ranging from 10 to 100 times faster!! Imagine being able to perform all of the following functions in continous, real time at rates above 150khz:

	Abitrary Waveform Generators
	Data Display of any Input or Output
	Data Gap Free Logging to Disk of any Input or Output
	Data Z tranforms
	Process Control
	FIR and IIR Digital Filters
	Adaptive Filters
	Arbitrary Triggers on any Data Source

The LabVIEW VI is an ideal programming element pictorially represented by icons which are easily modified and maintained, with the added benefit of being completely self-documenting. The essence of the LabVIEW environment consists of the following:

	Front panel interface.
	Block diagram programmability.
	Data flow and programming structures.
	Virtual Instrument libraries.

Front Panel Interface
The VI's front panel serves as an interactive user interface with all Sheldon Instruments' hardware, which consists of knobs, slides, switches, graphs, strip charts and other instrument panel controls. Once a variety of controls is selected, the user can position, size, label, and completely configure the control's data type, dimension, range, and mechanical action.

Block Diagram Programmability
In order to program any functionality to a VI, a slew of functional blocks are selected from palette menus and then wired together so as to pass data from one block to another. These blocks range from arithmetic functions, to advanced acquisition, control, and analysis routines that perform file I/O functions or in real-time with all Sheldon Instruments' hardware. Other functions include debugging tools, help windows, execution highlighting, single stepping, probes and breakpoints in order to trace and monitor the execution of data flow through the diagram.

Data Flow and Programming Structures
Data flow programming is a departure from conventional text based programming given that the hierarchal nature of a VI's execution order is determined by the flow of data between blocks and not by sequential lines of text; thus, allowing multiple data paths and simultaneous operations.

For applications that require a specified execution order, several structures are included such as for loops, while loops, and case statements.

Virtual Instrument Libraries
One of the more novel developments of Sheldon Instruments was for all hardware to maintain full compatibility with LabVIEW with the QuVIEW libraries, and yet greatly enhance the performance of LabVIEW with the integration of DSP based accelerators. The computer's main processor downloads all functions assembled in LabVIEW to be performed on the DSP chip, thereby allowing both processors to operate in parallel. The DSP accelerators perform all of the numeric intensive operations far more quickly than the main processors. QuVIEW drastically improves the performance of LabVIEW for high speed multichannel data acquisition and control in real-time!!

A full library of acquisition functions include extensive trigger controls and continuous gap-free streaming to hard disks at rates up to 800khz. Additionally, a full library of output functions include signal generators, as well as libraries for real-time process control operations.

Extensive analysis libraries include functions for statistics, regressions, frequency domain, arithmetic, digital filters, Z transforms and windows.

More Information

	QuVIEW: Real time software accelerator for LabVIEW based on TI's C3x/C6x family of floating point DSPs
	Technicle Article (pdf): Easy Real-Time DSP Programming with LabVIEW and Visual Basic