National Instruments has released LabVIEW 8.20, the 20th anniversary edition of its graphics based design platform for control, test and embedded system development. NI LabVIEW 8.20 offers a number of industrial measurement enhancements, 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 allow engineers to use streamlined FPGA targeting tools to implement high performance, hardware-based machine monitoring and protection systems, while the new LabVIEW Touch Panel Module (TPM) helps them to use the same software to create Windows CE-based HMIs. The TPM offers a shared variable capability, which means that the values from real-time controller code can be displayed directly on custom operator interfaces like those used in embedded machine control and monitoring systems.
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. This means that it is now possible to use the software to develop and execute complex control modules of more than 1,000 nodes.
The FPGA (field programmable gate array) Module in version 8.20 adds new machine monitoring functions. Using this module in conjunction with NI's CompactRIO hardware, for example, allows developers to embed powerful protection monitoring and control systems into their machines. The new LabVIEW FPGA Wizard automatically generates FPGA I/O and timing code to embed control logic directly into FPGA hardware. In addition to CompactRIO, FPGA based controllers can be implemented on PC plug-in boards for fast prototyping, or PXI hardware platforms for immediate deployment in industrial environments.
The Simulation Interface Toolkit 3.0 for LabVIEW 8.20, now enables models developed in the The MathWorks Simulink environment to be integrated into LabVIEW for real-time control prototyping and hardware-in-the-loop testing. And, with version 8.20's new External Model Interface, values from third-party plant models can be used in the LabVIEW Simulation Module. For the first time, LabVIEW can be used to take advanced control algorithms and target them directly to custom board designs based on 32-bit microprocessors using the LabVIEW Embedded Development Module.