ni newsletter

7/30/2019 NI Newsletter

1/32ni.com

The Worldwide Publication for Graphical System Design l Fourth Quarter 2012

The Moores Lawof Big DataPAGE 6

Qualcomm Improves WLANTest Speed and CoverageUsing the NI PXI Vector SignalTransceiver and LabVIEW PAGE 10

Getting toKnow Windows 8PAGE 24

Collaboration BetweenNI, Academia, andIndustry AcceleratesWireless Research PAGE 26

Mobile Technology Meets

5 Ways to Add Mobile Technology to YourMeasurement and Control System

PAGE 3


2/322

CONTENTS

3 Equipping Engineers and ScientistsWith Tools for Scientific Discovery

12 Make Your MeasurementsFaster With FPGA Technology

21 Clean Up Your Engine With RIOHardware and LabVIEW

6 Maximize Your RIO Investment:Develop Faster and Reduce

Maintenance Costs

14 See How Todays EngineeringStudents Learn LabVIEW

24 Is Einsteins Theory in Danger?

8 Speed Up Structural Test TimesWith SC Express

16 Special Focus:Data Dashboard for LabVIEW

26 Clever Debugging Techniques forEvery LabVIEW Developer

10 DIAdem Ensures AutomotiveCrash Safet

18 Parallel and Profitable:Test More With Less by

Optimizing Your Test System

28 Fiber-Optic Strain Gages ProtectRestoration of Milan Cathedral

John Pasquarette [email protected]

Vice President of Corporate Marketing and eBusiness at National Instruments

CONTENTS

3 Mobile TechnologyMeets LabVIEW

12 Meet the EvolvedData Dashboard for LabVIEW

23 Need Help With a Tough Project?Find an Expert

6 The Moores Law of Big Data 16 Special Focus:Double Your Productivity

24 Getting to Know Windows 8

8 Simulating the Human HeartWith CompactRIO and LabVIEW

18 Latest PXI Controllers AddRuggedness and Bandwidth

26 Collaboration Between NI,Academia, and Industry

Accelerates Wireless Research

10 Qualcomm Improves WLAN TestSpeed and Coverage Using the NI PXI

Vector Signal Transceiver and LabVIEW

20 NI Provides a Better Solutionfor Spectrum Monitoring

28 Microsoft WPF:The Future of .NET UI Design

Mobile Technology and Todays Engineer

There is no aspect of modern life untouched by the advent of mobile technologies.

And as large of an impact as something like an HD video camera in our pocket has,

its nothing compared to putting these technologies in the hands of engineers and

scientists. Unchaining todays engineers and scientists from their desks and labsunlocks the potential for truly great societal change.

NI has long been at the forefront of making the test and measurement industry

mobile by leading the movement away from rack and stack toward modular instruments

and offering embedded systems with remote monitoring capabilities. This issue of

Instrumentation Newsletter looks at several of the ways NI is continuing to make tools

that you can use for measurement and control anywhere, anytime.

Were working to create a mobile ecosystem that works for you no matter what your

system usesfrom apps and hardware to drivers and communication standards. For

starters, we have mobile optimized the NI Support Forums because our data shows

that mobile traffic to ni.com has almost doubled over the past year. You can also now

view a technical support request online through our mobile Service Request Manager.

Second, NI is continuing to harness the latest mobile technologies by investing in R&D so

you dont have to. With mobile apps like the Data Dashboard for LabVIEW (see page 12)

you can create a custom tablet display for viewing your system data anywhere without

having to learn a new language or technologyits a direct extension of the LabVIEW

platform. These tools (see pages 35) help you manage and monitor your systems, and

connect with other experts for help while you are on the go with a

smartphone or tablet computer. As NI continues to improve its mobile

technologies, we want you to be the first to know. Follow along at

ni.com/mobile or join the Smartphones, Tablets, and Mobile Devices

group at ni.com/community.

Executive Editor John Pasquarette

Managing Editor Lacy Rohre

Associate Editors Jontel Moran,

Joelle Pearson,

Brittany Wilson

Contributing Editors Johanna Gilmore,

Ashley Meleen

Creative Manager Joe Silva

Project Manager Pamela Mapua

Art Director Larry Leung

Designer Komal Deep Buyo

Illustrator Komal Deep Buyo

Photo Editors Nicole Kinbarovsky,

Allie Verlander

Image Coordinator Kathy Brown

Production Artist Komal Deep Buyo

Production Specialist Richard Buerger

Circulation Coordinator Amanda Kuldanek

Volume 21, Number 4

Fourth Quarter 2012


3/323Fourth Quarter 2012

Mobile Technology Meets LabVIEW

In 2011, Steve Jobs declared the

beginning of a post-PC era. The same

year, global sales of smartphones and

tablets outnumbered traditional laptop and

desktop computers. While PCs obviously

arent obsolete, its clear that mobile

technology is fundamentally changing the

way we access and use information.

Initially created for consumers,

smartphones and tablets have been adapted

in a variety of industries such as health

care for remotely accessing patient data

and education as interactive textbooks.

Similarly, mobile technology is revolutionizing

data acquisition. Engineers and scientists

are taking measurements in more places

by combining mobile technology with data

acquisition hardware to create extremely

portable and interconnected measurement

systems. Additionally, mobile technology

offers rich user interfaces for monitoring

measurement systems from virtually

anywhere in the world.

Taking advantage of this technology

doesnt have to be difficult. You can choose

from a variety of tools available to help

you utilize NI LabVIEW software and NI

hardware with mobile technology.

Data Dashboard for LabVIEWThin clients are based on the client-server

architecture where a lightweight, thin

client application depends heavily on its

server to perform most of its computational

logic. They are often used with measurement

and control systems to provide a custom

user interface to multiple users for remote

monitoring and administration.

Not everyone has the expertise to build custom thin client applications.

Data Dashboard for LabVIEW is a thin client app for the iPad that you can

use to create a custom, portable view of your LabVIEW applications with

no programming required. You can drag and drop controls and indicators

such as charts, gauges, LEDs, sliders, and buttons that read or write values

via LabVIEW web services or network-published shared variables. You can

customize the appearance with built-in themes and share dashboards via

email or the NI Technical Data Cloud. In addition to support for the iPad,

a subset of capabilities is available for other devices including the iPhone

and select Android phones and tablets. Read more details about the new

Data Dashboard features on page 12.

Build Your Own Mobile Thin ClientsIn some cases you may need more customization or additional functionality

not provided by the Data Dashboard for LabVIEW. Another option is to build

your own custom thin client and communicate to your measurement system

using web services.

A web service is an API that lives on the web. A client sends an HTTP

request to a remote server, which processes the request and replies with

a response (typically XML). The response is then interpreted and displayed

by the client application. You rely on this communication method for

everyday activities such as browsing the web, checking emails, and even

reading articles online.

The following are components of a web service:

ServerAn application responsible for parsing a request, executing the

appropriate method or action, and sending a response to the client.

ClientAn application that sends a request to the server and waits to

receive a response, which is then interpreted by the client.

5 Ways to Add Mobile

Technology to Your

Measurement and

Control System

Cover

Mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, are increasingly being adopted formeasurement and control applications. Their evolving functionality and use cases include

visualization capabilities and connectivity to wireless hardware devices.


4/324 Instrumentation Newsletter

Standard ProtocolsWeb-based

protocols such as HTTP route data

over physical networks from the client

to the appropriate server method and

then back to the client.

NetworkThe physical layer, such asEthernet or IEEE 802.11, over which

data is transmitted.

LabVIEW includes a built-in web

server that you can use to deploy

VIs as web services. LabVIEW web

services use standard HTTP and

standard data formats like XML so

you can use any client-side technology,

including HTML, JavaScript, Flash,

Java, or Objective C, to build web or

native mobile thin client apps. The

apps then run on smartphones and

tablets and communicate with your

LabVIEW measurement system.

Send SMS AlertsFrom LabVIEW

One of the simplest ways to remotely

monitor a system is with text

messages, which can be sent to any

mobile phone. LabVIEW includes

built-in functions for sending emails

and you can use these email functions

for sending SMS text messages.

This works for most major cellphone

carriers by interfacing their email with

SMS gateways. You can download

example code to try this from the

NI Community (ni.com/community)

by searching sms LabVIEW.

Desktop SharingFrom a LabVIEW System

Desktop sharing, also called remote

desktop, refers to software that helps

you locally view or control a remote

systems running desktop. Traditionally

this has been done from PC to PC,

but more recently mobile apps have

become available for doing this with

a smartphone or tablet. Combining

desktop sharing software with your

LabVIEW measurement system

results in a fairly simple way to add

complete remote monitoring or

administration of the system to a

mobile device.

The most common desktop sharing

software is the Remote Desktop

services built into Microsoft Windowsand a protocol called Virtual Network

Computing (VNC). While these services

are easy to configure for use on local

networks, they are more difficult to

configure for secure access from the

outside world. Hosted services like

LogMeIn, TeamViewer, and GoToMyPC

make setup easier by using standard

web protocols and tunneling all traffic

through their servers. This eliminates

the need for your IT department to

configure access from outside the

firewall and provides safe, easy entry

to a PC from anywhere in the world.

A potential disadvantage of desktop

sharing is that the remote computer

is only transferring an image of a

running desktop. The client computer

doesnt have local access to the

actual measurement data. Large

image transfers can also become

bandwidth intensive.

Most Windows 8 tablets also include USB ports

and built-in WiFi so you can connect any USB or

networked DAQ device to create portable systems

based on LabVIEW.

Jeff Kodosky, the Father of LabVIEW, demonstrates future touch-based

programming with LabVIEW on a tablet computer at NIWeek 2012.



Portable Data AcquisitionWith Windows Tablets

Microsoft recently delivered a new

addition to the tablet market with its

Windows 8 Surface tablet (see page 24).

LabVIEW and NI hardware drivers are

already supported on versions of

Windows 8 with Intel processors. This

means you can port existing LabVIEW

code to run on Windows 8 tablets

easily using LabVIEW to create

mobile apps. Even though you may

need a few tweaks to make your front

panel touch friendly, you can avoid

rewriting everything from scratch in

another programming language, as

would be necessary for iOS and

Android. Most Windows 8 tablets also

include USB ports and built-in WiFi

so you can connect any USB or

networked DAQ device to create

portable systems based on LabVIEW.

In addition to supporting Windows

8 tablets, NI offers experimental

technology on NI Labs that you can

use to directly connect iOS and

Android devices to an NI cDAQ-9191

chassis for wirelessly taking

measurements. NI Labs (ni.com/labs)

showcases evolving technologies

from NI R&D engineers to be

experienced prior to release. This

virtual research lab gives you the

chance to download and work with

cutting-edge developments, offer

product feedback, and get answers

to your questions.

A Glimpse of the Future

Mobile technology is still very young.

The iPhone first released only five

years ago and the iPad only two years

ago. The technology is evolving

quickly, but has already opened the

doors to a new world of connectivity,

information access, and interactivity.

The latest tools from NI are just the

beginning. LabVIEW is the most

touch-ready language on the planet.

Stay tuned because there are a lot

more exciting things to come.

Watch a video of future touch-based

programming with LabVIEW at

ni.com/newsletter/nsi2401.

Chris Delvizis [email protected]

Chris Delvizis is a product manager for data

acquisition at National Instruments.

LabVIEW on Windows 8

LabVIEW Systems

5 Ways to Add Mobile Technology

Remote Monitoring of LabVIEW SystemsData Acquisition With Windows Tablets

Wireless DAQ USB DAQ PC+

NI CompactDAQPXICompactRIO

Stand-AloneNI CompactDAQ

Desktop Sharing Custom Thin Client Data Dashboard SMS

There are variety of tools you can use to add mobile technology to your measurements and control system.


6/326 ni.com

for one century, they would generate one zettabyte of data. Almost

double that amount was generated in 2011 (Rogers, 2011).

The fact that data is doubling every two years mimics one of electronicsmost famous laws: Moores law. In 1965 Gordon Moore stated that the

number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubled approximately every

two years and he expected the trend to continue for at least 10 years.

Forty-five years later, Moores law still influences many aspects of IT and

electronics. As a consequence of Moores law, technology is more

affordable and the latest innovations

help engineers and scientists capture,

analyze, and store data at rates faster

than ever before. Consider that in 1995,

20 petabytes of total hard drive space

was manufactured. Today, Google

processes more than 24 petabytes of

information every single day. Similarly,

the cost of storage space for all of this

data has decreased exponentially from $228/GB in 1998 to $.06/GB in 2010

Changes like this combined with the advances in technology resulting from

Moores law, undoubtedly fuel the Big Data phenomenon and raises the

question, How do we extract meaning from that much data?

What is the value of Big Data?

One intuitive value of more and more data is simply that statistical

significance increases. Small data sets often limit the accuracy of

conclusions and predictions. Consider a gold mine where only 20 percent

of the gold is visible. The remaining 80 percent is in the dirt where you can

see it. Mining is required to realize the full value of the contents of the

mine. This leads to the term digital dirt in which digitized data can have

concealed value. Hence, Big Data analytics and data mining are required to

achieve new insights that have never before been seen.

The Moores Law of Big Data

Big Data is collected at a rate that approximately parallels Moores law.

Feature

In test and measurement applications,

engineers and scientists can collect vast

amounts of data every second of every day.For every second that the Large Hadron

Collider at CERN runs an experiment, the

instrument can generate 40 terabytes of

data. For every 30 minutes that a Boeing

jet engine runs, the system creates

10 terabytes of operations information.

For a single journey across the Atlantic

Ocean, a four-engine jumbo jet can create

640 terabytes of data. Multiply that by the

more than 25,000 flights flown each day,

and you get an understanding of the

enormous amount of data that exists

(Gantz, 2011). Thats Big Data.

Drawing accurate and meaningful

conclusions from such a large amount

of data is a growing problem, and the

term Big Data describes this phenomenon.

Big Data brings new challenges to data

analysis, search, data integration, reporting,

and system maintenance that must be

met to keep pace with the exponential

growth of data. The technology research

firm IDC recently performed a study on

digital data, which includes measurement

files, video, music files, and so on. This

study estimates that the amount of data

available is doubling every two years. In

2011 alone, 1.8 zettabytes (1E21 bytes)

of data were created (Hadhazy, 2010). To

get a sense of the size of that number,

consider this: if all 7 billion people on Earth

joined Twitter and continually tweeted

If all 7 billion people on Earth joined Twitter and

continually tweeted for one century, they would

generate one zettabyte of data. Almost double that

amount was generated in 2011.

In 2011

1.8 ZettabytesData Created



What does Big Data mean

to engineers and scientists?

The sources of Big Data are many.

However, the most interesting is

data derived from the physical world.

Thats analog data captured and

digitized by NI products. Thus, you

can call it Big Analog Data

derived from measurements of

vibration, RF signals, temperature,

pressure, sound, image, light,

magnetism, voltage, and so on.

Engineers and scientists publish

this kind of data voluminously, in a

variety of forms, and many times

at high velocities.

NI helps customers acquire data

at rates as high as many terabytes

per day. Big Analog Data is an ideal

challenge for NI data acquisition

products such as NI CompactDAQ,

CompactRIO, and PXI hardware, and

tools like NI LabVIEW system design

software and NI DIAdem to organize,

manage, analyze, and visualize data.

A key advantage of these products

is the ability to process data at the

source of capture, often in real time.

You can change this processing

dynamically as needed to meet

changing analytical needs. Embedded

programmable hardware such as FPGAs

offer extremely high-performance

reconfigurable processing literally at

the hardware pins of the measurement

device. This allows the results of data

analytics from back-end IT systems to

actually direct a change in the type of

processing that happens in NI products

at the source of the data capture.

Big Analog Data solutions strongly

depend on IT equipment such as

servers, storage, and networking for

data movement, analytics, and archiving.

You increasingly face challenges with

creating end-to-end solutions that

require a close relationship between

DAQ and IT equipment.

As an industry leader, NI is best

suited to help you step up to Big

Data challenges by providing solutions

that are IT friendly and publishing data

that is Big Data-ready for analytics

on either in-motion or at-rest data.

One thing is certain, NI is continually

expanding its capabilities in data

management, systems management,

and collaborations with IT providers

to meet the Big Data challenge.

Tell us what your Big Data needs

are atni.com/newsletter/nsi2402.

Dr. Tom Bradicich [email protected]

Dr. Tom Bradicich is an R&D fellow at

National Instruments.

Stephanie Orci [email protected]

Stephanie Orci is a product marketing

engineer for DIAdem at National Instruments.

References

Gantz, John, and David Reinsel.

Extracting Value from Chaos.

EMC Corporation.

June 2011. Web. 8 Aug 2012.

Hadhazy, Adam. Zettabytes Now Needed

to Describe Global Data Overload.

Live Science. 4 May 2010. Web. 31 Aug 2012.

Rogers, Shawn. Big Data is Scaling BI

and Analytics. Information Management.

1 Sep 2011. Web. 30 Aug 2012.

NI Software and Hardware Edge Server(Local, Remote, Cloud)

Corporate/Federated IT

IT Infrastructures/Big Data Analytics/Mining

Sensors/ActuatorsDistributed Acquisition

and Analysis Nodes (DAANs)

Instrument the physical worldMeasureControl and stimuli

Acquire/analyze/presentRASM/systems managementReconfigurable/in-motion analytics

Analytics for data in motion and at restRASM/systems management servicesData management, databases, archiving

A generalized, three-tier solution to the Big Analog Data challenge includes sensors or actuators, distributed acquisition and

analysis nodes, and IT infrastructures or big data analytics/mining..



The ChallengeDeveloping a realistic, reliable, and reconfigurable testing

environment to advance and improve a novel heart assist

device without the need for animal testing.

The SolutionUsing NI CompactRIO to create a stand-alone testing

environment that combines a mechanical heart with a

circulatory blood-flow model that replicates in-vivo models.

Simulating the Human Heart WithCompactRIO and LabVIEW

For patients with heart disease, improving their health

often means signing up for a transplant waiting list with

too many patients and not enough donors. We decided

they need another option. At the University of Leeds,

we are developing the Ventricular Assist Device (iVAD)

to support the diseased heart.

Using NI LabVIEW system design software, we created

a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) heart simulator that combines

a real-time software blood-flow model with a physical 3D

mechanical heart. The iVAD functions as an artificial muscle

wrap that applies compressive force, synchronous to the

native rhythm, around the external surface of the hearts

ventricles. This cyclic squeezing action augments heart

muscle efforts, leading to an improved output for the

failing heart.

We use CompactRIO to control the mechanical heart, run

the simulation, and send data via TCP to the Windows host

for display and saving. The real-time controller executes two

parallel loops: a high-priority control loop for the blood-flow

model and a low-priority communication loop that sends and

receives queued TCP data to and from the Windows host.

To help satisfy one of our main goals, we created a

separate state within the Windows host LabVIEW VI that

allows the blood-flow model to automatically fit real

physiological pressure waveforms. Once the VI is run, the

best fit parameters can then be loaded instantly into the

real-time model, and the heart simulator has the ability to

accurately reflect the hemodynamics of any patient group,

cardiovascular disease, or in-vivo model.

If the CompactRIO controller is connected to a Windows

computer, the pressure data is sent via TCP to a LabVIEW

user interface, where it is mapped onto the surface of a 3D

heart as an STL image. This provides crucial visual information

about the devices performance around the circumference

of the mechanical heart.

CompactRIO hardware offered a rugged and reliable

stand-alone platform to build the heart simulator, enabling

our team to conduct prolonged testing of a novel heart

assist device, which would not have been possible on a

traditional computer. The systems compactness and

variety of plug-in modules helped us successfully create

a reliable, reconfigurable solution that eliminates the need

for animal testing.

Dr. David Keeling

School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds

Graphical System Design Achievement Awards

Application of the Year Award

Humanitarian Award

Life Sciences Winne

Case Studies

The iVAD simulates heart conditions and can

reduce the need for animal testing in labs.



When National Instruments introduced stand-alone

NI CompactDAQ systems, we knew at Integrated Test &

Measurement (ITM) that we could now build new, flexible

data-logging solutions for our customers in a very short

amount of time. The opportunity to prove this arose when

a customer needed a rugged and flexible in-vehicle testing

solution to determine the vibration levels of an on-highway

vocational vehicles exhaust system during operation.

We chose to pair our iTestSystem software, based on

LabVIEW, with the high-performance and rugged cDAQ-9139

stand-alone system. We bundled the cDAQ-9139 with a

cellular network interface and packaged it inside a rugged

carrying case. We also used seven NI 9234 accelerometer

modules and one NI 9229 module to interface directly to

the sensors we used in this application.

We used our iTestSystem software to stream data from

staged events and operations directly to the nonvolatile hard

drive of the cDAQ-9139 in a Technical Data Management

Streaming (TDMS) file format. We controlled and monitored

data acquisition remotely via Remote Desktop. After

collecting data, all of the TDMS files were transferred to a

computer for postprocessing and analysis. We calculated

the overall vibration levels for each accelerometer using

the order analysis plug-in for our iTestSystem software that

takes advantage of the built-in analysis functions within

LabVIEW. Additionally, using the iTestSystem software and

LabVIEW, we provided a professional report containing

overall vibration levels and order analysis graphs that identified

which sensor locations failed or met the design criteria.

By leveraging stand-alone

NI CompactDAQ systems,

LabVIEW, and our iTestSystem

software, this project was a

huge success. Our customer

was amazed at how quickly we

integrated new technologies,

including both NI and third-party

hardware and software. With this

system, we reduced the overall

cost of their tests by reducing the

manpower needed to perform

the tests and providing them instantaneous feedback on

the system functionality. Our customer liked the system

so much that instead of sending it back to us, the company

redeployed the system on another on-highway vehicle to

solve a different problem.

Mark Yeager, Integrated Test & Measurement

Simplifying In-Vehicle Testing WithNew Stand-Alone NI CompactDAQ

The ChallengeCreating a rugged and flexible in-vehicle testing solution to

determine the vibration levels of an on-highway vocational

vehicles exhaust system during operation.

The SolutionUsing the NI cDAQ-9139 stand-alone system, NI C Series

modules, and DAQ software based on NI LabVIEW to create

a portable exhaust test system for large vocational vehicles.

The new stand-alone NI CompactDAQ system providesa high-performance and portable system for demanding

in-vehicle testing applications. Our iTestSystem

software, based on LabVIEW, combined with the

stand-alone NI CompactDAQ system allows us to build

flexible data-logging systems faster than we could with

traditional data-logging systems.


10/3210 ni.com

for these devices increases exponentially. As we progress to 802.11ac,

were adding new modulation schemes, more channels, more bandwidth

settings, and additional spatial streams. In addition to this, characterizing

WLAN transceivers is especially challenging when faced with the

thousands of independent operational gain settings.

Each component of a WLAN transceiver has multiple gain stages. To

develop a high-performance radio in a low-cost CMOS process, the design

team at Qualcomm Atheros relies on the flexibility of operation at each

stage of the radio structure. Multiple gain settings drive a geometric increase

in the number of possible combinations of settings as each stage is added,

resulting in hundreds of thousands of data points for a single operational

mode. These hundreds of thousands of data points are only for a single radio

transceiver. The number of permutations continues to increase for MIMO

configurations where the system uses multiple antennas.

NI PXI Vector Signal Transceiver and LabVIEW FPGA

To tackle these test time challenges, Qualcomm Atheros uses the

NI PXIe-5644R vector signal transceiver. Because it features an onboard

FPGA, we can control the digital interface to the WiFi chip simultaneously

with the RF signal generator and analyzer, which are included together in

the vector signal transceiver.

Qualcomm Improves WLAN Test Speedand Coverage Using the NI PXI Vector

Signal Transceiver and LabVIEW

Traditional Instrumentation NI PXI Vector Signal Transceiver

-48

-18

-23

-28

-33

-38

-43

-45 15 255-5-15-25-35 -45 15 255-5-15-25-35

-48

-18

-23

-28

-33

-38

-43

With traditional instrumentation, you can collect only about 40 points of meaningful WLAN transceiver data per iteration.

The speed increase of the NI PXI vector signal transceiver allows full gain table sweeps, acquiring all 300,000 data points.

Test Techniques

For more than two decades, Qualcomm

Atheros has been a leader of next-generation

wireless technologies for networking,

consumer electronics, computing, and

mobile device communications. Today,

we are evolving high-throughput wireless

technologies such as WiFi to meet the

demands of new connected applications.

Our latest chip is a three-radio MIMO

transceiver for the latest WiFi standard,

802.11ac.

More complex wireless standards

means the number of operational modes

Keeping WLAN test

costs low and test

accuracy high was

proving to be a

challenge, until now.



Traditionally FPGAs have been

programmed using VHDL or Verilog.

Many engineers and scientists are

either not familiar with these

complex languages or require a tool

that gives them faster design

productivity at a higher level of

abstraction to greatly simplify the

process of generating FPGA code.

NI LabVIEW is well suited for FPGA

programming because it clearly

represents parallelism and

data flow, so all levels of users in

traditional FPGA design can

productively apply the power of

reconfigurable hardware.

Qualcomm Atheros uses LabVIEW

to program the FPGA on the NI vector

signal transceiver, which allows for

device under test (DUT) control and

data processing. The processing can

take place within the instrument

itself rather than requiring transfers

back and forth over the bus to the

controller, resulting in significantly

faster test times.

Traditional rack-and-stack

measurements are limited to best

estimate gain table selections. In

this traditional setup, the team at

Qualcomm Atheros determines a final

solution through iterative estimation,

which requires a regression of the

gain table characterization. This is

a slow process that produces only

about 40 meaningful data points

per iteration.

After switching to the NI PXI vector

signal transceiver, we can use the

test time improvements to perform

full gain table sweeps instead of

using the iterative approach. Now

the team can characterize the entire

range of radio operation in one test

sweep per device, acquiring all

300,000 data points and better

determining the optimal operational

settings empirically rather than by

iterative estimation. The availability

of this data gives us a view of the

device operation we had never seen

before and allows the team to

explore operational regimes that we

had not previously considered.

By synchronizing the timing of

digital control directly with the RF front

end of the instrument, we have seen

test times increase by more than 20X

over our previous PXI solution, and

up to 200X over the original solution

using traditional instruments.

At Qualcomm Atheros,

instrumentation flexibility and to-the-pin

control are critical for keeping our RF

test process as efficient as possible, and

were pleased with the performance

gains weve seen when testing with

NIs new vector signal transceiver. The

NI PXIe-5644R provides freedom and

flexibility in the way we develop our

802.11ac solutions for our customers,

and has significantly improved our

test throughput.

Learn more about the new

NI PXIe-5644R vector signal

transceiver by visitingni.com/vst.

Doug Johnson

Doug Johnson is a director of

engineering at Qualcomm Atheros.

Early 2000sTraditional Rack and Stack

2012NI Vector Signal Transceiver

2007NI PXI RF Instrumentation

10X Faster Than Traditional 200X Faster Than Traditional

Qualcomm Atheros has improved test times by 20X over its previous PXI solution, and up to 200X over traditional instruments.

By synchronizing the timing of digital control directly

with the RF front end of the instrument, we have

seen test times increase by more than 20X over

our previous PXI solution, and up to 200X over theoriginal solution using traditional instruments.



Meet the Evolved

Data Dashboard for LabVIEW

LabVIEW Everywhere

Customize Your Layout

After adding dashboard widgets,

shapes, and photos, drag the

items freely to define a unique

layout that you can modify any time.

Choose Your Background

Change the color of your

background or use a

photo of your choice.

Add Indicators and Controls

Read and write data via email

to execute commands and view

measurements remotely.

Share Your Dashboards With Others

Send your favorite dashboards to

colleagues via email or use the

NI Technical Data Cloud. You can

optionally lock your dashboards for

read-only access.

Define the Look

Customize the appearance

of controls and indicators

using properties and

built-in themes.

Connect to Data Securely

Link graphs, sliders, and other UI

elements to your NI LabVIEW software

programs via secure or nonsecure web

services. You can also connect with

LabVIEW network shared variables.

Some Data Dashboard functionality is also available for Apple iPhone,

and select Android tablets and phones. Visitni.com/mobile for details.



The Global NI LabVIEW Student Design Competition

spotlights students who initiate engineering projects with

clear societal impact. The 2012 projects covered different

and innovative ideas, but all shared a common thread.

All of the students used LabVIEW system design software

to offload low-level programming so they could focus on

meeting real-world challenges.

Overall Winner Uses Skeletal Tracking to

Advance Medicine

Students from the University of Leeds created a user-friendly

interface between Microsoft Kinect and LabVIEW to

develop a rehabilitation and surgical analysis system for use in

stroke rehabilitation, gait analysis, and laparoscopic surgery.

Student Design Competition Finalists Tohoku University students developed a system to

acquire 3D sound space information that can then

be transmitted to a distant place using a microphone

array on a human-head-sized solid sphere.

Texas A&M University students created a cost-effective

alternative guidance system for the visually impaired.

The system provides users information about their

local environments so they can safely choose

unobstructed paths.

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

students designed, built, and tested a remote-controlled

diagnostics robot to monitor the linear particle accelerator

for gamma radiation at Los Alamos National Labs.

Learn more atni.com/studentdesign.

From Controls Concepts to Student Design to

IndustryStudents Gain National Exposure

Purdue University recently revamped an outdated automatic

control systems laboratory experience by adding NI CompactRIO,

LabVIEW, and the LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation

Module. Students can program, simulate, and implement control

algorithms to go from design to prototype in just one semester.

Taking advantage of LabVIEW, students can deploy the same code

they validated in simulation and configure the FPGA on the

CompactRIO hardware.

Initially, we thought that programming the FPGA would be

above the knowledge level of our students, so we provided this code

for them, said Purdue professor Dr. Galen King. To our surprise,

students had a strong desire to program the FPGA themselves.

One example of a project made possible by this course is

The Snowbot, which received news coverage from CNN.

Read the full case study and see video of The

Snowbot in action atni.com/newsletter/nsi2404.

LabVIEW Student WinnersMeet Real Challenges

By using LabVIEW, University of Leeds students turned their

student design project into an add-on now available on the

LabVIEW Tools Network. The Kinesthesia Toolkit for Microsoft

Kinect was originally developed for medical rehabilitation

and surgical tools as part of the project submitted to the 2012

Global LabVIEW Student Design Competition, and is now being

used to help new and advanced LabVIEW programmers quicklyaccess the popular Kinect camera functions such as RGB video,

depth camera, and skeletal tracking.

Download the toolkit and learn more about

how you can use LabVIEW and Microsofts

Natural User Interface (NUI) for modern system

control atni.com/newsletter/nsi2403.

Student Design Project Makes Industry Leap

NI in Academia

Students from the University of Leeds demonstrate

their winning application on the keynote stage at NIWeek 2012.


14/3214

Do You Figure It Out as You Go?Theres a Better Way!

With the start of any new project, you may find yourselfconsidering the technical advantages and disadvantages

of different software and hardware platforms. Skills and

training also play a key part in the projects long-term

success. Knowledge of the hardware and software

platforms you select affects development time and

maintenance costs. Part of choosing NI LabVIEW system

design software for a project is ensuring you have the right

skills to use it successfully.

When it comes to learning programming tools like

LabVIEW, you may opt to teach yourself as your projects

demand. It is easy to dive into a project, referencing product

examples and resorting to technical experts at your company,

discussion forums, or NI technical support as questions

present themselves.

However, figuring it out while you go can result in

delays and recoding as you discover new structures in

LabVIEW or different design patterns more suited to your

application. Its also easy when using this method to stick

with tools and design architectures you are familiar with,

never realizing that there might be more appropriate or

better designs that would save time and money.

By investing the time up front to learn recommended

techniques to reduce development time and improve

application performance and scalability, you can achieve up

to 50 percent faster development and 43 percent less time

spent on maintenance (Understanding the Value of Training

customer survey results at ni.com/training). So then thequestion becomes, For this project, what do I need to

know to start my development with the right tools and

design decisions?

With the release of LabVIEW 2012 comes the

NI LabVIEW Skills Guide, an online resource that helps

you determine the level of proficiency you need to best

ensure the success of your current project. Each proficiency

level contains a detailed list of specific skills that help you

accelerate development, create quality code that you can

reuse, and effectively configure and control your hardware.

The Skills Guide then presents the options for obtaining

those skills so you can build a customized learning plan

consistent with your time constraints, budget, and persona

learning preferences.

Step 1: Read each of the categories and find the one that

best describes your role and application.

Step 2: Expand the category and learn more about the

specific skills that help ensure your applications long-term

success and where you can obtain them.

Step 3: From the Hardware Skills tab, select the

appropriate hardware platform to review the proficiency

levels and skills for your project.

14

Product: LabVIEW Skills Guide

Source: ni.com/skills-guide

Product In-Depth

14 ni.com/products

The LabVIEW Skills Guide is an online resource that helps you determine

the level of proficiency you need to best ensure the success of your current project.



Optimize Applications With the LabVIEW MulticoreAnalysis and Sparse Matrix Toolkit

The new NI LabVIEW Multicore Analysis and Sparse Matrix

(MASM) Toolkit provides a variety of multithreaded linearalgebra and spectral analysis libraries. These libraries can

reduce processing time for computationally intensive tasks in

both online and offline scenarios. The libraries are also designed

to take advantage of the available processing cores in your

system, and the toolkit includes a set of functions for managing

the threading behavior of libraries. While overall performanceimprovement varies based on the application and system

specifications, individual toolkit functions can show as much

as a 4X to 7X speedup versus nonmultithreaded equivalents.

Because many of the functions included in the LabVIEW

MASM Toolkit support sparse matrices, you can now use

LabVIEW to solve a wide range of challenging problems

involving matrices that were previously too large to store or

process efficiently. Additionally, the toolkit functions support

both single-precision and double-precision floating-point

data, so you can compute operations requiring less precision

faster using less memory.

Both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows development environments

are supported, and you can also take advantage of the toolkit

on LabVIEW Real-Time (ETS) targets when used with the

LabVIEW Real-Time Module.

Communicate With GPUs From LabVIEW Withthe New GPU Analysis Toolkit

Originally designed for graphics processing operations,

graphics processing units (GPUs) are increasingly being used

with CPUs and FPGAs for general-purpose computing in

engineering and scientific applications. With the introduction

of the NI LabVIEW GPU Analysis Toolkit, you can harness the

performance and parallel architecture of NVIDIA CUDA GPUs

within the framework of your LabVIEW applications.

Using the toolkit, you can open references to GPU devices

in your system, transfer data between CPU and GPU memory,

and control GPU code execution. A wide variety of CUDA Basic

Linear Algebra Subroutines (cuBLAS) library and CUDA fast

Fourier transform (cuFFT) library signal processing functions

are available and wrapped in LabVIEW for quickly prototyping

GPU algorithms. In addition, you can take advantage of

device selection and resource management using CUDA

Runtime and Driver APIs. For advanced users, the toolkit

contains documentation on calling your custom GPU code

from LabVIEW applications or executing functions from

other freely available NVIDIA libraries such as the NVIDIA

Performance Primitives (NPP) library and the CUDA Sparse

Matrix (cuSPARSE) library.

Using the LabVIEW GPU Analysis Toolkit, you can perform

large-scale data acquisition, offload blocks of data to a GPU

for fast processing, and view the processed data within a

single LabVIEW application. You can also use the toolkit with

the LabVIEW 32-bit and 64-bit development environments

on the Windows OS.

Product: LabVIEW MASM Toolkit

Source: ni.com/newsletter/nsi2405

Product: LabVIEW GPU Analysis Toolkit


The LabVIEW Multicore Analysis and Sparse Matrix Toolkit provides

multithreaded linear algebra, BLAS, and FFT-based functions for

use in computationally intensive LabVIEW applications.


16/32


17/32


18/321818

Product In-Depth

18 ni.com/products

Latest PXI Controllers Add Ruggedness and Bandwidth

The NI RMC-8355 1U rugged rack-mount controller and

NI PXIe-PCIe8381 remote controller are the latest additions to

the growing portfolio of National Instruments PXI controllers.

The RMC-8355 controls systems based on PXI or PXIExpress. It features up to two high-performance Intel Xeon

E5620 quad-core processors that offer eight cores of

computing performance and up to 96 GB RAM total. It also

provides two PCI Express Gen 2 expansion slots (x16 and x8)

that you can use with an NI MXI-Express remote controller to

interface to either PXI or PXI Express systems. The RMC-8355

is NIs first rack-mount controller that meets the PXI standards

mechanical shock and vibration specifications. These features,

along with the option to use two drives in a RAID configuration,

make the RMC-8355 controller ideal for demanding test,

measurement, and control applications.

The NI PXIe-PCIe8381 PXI Express remote controller

features an by 8 Gen 2 cabled PCI Express link to connect

a PXI Express chassis to desktop PCs. It provides a fully

transparent, high-bandwidth link with data bandwidth of

up to 3.2 GB/s. To extend that capability, NI offers the

NI MXI-Express BIOS Compatibility software. The RMC-8355

rack-mount controller combined with the NI PXIe-PCIe8381

remote controller extends the capabilities of the NI PXI platform

by increasing CPU performance and data bandwidth.

New PXI Embedded Controllers With Up to 50 PercentPerformance Improvement

The new NI PXI-8119 and PXI-8115 embedded controllers

feature the latest Intel Core i7 and i5 processors, respectively.

These Intel processors provide up to 50 percent performance

improvement over previous-generation NI PXI embedded

controllers. With this increase in CPU performance and the

flexibility to operate in multicore mode or high-performance

single-core mode, you can use both embedded controllers in

a variety of high-performance automated test, measurement,

and industrial control applications.

The PXI-8119 includes the latest third-generation Intel Core

i7-3610QE quad-core processor with a base clock frequency

of 2.3 GHz. The PXI-8115 incorporates the second-generation

Intel Core i5-2510E dual-core processor with a base clock

frequency of 2.5 GHz. Both controllers support Intel Turbo

Boost 2.0 technology that allows the active processing cores

on the CPUs to run at faster clock rates when other cores are

inactive or disabled. In single-core mode, the PXI-8119 and

PXI-8115 can operate at 3.3 GHz and 3.1 GHz, respectively.

In addition to high CPU performance, the NI PXI-8119 and

PXI-8115 feature six USB 2.0 ports, two display ports to connect

to multiple monitors, and two Gigabit Ethernet ports. For

memory-intensive applications, the controllers provide up to

8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz RAM. To improve serviceability, they

offer In-ROM diagnostics that you can use to evaluate the

health of the hard drive and memory during controller startup

Products: NI RMC-8355, NI PXIe-PCIe8381

Source: ni.com/pxi

Products: NI PXI-8119, NI PXI-8115


The NI RMC-8355 and NI PXIe-PCIe8381 extend the capabilities of the NI PXI platform.

The latest NI PXI embedded controllers include the newest Intel processors.


19/3219

Switch It Up: More Than 20 New PXI Switch Modules

Whether you are performing low-speed precision measurements

on dozens of test points or characterizing high-frequency ICs

in a large multisite configuration, there is a switching solution

for your automated test system. In 2012, NI is adding morethan 20 new PXI switches with a variety of topologies, power

ratings, and relay technologies.

The NI SwitchBlock helps you manage large switching

matrices with thousands of crosspoints within a PXI chassis.

The new NI 2833 and NI 2834 add to the line of relay cards

for the NI SwitchBlock by significantly enhancing the density

of 2 A matrices in PXI. The NI PXI-252x general-purpose

modules offer high-density switching for signals up to 2 A.

The family includes an 80-channel SPST, 53-channel SPDT,40-channel DPST, and 26-channel DPDT module.

Additionally, new RF and microwave switches give you

higher bandwidth options for building RF test systems. The

PXI-279x family of 40 GHz switches includes terminated and

unterminated 6x1 multiplexers, a dual-transfer switch, and

a dual-SPDT module. The NI PXI/PXIe-2540 and NI PXI/

PXIe-2541 are 8x9 and 8x12 RF switching matrices that you

can use to route signals over 300 MHz, with an NI 2541

offering easy column expansion for building larger matrices.

The Most Powerful Tools Yet for Engine Development

Lets face it: the internal combustion engine is here to stay.

Engine R&D continues to expand as fuel efficiency and

emissions standards grow more stringent. Drivven, a

National Instruments company, combines the best of NI

reconfigurable I/O (RIO) hardware, NI LabVIEW system design

software, and DAQ into its ready-to-use Stand-Alone Direct

Injector (SADI) driver and Micro Drivven Combustion Analysis

Toolkit (DCAT) system.

Most commercially available electronic control units (ECUs)

do not have the power electronics necessary to drive the

high-powered direct injectors that todays advanced engines

require (up to 175 V at 30 A). SADI systems are based on

NI CompactRIO and provide all the power electronics and

timing processing necessary to integrate direct injectors into

existing engine control setups. SADI systems are shipped with

ready-to-use software that accepts digital timing signals from

an ECU and interprets those signals to schedule fuel injection

events. Drivvens Direct Injector Driver modules provide the

power electronics to drive the injectors engine-synchronously.

DCAT systems are portable combustion analysis systems

that combine a LabVIEW executable for combustion analysis

with flexible NI C Series modules for conditioned I/O. These

systems are ideal for in-vehicle combustion analysis applications

where researchers need to gather data on engine performance

in real-world conditions. Both of these systems are used

worldwide by vehicle OEMs, research labs, motorsports

vehicle development teams, and tier one component suppliers.

Products: NI 2833, NI 2834, NI PXI-252x,NI PXI-279x, NI PXI/PXIe-2540,

and NI PXI/PXIe-2541

Source: ni.com/switches

Products: Stand-Alone Direct Injector

(SADI) driver, DCAT Systems

Source: ni.com/enginecontrol

19Fourth Quarter 2012

Drivvens DCAT system combines ready-to-run software and NI CompactDAQ

hardware for portable, in-vehicle combustion analysis featuring hundreds of

standard combustion calculations and metrics.

The NI SwitchBlock minimizes wiring and simplifies

connectivity for high-density switching matrices.


20/3220

NI Provides a Better Solutionfor Spectrum Monitoring

The rapid explosion in wireless computing and mobiledevices has put greater strain on the available bandwidth in

the radio spectrum. Spectrum monitoring makes it possible

for communication providers and regulators to oversee

system operation, troubleshoot interference problems, and

enforce allocation regulations.

Over-the-air signal monitoring is challenging because

it requires observing signals at varying frequencies and

amplitudes in the presence of large interferers. Spectrum

analyzer and vector signal analyzer (VSA) instruments

optimized for cabled measurements are subject to dynamic

range limitations in spectrum monitoring applications.

NI PXIe-5667 Spectrum Monitoring Receiver

The NI PXIe-5667 spectrum monitoring receiver builds on

the award-winning, high-performance NI PXIe-5665 VSA

by adding a preselection filter at the RF input and analog

IF filters, termed as roofing filters, in the final IF input.

The NI PXIe-5667 can perform signal measurements over

a frequency range of 20 Hz to 7 GHz with up to 50 MHz of

instantaneous bandwidth. At a noise figure 110 dB

ensures that the receiver works with large variations in

amplitude, which is typical of radio spectrum measurements.

Besides low noise, the NI PXIe-5667 provides best-in-class

distortion performance with a third-order ensures continuous

monitoring of the RF band of interest.

In addition to industry-leading analog specifications, the

NI PXIe-5667 features the capability to continuously sample

I/Q to a user-programmable FPGA. The NI LabVIEW FPGA

Module offers real-time analysis of RF signals such as

continuous bandwidth monitoring, demodulation, and

advanced signal processing. You can perform spectrum

monitoring tasks such as digital downconverter channelization

frequency hop detection, and spectrum mask violation

uncovering in the FPGA, thereby alleviating delays and the

unreliability of moving data to the host controller or PC.

Built with the NI PXIe-5665 modular

platform, you can easily configure the

NI PXIe-5667 receiver for multichannel

applications that require phase coherence

and/or time synchronization.

Note: NI PXIe-5667 specifications comply with

the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

guidelines for Spectrum Monitoring.

NI PXIe-5667 spectrum monitoring feature adds a preselection filter at

the RF input and analog IF filters in the final IF of the NI PXIe-5665 VSA.

Built with the NI PXIe-5665 modular platform, you can perform

spectrum monitoring tasks such as digital downconverter channelization,

frequency hop detection, and spectrum mask violation uncovering in the FPGA.

Product: NI PXIe-5667

Source: ni.com/pxi

20

Product In-Depth

ni.com/products

NI PXIe-5622Digitizer

NI PXIe-5603Downconvertor

NI PXIe-5693Preselector

NI PXIe-5694IF Conditioning

NI PXIe-5653LO


21/3221

Revolutionizing Smart GridPower Electronics

With the new NI Single-Board RIO General PurposeInverter Controller (GPIC), you can deliver smart-grid power

electronic systems to market with significantly lower cost

and risk. The NI Single-Board RIO GPIC is carefully

designed to meet the specific cost, I/O, and performance

needs of most high-volume commercial power electronics

control applications. These applications include DC-to-AC,

AC-to-DC, DC-to-DC, and AC-to-AC converters.

The GPIC reflects ongoing investments by NI R&D in

revolutionizing the design, testing, and large-scale deployment

of digital energy conversion systems. This new system

provides a standard reconfigurable I/O (RIO) embedded

system architecture and graphical system design tools

that enable 2-3 times faster time to market for new clean

energy systems. Now you can in-source your power

converter control system designs with significantly lower

costs compared to traditional, fully custom digital signal

processor (DSP) board design. According to a 2012 Wilson

Research study, development teams using the NI LabVIEW

RIO architecture save an average of 114 person-months

of development time on each embedded system design.

That is a 4.8X reduction.

NI product development teams worked with the

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and

researchers and commercial engineers worldwide to

design the NI Single-Board RIO GPIC system. The hybrid

FPGA, 400 MHz PowerPC processor, and each of the

134 I/O channels are carefully chosen to satisfy the exactpricing and technical requirements for high-volume

commercial grid deployment. Additionally, the hybrid

Spartan-6 LX45 FPGA includes 58 DSP cores integrated

within the fabric, yielding 40X higher performance per

dollar than conventional DSPs.

A new co-simulation interface between the LabVIEW

FPGA Module and NI Multisim software helps you develop

your FPGA control applications in a high-fidelity desktop

simulation environment. Using this design approach, power

electronics domain experts, with no knowledge of VHDL or

Verilog programming, can harness the control and signal

processing power of the hybrid FPGA device. In addition,

NI recently released the NI Electrical Power Measurement

Suite, NI IEC-61850, and NI DNP3 utility communication

protocol libraries to facilitate the deployment of networked,

grid-sensing power converters for the sart grid.

Develop your LabVIEW FPGA inverter control

algorithms using the new Multisim co-simulation interface.

The NI Single-Board RIO General-Purpose Inverter Controller and

LabVIEW system design software can reduce your development time by 4.8X.

Product: NI Single-Board RIO GPIC

Source:ni.com/gpic



22/3222

Some of the most challenging signal generation tasks

require capabilities well beyond what traditional vendor-

defined signal generators can

offer. Consider the need to

generate extremely complex

and deep signal streams to

control beam-splitting mirrors

in interferometry applications.

Or the need to capture data at

high rates, perform custom

inline processing, and then

stream data back out through

high-speed signal generators

for applications such as prototyping RF communications

protocols, RF record and playback, signal intelligence, and

channel emulation.

Active Technologies introduces two new signal generator

adapter modules, the AT-1212 and AT-1120, for NI FlexRIO

with up to 2 GS/s sample rates, 800 MHz analog bandwidth

and 14-bit resolution. This unique high-performance I/O

combined with the power of NI FlexRIO and the NI LabVIEW

FPGA Module provides a greatly simplified way to create

flexible, customizable signal generation solutions to meet

the demands of the most complex applications. Sample code

is provided for out-of-the-box functionality that you can modify

for your given requirements.

22

Reduce Your LabVIEWFPGA Compile Time

Over the last decade engineers and scientists, using

the NI LabVIEW FPGA Module, have developedapplications to solve complex measurement and

control problems. However, FPGA programmers still

face the difficulty of overcoming the processor

intensive task of synthesizing, placing, and routing an

FPGA design, which results in compile times that can

last minutes to hours.

You can tackle this problem by offloading your FPGA

compiles to NI compile cloud servers. Using these

high-performance, Linux-based cloud servers, you can

reduce compile time and free up your development

machine. In fact, developers are seeing on average a

30 percent reduction in compile time when shifting to

the LabVIEW FPGA Compile Cloud Service.

Two new signal generatoradapter modules help you create

customizable solutions.

Extreme SignalGeneration Challenges,Meet Your Match

Simulate Sensors With

New PXI ModulesA new family of PXI and

PXI Express modules

programmatically

replicate the behavior

of resistance-based

devices. Ideal for

simulating physical sensors in HIL validation applications,

the NI 272x family includes 8-bit and 16-bit fully

programmable resistor banks that you can configure

as RTD simulators, potentiometers, and resistive loads.

The high-density 8-bit modules are ideal for cost-effective

high-channel-count applications such as low-resolution

sensor emulation. The 16-bit modules provide a wider

resistance range with finer resolution and can control

values up to 16 k in 0.25 steps.

See how much the cloud service can reduce

your compile time atni.com/trycompilecloud.

Products: NI 272x modules

Source: ni.com/info and enter 272xOverview

Products: AT-1212, AT-1120

Source: ni.com/flexrio

Product In-Depth

ni.com/products

AT-1212 High-Speed

Signal Generator Adapter

Module for NI FlexRIO

AT-1120 High-Speed

Signal Generator Adapter

Module for NI FlexRIO

2 channels 1 channel

1.25 GS/s 2 GS/s

480 MHz analog bandwidth 800 MHz analog bandwidth14 bits 14 bits


23/3223

Need Help With a Tough Project? Find an Expert

To meet todays complex engineering challenges, NI has

introduced a program to help you find companies that

specialize in electronic design, vision, RF and wireless,

and embedded control.NI Alliance Partners are consulting and integration

companies that undergo a rigorous application process, meet

strict requirements, and obtain top industry certifications that

demonstrate their skills with NI products. These companies

have proven expertise and can provide a custom solution

based on NI tools and the graphical system design approach.

Alliance Partner Specialty designation requires

the following:

Electronic DesignExpertise with custom electronics

for embedded control and monitoring systems.

Embedded ControlExperience in designing medium-to-

large control and monitoring applications with NI LabVIEW

system design software and NI CompactRIO,

NI Single-Board RIO, and/or NI R Series devices.RF and WirelessSpecialization in radio frequencies

and wireless design, validation, automated test, and

high-frequency measurements.

VisionUnderstanding of system-level solutions for vision

applications, and integration of the necessary system

components including cameras, illumination, optics, image

processing software, and image acquisition hardware.

Find an Alliance Partner with these specialties at

ni.com/alliance/specialties.

LabVIEW Tools Network Celebrates Top Innovators

The LabVIEW Tools Network Awards recognize the top

achievements in the NI ecosystem of add-on software

and hardware products. Jeff Kodosky, cofounder and

NI business and technology fellow, presented eight

companies with awards.

Test Product of the Year:

INERTIA by Wineman Technology Inc.

INERTIA is test automation software specifically designed to

efficiently implement real-time control and test applications.

This software add-on for NI VeriStand provides a seamless

control solution for test cell applications such as dynamometer

and servo-hydraulic test systems.

Embedded Control and Monitoring Product

of the Year: ELCOM Network Analyzer

ELCOM was challenged with building an instrument fully

compliant with international standards for measurement

and data evaluation in power distribution grids. It used

graphical system design tools from NI and the modular

NI CompactRIO platform to create a flexible power quality

analyzer and still meet tight time-to-market criteria.

Cloud and Mobile InnovationMaintainable Test

by Maintainable Software

Software Engineering InnovationGraphical

Object-Oriented Programming (GOOP)

Development Suite by Symbio

Big Data InnovationCURE by Neural ID

Prognostics InnovationWatchdog Agent

Prognostics Toolkit by the Center for Intelligent

Maintenance Systems (IMS)

Structural Dynamics InnovationModal Testing

and Analysis by ABSignal

Vision Software Innovation3D Vision

Library by ImagingLab

View details on the products

atni.com/labviewtools.

At NIWeek 2012, eight companies received awards in

application areas such as cloud-based data management and vision.

Alliance Partner Network



24/3224 ni.com

Similar to other app stores, Microsoft reviews and approves apps before

placing them in the marketplace. Apps that support external devices,

including both common devices like cameras and printers and more customhardware, have special restrictions. These apps are automatically downloaded

from the Windows Store at device insertion and are required to be free.

If you are familiar with the desktop from Windows 7, you can still find

that functionality. However, the legacy desktop does not include a Start

button or menu. Instead, Windows 8 features a Charm Bar that you can

access by moving your cursor to the upper- or lower-right corner of any

screen. From the Charm Bar, you can search your files and applications, share

content from Windows Store apps, open the Start screen, and manage

connected devices or settings. The Charm Bar is also context sensitive,

which means some of the items displayed in each of the main categories

change based on which app is open when the Charm Bar is in use.

Intensifying the Focus on Mobile

Over 100 million tablets and 650 million smartphones are expected to be

shipped in 2012. Meanwhile, desktops and laptops combined will sell

only 371 million units. In the second quarter of 2012, Microsofts Windows

phones accounted for only 3.5 percent of global smartphone sales.

In an attempt to extend its market share in the mobile space, Microsoft

developed Windows RT, a specific version of Windows 8 for ARM-based

tablets. Windows RT is designed to run on ARM devices and runs only apps

available through the Windows Store or preloaded with the OS. Windows RT

Getting to Know Windows 8

The new Windows 8 Start screen features live tiles for Windows Store apps..

Feature

On October 26, 2012, Microsoft released

Windows 8, the newest version of the

Windows OS. Increasing its focus on

mobile applications, Microsoft created

a version of the OS to run specifically on

the ARM architecture. Windows 8 also

introduces a new look and feel that mimics

a tablet experience on the desktop

environment. This article highlights a few

of the high-level features of the new OS

and discusses how it affects measurement

and control systems.

Navigating the

New Windows 8 UI

The first feature you notice is the

re-imagined Windows 8 UI. Also called

the Metro UI or Modern UI at various

points in development, the new layout

creates a clean and modern look with

large and often live-updated application

tiles, similar to the functionality of

gadgets in Windows 7. Only apps built for

Windows 8 have these l ive tiles. You can

only get these new apps through

the new Windows Store. Applications

previously built for Windows 7 still

appear as tiles on the new Start screen

but appear as static tiles to the right of

the live tiles for Windows Store apps.

Scrolling to the right in the home screen

reveals these app tiles.

What the latest

version of Microsofts

classic OS means

for measurement

and control systems.



cannot run existing 32- and 64-bit

applications because the OS does

not support the Intel architecture.

Additionally, developers cannot

recompile these applications for the

ARM processor because the OS limits

necessary access to the Win32 API.

One of the ARM devices running

Windows RT is the Microsoft Surface

tablet, which is Microsofts new entry

into the mobile market. The ARM-based

Surface released at the same time as

Windows 8. A second version, the

Intel-based Surface Pro, will be

released later and run Windows 8 Pro.

Already available for iOS and Android,

NI Data Dashboard for LabVIEW

gives you the ability to both view and

manipulate your systems from

customized and portable dashboards

on your tablet. National Instruments

is currently working to port NI Data

Dashboard functionality to Windows RT.

The Microsoft OS

Support Life Cycle

Microsoft will end support for

Windows XP in 2014 and Windows 7

in 2020. Among NI customers on

Microsoft OSs, Windows 7 holds over

65 percent of the user base just over

three years after its release. NI currently

expects to end support for Windows

XP and Vista in 2016.

NI Product Compatibility

NI has been working with preview

versions of Windows 8 to determine

compatibility between the new OS

and its hardware, software, and

drivers. In general, Windows 7

applications should continue to

function in Windows 8, but hardware

drivers may need updating. Information

on the minimum required versions

for compatibility with Windows 8 is

online at ni.com/windows8. Also on

the web, you can find more information

about some known compatibility

issues with Windows 8 and how to

resolve those problems.

Learn more about how Windows 8

affects your measurement

and control systems at

ni.com/windows8.

Stephen Meserve

[email protected]

Stephen Meserve is a product marketing

engineer for LabVIEW at National Instruments.

NI Data Dashboard for LabVIEW, shown here on an iPad, will be available for Windows RT tablets this fall.

Increasing its focus on mobile applications,

Microsoft created a version of the OS to run

specifically on the ARM architecture.



approach, project scopes are morefocused on a long-term vision of the

evolution of future research based

on a common platform that defines

a clear basis for system development

and algorithm exploration. In addition,

the outcome of the research can

be effectively managed through the

working prototype, expected results,

and real-world testing scenarios.

Challenges in ResearchBetween Industry and Academia

Transferring academic research to the

commercial domain in a useful and

meaningful way has been challenging.

The NI approach to graphical system

design addresses these challenges by

offering a common platform and a unified

design flow that stresses a single tool

to transcend design, simulation, and

prototype research phases. Specifically,

the prototype becomes a focal point that

establishes a common language between

industry and academia.

In addition, projects that focus on

building a real-world prototype have

advantages over projects that rely on pure

simulation as the outcome. Time to result

is critical because a research topic that

takes years to prototype may in fact

become obsolete before it has been

tested. The NI platform provides a single

software framework and reconfigurable

hardware to enable a graphical system

design approach that compresses the

design to simulation to prototype cycle,

which shortens time to results. Perhaps

more importantly, a common platform

provides a way to share the developed

For years, academia and industry have collaborated on innovative research

often with mixed results. On the surface, the marriage between university

research and commercial companies seems like a natural and productive

union. Unfortunately, many companies have struggled to make effective use

of university research. National Instruments has worked with universities for

many years to help researchers adopt a graphical system design approach

to accelerate their work with a distinct and unique emphasis on prototyping,

which has opened new avenues of collaboration between academia and

industry. The combination of NI technology, university research, and

commercial involvement effectively forms an innovation triangle to efficiently

put research investments to work with a clear path to commercialization.

The graphical system design solution provides an integrated software

and hardware platform that simplifies development of any system by

bringing together a common set of tools and technologies. With this

Collaboration Between NI, Academia, anIndustry Accelerates Wireless Research

Reconfigurable HardwareProductive Software

int main(void) {int primes[998]int n = 5, i;

The graphical system design approach provides an integrated software and hardware platform that

simplifies development of any system by bringing together a common set of tools and technologies.

Feature

Time to result is critical because researchthat takes years to prototype may in fact

become obsolete before it has been tested.

Collaboration is the solution to put research

investments to work with a clear path

to commercialization.



intellectual property (IP)

so industry researchers can

verify results and perhaps

share the research internally

facilitating joint development

and closer collaboration.NI works with top wireless researchers to identify

relevant projects such as the development of fifth

generation wireless technologies, or 5G. The development

and ultimately the deployment of these 5G technologies

are critical to alleviate the network capacity burdens

created by the rapid adoption of smartphones. Using

graphical system design, researchers map new algorithms

derived from simulation to the hardware prototype to

reduce potential iteration cycles. Important project touch

points include the IP to be developed, training on the tools

and technologies of the platform, and managing the project

with clear responsibilities assigned to the participants.

With any wireless research exploring new ways to

increase capacity, there is no shortage of commercial

companies interested in the outcome of these projects,

and industry researchers may choose to be involved at

different levels. University research may be several years

ahead of commercial investment, and commercial

companies must invest wisely. Corporations can efficiently

monitor new ideas and technologies or collaborate

immediately to explore clear paths to commercialization

with joint development.

Top Wireless Research and Collaboration

An example of a joint collaboration between industry

and academia is a recently completed project between

the University of Utah, Idaho National Labs (INL), and

National Instruments. Professor Behrouz Farhang is

investigating new techniques for reusing the spectrum

required for future 5G networks to increase network

capacity and coverage and potentially alleviate the

inevitable bandwidth crunch predicted by industry analysts.

INL is developing a testbed to be used by commercial

companies to verify spectrum sharing products. INL,

the University of Utah, and National Instruments teamed

together to prototype some of Farhangs ideas in response

to President Obamas 2010 directive on increasing network

capacity and expanding broadband wireless coverage to

98 percent of Americans.

Together with National Instruments, Farhang and INLdeveloped a new technique for spectrum sharing and

reuse that has been tested and improved with INLs

direction. The prototype system built with NI LabVIEW

system design software, NI PXI, NI FlexRIO, and Ettus

Research RF technology received one of R&D Magazines

prestigious top 100 technology awards for 2012. Not only

has the system been effectively deployed at INL, but a

future roadmap for evolving the technology using cognitive

radio concepts is in the definition phase and is actively in

the prototyping stage.

Closer Collaboration Using a Common Platform

The relationship between academia and corporate research

requires a clear framework to enhance success. Results,

sooner than later, should be prioritized along with definitive

timeframes for deliverables and measures for success.

Prototyping naturally addresses these challenges by

delivering a working system that demonstrates a new

concept to provide a clear objective. The collaboration

between the University of Utah, INL, and National Instruments

demonstrates how research can start in the university and

extend into the commercial domain as working prototypes

achieve actionable results. National Instruments and the

graphical system design approach provide a system design

platform that offers the bridge to expedite wireless research

and empower commercial companies to capitalize on

industry research.

Watch a video of the research in action at

ni.com/newsletter/nsi2408.

James Kimery [email protected]

James Kimery is the director of product marketing for RF,

Communications, and Software Defined Radio at National Instruments.


28/3228 ni.com

Introduction to Windows

Presentation Foundation

In recent years, sophisticated consumer products such

as smartphones have elevated the standard for what is

considered a good software user experience. Given that UI

expectations will continue to grow, developers must find

ways to incorporate better design, multitouch capabilities,

and advanced graphics into their desktop application UI

to meet mounting demands. Prior to WPF, anything more

advanced than a WinForms GUI would require stitching

together multiple Windows technologies, making

development lengthy and difficult.

To meet such challenges, Microsoft created Windows

Presentation Foundation (WPF) as a premier technology

for building Windows client applications with immersive

and intuitive user experiences. This UI framework is a

subset of the .NET framework and was first introduced

as part of .NET 3.0 to help developers meet increasing

expectations in the experience and usability of softwareapplications. WPF combines the application UI, 2D and

3D graphics, documents, and multimedia into one single

framework to help .NET developers create rich and

interactive applications. The framework facilitates the

creation of high-quality UIs that stand out among competitors

and help software operators accomplish their tasks faster.

WPF also provides developers with the tools they need

to more rapidly iterate and reach a better quality UI in a

shorter amount of time.

WPF is similar to its predecessor Windows Forms, but

differs fundamentally in that it builds on top of DirectX,

a technology that originally focused on multimedia and

game programming. This adds the ability to implement

advanced visuals such as animated graphics, videos, or

immersive 3D environments as well as take advantage

of hardware acceleration when it is available.

The WPF programming model is similar to ASP.NET web

development with the code behind approach. It should

also be noted that WPF was not created to replace Windows

Forms for every application because there are still cases

where Windows Forms are adequate. Rather, WPF will

continue to grow in popularity as a modern UI design tool

and must be considered for any application that needs a

richer user experience.

Separation of Design and Business

Logic Through XAML

The WPF framework lets developers decouple visual

behavior from the underlying program logic through

the eXtensible Application Markup Language (XAML)

pronounced zammel. XAML is a new language that

provides a declarative model for application programming.

With this new markup, UIs can be defined without the need

to program, which is similar to creating an HTML web page

Like Windows Forms, WPF forms are built using the

interactive designer to drag and drop items on the UI and

customize in the properties box. Unlike Windows Forms

applications for which the designer generates code in ANS

C# or Visual Basic .NET (VB .NET) to create controls on the

form, the interactive designer generates a XAML script in

a WPF application.

Microsoft WPF:The Future of .NET UI Design

Developers View

Application users can easily interpret data

correctness using interactive WPF graph controls.

NI introduces a new suiteof Measurement Studio user

interface controls for the next

generation of GUI design.



With XAML, developers can create a

workflow where separate parties can

work on the UI and the business logic of

an application, potentially using different

tools. For example, a graphics designer

or usability expert can specify how a UIshould look and interact using a tool

such as Microsoft Expression Blend.

Then a developer can import that XAML

description into a tool such as Microsoft

Visual Studio and write the C# or VB

.NET program logic. Because of this,

developers, graphics designers, and

usability testers can work in parallel with

quicker iteration to converge on a higher

quality UI faster than previous UI stacks

would allow.

Technical Features of WPF WPF provides a single, unified solution so that

creating and maintaining applications becomes

less expensive because programmers are required

to learn only a single framework.

WPF fully exploits the power of the graphics

processing unit on a system by offloading as

much work as possible to the hardware.

WPF features a multitouch interface that greatly

simplifies programming complex touch interactions. The vector-based rendering engine makes the

UI faster, scalable, and resolution independent.

Styles and templates allow for simplified reuse

of components and UI properties.

The WPF framework delivers a completely new

event-handling technology that uses a message

routing system, thus eliminating the need for

multiple message loops.

NI Measurement Studio WPF Controls for

Test and MeasurementWithin test and measurement applications, data collection is

followed by processing and visualization. The developer

must design an informative UI that helps software operators

easily manipulate an application and make important

decisions based on the data displayed to them.

The NI Measurement Studio suite of tools and class

libraries includes engineering-specific WPF controls such

as buttons, sliders, knobs, and switches that mimic the

look and behavior of physical lab instrumentation to

create an intuitive UI experience. Measurement Studio

WPF graphs and charts plot signal data so that an

operator can understand the trends, behavior, and

correctness of the systems being measured or tested.

This suite also includes gauges, meters, and scales to

represent numerical values so that the user can easily

interpret whether a value fits within expected limits.

Developers can use these tools and the Measurement

Studio signal processing libraries within the Microsoft

Visual Studio development environment alongside built-in

Microsoft WPF controls to quickly create and

ni newsletter

Documents