the latest generationof embedded systems can take your
TRANSCRIPT
ni.com
The Worldwide Publication for Graphical System Design l Third Quarter 2013
One Semester, One Device: Student Design Won’t Know What Hit ItPAGE 6
Tips and Tricks for Making That Tough Third-Order Intercept Measurement PAGE 10
Instrument Driver FPGA ExtensionsPAGE 20
3 Ways LabVIEW 2013 FPGA Helps You Develop Complex Test Applications Faster PAGE 26
The latest generation
of embedded systems
can take your designs
to the next level Page 3
The Worldwide Publication for Graphical System Design l Third Quarter 2013
3Third Quarter 2013
CONTENTS
3 NI CompactRIO Like You’ve Never Seen It Before
12 NI, LabVIEW, and LEGO: Teamwork for Education
19 Achieving Highest Power Density With a New Generation of Power Supplies
6 One Semester, One Device: Student Design Won’t Know What Hit It
13 Inspiring Student Innovation Through Competition
24 The Evolution of DAQ
9 Utilities Embrace Distributed Energy Production Using the NI Platform
14 LabVIEW 2013: All Systems. Go.
26 3 Ways LabVIEW 2013 FPGA Helps You Develop Complex Test Applications Faster
10 Tips and Tricks for Making That Tough Third-Order Intercept Measurement
16 NI CompactRIO—Redesigned. Reimagined. Remarkable.
28 Restoring and Improving Urban Infrastructure
Volume 25, Number 3 Third Quarter 2013
When National Instruments set out to reinvent
the CompactRIO platform with a completely
new set of underlying technologies, the first
requirement was to maintain compatibility
with the existing platform ecosystem and make
code portability a seamless part of the process.
The only other rule: improve everything.
NI introduced CompactRIO in 2004.
From the beginning, the platform was built
upon the NI LabVIEW reconfigurable I/O
(RIO) architecture, getting its brains from
NI LabVIEW system design software and
its power from a key mix of programmable
processors, FPGAs, and modular I/O. Since
then, NI has updated, expanded, and honed
the platform to include processing targets
with unparalleled clock rates, a variety of
Xilinx FPGAs from four different technology
generations, and more than 70 different I/O
modules. This combination of features gives
system designers with specific domain expertise
a consistent platform that makes it possible to
innovate fast and implement advanced systems
in a fraction of the time of custom design.
Engineers and scientists worldwide use
CompactRIO to solve challenging monitoring
and control applications such as suppressing
fires on cargo airplanes, generating electricity by controlling the flight of
tethered kites, and precisely stacking 20 tons of wet concrete. With all the
momentum behind it, fundamentally changing the CompactRIO platform is
not something that NI decided on a whim. Providing you with cutting-edge
technology, while protecting your previous investments in tools and existing
designs, is critical.
Performance From A to X: Integrating Cutting-Edge ARM and Xilinx TechnologiesThe latest addition to the platform, the NI cRIO-9068 device, is a software-designed
controller that NI built differently than any controller before it. NI R&D teams
re-examined every part of the controller’s design, from the core hardware
components to the fundamental operating system, and made sweeping changes
while maintaining two essential benefits: the familiar development experience
with LabVIEW and complete backward compatibility for existing code. Because
the controller is software-designed, you can use LabVIEW to implement custom
hardware design, firmware, and application software in the same single, powerful
development environment. Other embedded controllers use fixed-function hardware
and firmware and have limited support for vendor-defined application software.
Working closely with Xilinx, the new CompactRIO controller takes complete
advantage of the Zynq-7020 All Programmable System on Chip (SoC), which
combines a processor and FPGA fabric on the same silicon die. The result is a
controller that includes numerous benefits such as■■ A 667 MHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, which delivers four times
the performance of existing 8-slot CompactRIO systems in the value family
of devices
Stand on the Shoulders of Industry Giants Technology doesn’t slow down. Consider the opportunities for innovation if today’s systems
were built to anticipate, even look forward to, the next technology upgrade. At NIWeek 2013,
NI is announcing multiple new products that incorporate key technology partnerships and
prepare you to design systems you haven’t even thought of yet.
From the NI cRIO-9068 controller (page 3), to NI myRIO, a new hardware/software platform
for students (page 6), NI is making it possible to design systems in the workplace or the
classroom faster than ever before. Behind these two products is the LabVIEW RIO architecture,
a system blueprint that allows you to innovate immediately within a specific domain, rather
than trying to apply past systems to your present challenge.
With any new product NI creates, a priority is protecting your previous investments in
tools and existing designs. Why design a system from scratch when you don’t have to?
Using the graphical system design approach and a thriving community of users, partners, tools,
and IP, you can implement advanced control and monitoring systems in a fraction of the time
that you used to. With the best system design tools, and the knowledge of generations of
engineers before you, you are standing on the shoulders of the industry’s giants. With this
support, you have a very real opportunity to change history.
You and your teams need a single approach and flexible tools to optimize
systems for the future and harness the next technology breakthrough as
it happens. NI aims to help you adapt to changing needs over time while
optimizing performance and costs using the best available technology today.
Ray Almgren [email protected] President of Corporate Marketing at National Instruments
Executive Editor Ray Almgren
Editor in Chief Stacy Schmitt
Managing Editor Lacy Rohre
Associate Editors Laura Arnold, Joelle Pearson, Brittany Wilson
Contributing Editor Johanna Gilmore
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
Cover
You can’t tell just by looking at it, but the new NI cRIO-9068 controller represents a complete redesign of the CompactRIO platform to deliver improved performance and flexibility.
NI CompactRIO Like You’ve Never Seen It Before The latest CompactRIO device may look the same on the outside, but the controller has in fact been rebuilt from the ground up.
4 5Third Quarter 2013
Cover
Instrumentation Newsletter
or development expertise with support
for the Eclipse Development Environment.
Now, you can integrate code libraries into
LabVIEW Real-Time applications, or even
develop stand-alone executables interfacing
directly to a LabVIEW FPGA application.
Performance to Spare: Testing NI’s Own TechnologyYou can immediately see the advantages
of the new CompactRIO design in the
impressive performance improvement
for complex, real-world applications.
When NI tested a previous generation
controller, the NI cRIO-9074, and the new
NI cRIO-9068 controller side-by-side
running a control application benchmark
that performs a cubic spline trajectory
generation algorithm across 8 channels
with a 2 ms period, the results were
clear. The NI cRIO-9074 controller used
72 percent of its available processing
power while the NI cRIO-9068 controller
used just 11 percent.
NI also benchmarked the new
CompactRIO controller’s ability to
transfer data from I/O channels to a
real-time application, a task common in
monitoring systems. Each I/O channel’s
data stream consisted of 16-bit samples
transferred at 100 kHz. The NI cRIO-9074
used 46 percent of its available processor
power to stream 10 channels of I/O data
while the NI cRIO-9068 only needed
7 percent. This gives you significantly
more loop time to process data than ever
before in a value CompactRIO product.
A New Standard for Embedded System DesignThe new CompactRIO software-designed
controller is the most advanced, open,
and productive controller in the world.
The NI cRIO-9068 controller is a
culmination of the vision defined by NI
for CompactRIO nearly a decade ago,
and the vision we see for embedded
systems of the future. The real secret
to the newest CompactRIO controller
isn’t a single feature, it’s the ability to
seamlessly integrate numerous innovative
technologies to deliver a powerful and
flexible platform that’s ready to meet
tomorrow’s most demanding embedded
applications head on.
Match the features of the NI cRIO-9068
controller to your current systems at
ni.com/crio-9068.
Matt Spexarth [email protected] is an embedded systems senior product marketing manager at NI.
Asa Kirby [email protected] is an embedded systems product marketing manager at NI.
■■ Xilinx 7 Series FPGA fabric with
85,000 logic cells for custom timing,
triggering, and I/O or signal processing■■ 16 DMA channels to stream the
data you need■■ 220 digital signal processor
(DSP) slices■■ Extended operating temperature range
of -40 to 70 °C making the controller
ideal for harsh environment applications
While all of these technologies are
making their debut on the CompactRIO
platform in 2013, LabVIEW exposes
them via existing, familiar APIs. Your
existing applications can migrate to
the new controller and, with zero
code changes, take advantage of all
performance improvements.
LabVIEW RIO Architecture: Now With NI Linux Real-Time All CompactRIO systems are programmed
using LabVIEW, the LabVIEW Real-Time
Module, and the LabVIEW FPGA Module.
The NI cRIO-9068 controller is no different,
but under the hood, its real-time operating
system (RTOS) has changed. NI chose to
develop a new Linux-based RTOS to best
support the latest ARM-based processor
and give real-time application developers
increased flexibility.
To ensure the reliability and backward
compatibility of the new NI Linux
RTOS are secure, NI R&D invested over
60 years of effort into the product
development process. NI R&D included
deep regression testing, developed
applications in the same ways NI customers
do, implemented features to smooth
code portability between CompactRIO
systems, and carried out one of NI’s
most extensive early access programs.
The result is a development experience
that is indistinguishable from previous
CompactRIO systems, allowing you to
take full advantage of new features without
changing the way you develop and
design embedded systems.
NI Linux Real-Time gives you full
support for multiple network adapters
and an improved network stack, an
enhanced process scheduler, and an
advanced file system with automatic
data compression. For users familiar
with Linux, the vast ecosystem of
community-generated software is
accessible directly from LabVIEW.
NI Linux Real-Time also makes it
possible to reuse existing C/C++ code
“ Within 24 hours of receiving an NI cRIO-9068 controller, we ran our existing LabVIEW built application software without any problems. We were impressed by how easy the software transition between CompactRIO systems was, and by the incredible performance improvement of the new software-designed controller.”
–Bob Leigh, LocalGrid Technologies, NI Alliance Partner
The CompactRIO value family of systems delivers performance and flexibility at excellent prices.
The NI cRIO-9068 controller delivers a 6X reduction in processor utilization compared to the NI cRIO-9074 for a control application benchmark and data streaming tasks.
Control Application Benchmark(6X Improvement)
Streaming Task Benchmark(6X Improvement)
90
70
50
30
80
60
40
20
10
0
Proc
esso
r Util
izatii
on (p
erce
nt)
NI cRIO-9074NI cRIO-9068
Processor FPGA Logic Cells
Memory/Storage
Built-In Peripherals
Modular I/O Slots
Operating Temperature Range
cRIO-9068 667 MHz Dual-Core ARM
85,000 512 MB, 1 GB
Dual RS232, RS485, Dual 1Gbit/s ENET, USB
8 -40 to 70 ˚C
cRIO-9074 400 MHz PowerPC
46,080 128 MB, 256 MB
RS232, Dual 100Mbit/s ENET
8 -20 to 55 ˚C
cRIO-9073 400 MHz PowerPC
46,080 64 MB, 128 MB
RS232, 100Mbit/s ENET
8 -20 to 55 ˚C
cRIO-9076 400 MHz PowerPC
43,661 256 MB, 512 MB
RS232, 100Mbit/s ENET, USB
4 -20 to 55 ˚C
cRIO-9075 400 MHz PowerPC
24,051 128 MB, 256 MB
RS232, 100Mbit/s ENET
4 -20 to 55 ˚C
7Third Quarter 20136 ni.com
Using LabVIEW, students can take advantage of these
hardware features and create autonomous systems through a
custom API that allows students to begin programming with
configuration-based Express VIs and then graduate to more
complex modes of programming as they feel comfortable.
Students can also incorporate their knowledge of other software
by implementing C code or .m script on the LabVIEW block
diagram or by programming the dual-core ARM processor
completely in C/C++.
Additionally, NI myRIO ships with a predefined FPGA
personality that interprets some DIO as PWM, encoder input,
UART, SPI, and I2C. Students can get started with this I/O and
later customize it using the graphical LabVIEW FPGA interface
as needed.
Student ReadyKnowing that students typically have one semester to complete
projects, the NI design team defined the specs and features
for NI myRIO to accelerate student design.
Students can take their first measurement in a matter
of minutes after setting up NI myRIO. They can learn from
in-product tutorials as well as guided online video instruction
made specifically for them. Students can learn concepts that
are core to their engineering discipline and then use those
concepts to design real-world engineering systems—all on
one device, and all within one semester.
Comprehensive Teaching PlatformNI myRIO is a tool that spans both teaching and project work.
Educators are responsible for teaching students fundamental
concepts that culminate in the student’s ability to ultimately
do engineering in the real world. NI myRIO is built around NI’s
industry leading reconfigurable I/O (RIO) technology, but with
an educational focus. Students using NI myRIO will design
sophisticated systems in school and enter industry with the
distinct advantage of having experience with the tools of
the trade.
Additionally, NI has partnered with professors around the
globe to create courseware specifically for NI myRIO. From
controls and embedded courses to mechatronics and robotics,
the device is paired with courseware to ensure immediate
effectiveness in the classroom. The NI myRIO Project Essentials
Guide provides step-by-step instructions for connecting and
programming commonly used sensors and actuators. Students
can work independently on these projects and ensure that lab
time is spent innovating and perfecting their design rather
than determining how to use the tool.
Today’s market is flooded with solutions of varying prices
and capabilities, but only NI myRIO gives students exposure to
advanced industry-relevant technology that enables real-world
system design in one semester. While the tools of the past have
served the purpose of getting students a basic vocabulary that
allows them to get their first job, the next generation of engineers
will now learn on the same technology used in industry and
enter the workplace as experienced system designers,
innovation-ready from day one.
To learn more, visit ni.com/myrio.
Margaret Barrett [email protected] is an academic product manager for controls, robotics, mechatronics, and embedded hardware and software at NI.
Feature
Engineers know that building systems is a
daunting task and that time is the enemy when
completing complex projects. Engineering
students feel this same pressure in their final
semester when they are asked to draw on the
knowledge they have gained over four years to
create a real-world system in a matter of weeks.
Students are taught the core concepts
of controls and mechatronics, but aren’t
introduced to comprehensive system design
until these final year projects. The tools used
to teach these concepts often require a great
deal of time to program or lack the power to
implement sophisticated applications. Students
arrive at their final year design class with
imaginative ideas, but the tools made available
to them make it challenging to complete the
projects they envision in one semester.
As a tools provider, NI looks for ways to help close the gap. We believe
that an engineer’s tools shouldn’t stand in the way of innovation and that the
best approach to system design is through the use of a software platform that
seamlessly integrates with hardware. For years, NI has provided industry with the
tools of system design through the use of the NI LabVIEW graphical programming
platform. We accelerate discovery by combining hardware and software into
tools that engineers can use to build some of the most complex systems in the
world. Now it’s time to put the tools of system design in the hands of students.
Accelerating System DesignAt NIWeek 2013, National Instruments releases NI myRIO, a revolutionary
hardware/software platform that enables students to “do engineering” and
design real systems more quickly than ever before. Complete with the latest
Zynq all programmable system on a chip (SoC) technology from Xilinx,
NI myRIO boasts a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and an FPGA with
28,000 programmable logic cells, 10 analog inputs, 6 analog outputs, audio I/O
channels, and 40 lines of digital I/O. Designed and priced for the academic
user, NI myRIO also includes onboard WiFi, a 3-axis accelerometer, and several
programmable LEDs in a durable, enclosed form factor.
One Semester, One Device: Student Design Won’t Know What Hit It
The cutting-edge features of the new NI myRIO allow engineering students to complete complex senior design projects in just one semester.
Using LabVIEW, students can begin programming with Express VIs and then graduate to more complex modes of programming as they feel comfortable.
From controls and embedded courses to mechatronics and robotics, the NI myRIO device is paired with courseware to ensure effectiveness in the classroom.
Xilinx Zynq 7 Series FPGA and dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor User-defined LEDs
40 lines of digital I/O (SPI, I2C, UART, PWM, encoder)
Integrated WiFi
User-defined button
10 channels analog input, 6 channels analog output
Onboard 3-axis accelerometer
Two 34-pin headers
Stereo audio I/O
8 9Third Quarter 2013
Case Studies
Instrumentation Newsletter
In today’s economic climate, it is not feasible to continually
reinvest in the capital infrastructure of existing power grids as
demand changes. With the rapid pace of technology deployment
and the urgent adoption of renewable and distributed energy
sources to replace fossil fuels, the power grid must change
today and continue to adapt to meet new challenges.
To address these challenges, NI Alliance Partner LocalGrid
Technologies is demonstrating a project using decentralized
energy management technology with Toronto Hydro-Electric
System Limited (Toronto Hydro). The goal is to develop a
modernized grid with increased automated control at the
local level.
The challenges in building a microgrid or distribution
topology system are that each installation is different and
building the software for these systems from scratch is usually
prohibitively expensive. Therefore, for this project we chose the
NI cRIO-9068 for the LocalGrid Cell Controller, which collects and
processes data from remote devices on the feeder network,
and for the Cell Asset Node, which is used for distributed
energy resource integration, remote power quality monitoring,
and dispatch command management. We also used LabVIEW
to develop the LocalGrid eGridOS software to allow industry
experts and grid operators to read, understand, and even write
the application-specific algorithms deployed to in-field devices.
“Without the modular software and architecture developed
with LabVIEW software and the NI cRIO-9068, we could not
have built the modular, distributed, flexible system needed for
the modern microgrid at the price and performance required,”
said Bob Leigh, president and CEO of LocalGrid Technologies.
We standardized our design on the CompactRIO platform
because it is a highly modular, off-the-shelf, software-defined
controller that provides the I/O and processing flexibility we
need. Its ruggedness, flexibility and the productive LabVIEW
development environment, along with an incredible price-for-
performance specification, made CompactRIO a clear choice
compared to other controller options in the market.
Overall, the system architecture we designed has several
key benefits to microgrid and distributed grid applications.
First, utilities can recognize cost savings through deferred
capital investment by generating more power with existing
transformers and moving more power through assets in off
peak-hours. With detailed data on the behavior of the grid,
utilities can also make targeted asset investments based
on real needs to optimize growth management. Lastly, the
availability of real-time data, analysis, and autonomous control
actions can allow utilities to do more with existing assets to
isolate and correct faults and improve grid stability. Distributed
control and generation capabilities means the grid is potentially
less susceptible to point failures.
To read the full technical case study, visit
ni.com/newsletter/nsi3302.
Utilities Embrace Distributed Energy Production Using the NI Platform
“ The flexibility of the PXI architecture coupled with the capabilities of LabVIEW and the fantastic performance of NI RIO solutions helped us control an advanced deep cancer treatment facility based on hadrontherapy.”
–Fausto Distante, SIDeA, Silver NI Alliance Partner
Revolutionary Cancer Treatment Minimizes Damage to Healthy TissueAbout 90 percent of tumor treatment successes are due to
the efficacy of surgery and radiotherapy. The more familiar
forms of noninvasive cancer treatment, chemotherapy and
radiation, can have crippling effects on the human body. The
use of accelerated particle beams is a step toward developing
more targeted and effective cancer treatments that spare
healthy tissues from being damaged, which is critical when
cancer develops near vital organs in the body. The Italian
National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO) in
Pavia, Italy, is working on refining this technique.
Depending on the formation of each tumor, oncologists
must frequently adjust the physical characteristics of particle
beams to optimize the procedure, and this requires
a precise control system. By aiming the energetic
ionizing particles accurately at the targeted tumor,
less energy is deposited into the healthy tissue
surrounding the target tissue.
This complex treatment requires nearly
300 networked devices to control the machine
and access to the room itself. For secure access
to the treatment rooms during the emission of
nuclear radiation, a safety interlock system was
developed using the NI LabVIEW FPGA Module
and NI PXI hardware. The system to create and
control the actual particle beam requires Windows
user interfaces connected to real-time and
FPGA-based devices for control. LabVIEW system design
software simplified this problem by abstracting the
complexity of these multiple heterogeneous computing
devices in a single development environment.
Timing and synchronization are critical for safely creating and
controlling the beams. To meet the demanding 100 µs resolution
needs, a unique Ethernet-based messaging protocol was
developed using the LabVIEW Real-Time
Module and PXI. For the more strict 50 ns
resolution needs, we used a fiber-optic
network with dedicated PXI modules.
Directing the beam at the tumor
requires systems to prepare the beam
and then measure and control beam
intensity and position while distributing it
evenly across the tumor. These systems,
developed with LabVIEW and real-time
NI PXI and NI CompactRIO FPGA-based
hardware, measure beam intensity every microsecond and
beam position every 100 µs with 100 µm to 200 µm accuracy.
To watch a video of this hadrontherapy system in action, visit
ni.com/newsletter /nsi3301.
The ChallengeMaximizing the destruction of cancerous tumor cells while
minimizing healthy tissue damage in patients.
The SolutionUsing NI technology to advance a unique, more accurate form
of cancer treatment, hadrontherapy or proton therapy, where
accelerated particle beams target deep-seated cancer cells.
The ChallengePopulation growth, urban sprawl, and renewable
power generation are driving the need for a
decentralized power grid architecture.
The SolutionUsing an NI cRIO-9068 controller and LocalGrid eGridOS
software developed with NI LabVIEW software, utilities
can quickly and cost-effectively deploy microgrid solutions
that are modular and standards based.
The use of accelerated particle beams is a step toward developing more targeted and effective cancer treatments that spare healthy tissues from being damaged.
The Canadian National Exhibition includes an example of an urban wind turbine incorporated into a traditional power grid.
11Third Quarter 201310 ni.com
Instead, the best method to produce a clean two-tone signal is to use two signal
generators through a combiner. Here, source isolation is the key to a successful
IP3 measurement. Without sufficient source isolation, RF energy from one
source can leak into the other source.
The Importance of Source IsolationYou can use several methods to combine signals from two sources to produce
isolation sufficient for a tough IP3 measurement. One obvious requirement is to
choose a combiner with the best port-to-port isolation. In general, purely resistive
splitter/combiners enable only 6 dB to 12 dB of isolation. By contrast, Wilkinson
power combiners often produce the best isolation—usually offering 20 dB or better.
In addition to appropriately choosing the power combiner, you can further
isolate the two signal sources. One of the simplest approaches is to use an
isolator or directional coupler. Couplers and isolators frequently provide 30 dB
of directivity or greater. Along with a Wilkinson power combiner, a configuration
using directional couplers at both sources yields better than 50 dB of isolation
between sources.
With the two-tone source signal appropriately configured, the next step is
to analyze the intermodulation products of the stimulus signal to verify that the
intermodulation distortion (IMD) is sufficiently low. When using an RF signal
analyzer, squeezing out the last few decibels of dynamic range requires a basic
understanding of the receiver’s front end. With most RF signal analyzers, you
can adjust several settings to improve the IP3 floor of the instrument.
One such setting is RF attenuation, which you can usually control manually
or by adjusting the instrument’s reference level. This setting uses an RF step
attenuator to control the input level that the rest of the receiver chain sees. It
is called the mixer level. An easy way to determine if your RF signal analyzer
is contributing to IP3 or third-order intercept measurement error is to slowly
Ensure measurement accuracy in your next high-linearity IP3 measurements.
Engineers frequently perform third-order
intercept (IP3) measurements to better
understand the linearity of a device under
test. IP3 measurements at high-power levels
(+40 dBm and higher) are often some of the
most difficult measurements to make. One
reason for this difficulty is that to obtain an
accurate measurement, the third-order
distortion products of both the source and
signal analyzer must be smaller (ideally 20 dB
less) than the distortion products introduced by
the device under test (DUT). Given the difficulty
of making high-linearity IP3 measurements,
the following techniques can help you ensure
measurement accuracy.
When making an IP3 measurement, you
can start by producing a highly linear two-tone
source. Although a vector signal generator
in “multitone mode” is one way to produce
a two-tone signal, this solution usually does
not have sufficient distortion performance
for the most demanding IP3 measurements.
increase the front-end attenuation while observing third-order
intermodulation products. As you increase attenuation, you’re
effectively reducing the signal level at the first mixer and
thereby reducing distortion introduced in the instrument. If the
intermodulation products decrease in power as attenuation
increases, you can quickly deduce that your instrument is
contributing to the measurement error. However, if third-order
products remain constant with an increase in attenuation, you
can be certain that these intermodulation products are coming
from your DUT.
A second technique you can use to reduce the distortion
products inherent to the RF signal analyzer is IF signal
conditioning. To prevent clipping, you typically configure the
gain of the analyzer to use an IF power that is slightly less
than the full scale of the analog-to-digital converter (ADC).
You can improve the noise floor of the instrument by setting
a narrow IF bandwidth and increasing the IF power level.
To accomplish this, you have to space the distortion tones
so they exceed the bandwidth of the analyzer’s IF filter.
The figure above depicts an example of this implementation.
By filtering out the two-tone stimulus, you reduce the distortion
products internally generated by the ADC, which allows for a
more accurate IP3 measurement.
IP3 is an important figure of merit used by industry to
describe the linearity of a DUT, but it presents many challenges.
You need to carefully consider your measurement setup
requirements to generate a clean two-tone source with sufficient
isolation and configure the RF signal analyzer appropriately.
As devices continue to advance, you may have more difficulty
measuring IP3 and may need to invest in best-in-class instruments
to measure this sensitive but important specification.
To learn more about NI test products and solutions that
can help you meet your toughest measurement challenges,
visit ni.com/rf.
Nikhil Ayer [email protected] Nikhil is a product marketing manager for test systems at NI.
Tips and Tricks for Making That Tough Third-Order Intercept Measurement
This IP3 measurement setup shows unwanted transmissions from a lack of source isolation (denoted by the light blue and dark blue arrows.)
You can make more accurate IP3 measurements by optimizing the IF filtering in the NI PXIe-5665 vector signal analyzer.
NI PXIe-5665 VSADUT
NI PXIe-5652CW Source
NI PXIe-5652CW Source
IP3 Measurement Setup Including Unwanted Transmissions
Power Combiner
IP3 Measurements by Optimizing IF Filtering in the NI PXIe-5665 VSA
Frequency
80 dBc 90 dBc
Power
Frequency
Power
Test Techniques
12 13Third Quarter 2013
NI in Academia
NI, LabVIEW, and LEGO: Teamwork for EducationLEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 is the result of years of collaboration. NI sat down with Francois Xavier Albouy, head of LEGO Education Digital Delivery, to discuss what brings the companies together.
What about LabVIEW makes it an intuitive programming platform for students?Graphical programming is easily accessible, and it goes a long
way. VIs, or programming blocks (as we call them in EV3), are
available in palettes organized by functions, which simplifies
the discovery of needed functions.
On the programming canvas, blocks display all their inputs
and outputs. LabVIEW and EV3 provide contextual guidance.
For example, they show the data types using colors and shapes,
and allow users to set parameters using graphical interfaces
also called adorners. Parallel
programming is also made
simple thanks to the graphical
representation and the
powerful compiler.
With these features,
students save precious
time and can focus on the
challenge they want to solve.
Through an established
“Robotics for All Ages”
learning progression, LEGO Education and NI provide
educational robotic solutions that span from Kindergarten to
12th grade and into university. The platform engages students
and is easy to implement for teachers, and robotics is a premier
vehicle for hands-on delivery of technical concepts to students.
And it’s for everyone—robotics for all ages is now a reality.
Which EV3 features excite you most? All the features are carefully selected. In that sense, we are
excited by each of them. Features that enable reaching new
learning goals are our favorites. ■■ The advanced Math block empowers students to use
and better understand equations used to control their
robots’ behaviors.■■ The execution highlight and the probe will enable users
to learn about the debugging process. Loop interruption,
advanced calculation, and array data types will allow
advanced users to go further in programming and unleash
the EV3 programmable brick potential. ■■ The integrated content editor enables students and
educators to document their projects, create new
activities, and learn how to share and communicate
with the community. ■■ Data logging is a unique upgrade to the Education edition.
In addition to facilitating live monitoring of the sensors
values, the new Graph Programming feature makes data
logging much more interesting. Users can create zones
on the graphics that will make the robot react when
the curve enter a zone. This feature brings suspense,
excitement, and joy when reading graphs.
We are very happy that so many educators from all over
the globe gave us valuable input during the development
process, and we were able to incorporate much of that with
the help of NI.
For all of Albouy’s insights into the LEGO and NI partnership,
read the full interview at ni.com/legointerview.
Instrumentation Newsletter
Inspiring Student Innovation Through Competition Robots you can swallow, chess you can play with your eyes—
every year, students from around the world submit their
projects to the LabVIEW Student Design Competition for a
chance to win cash prizes and trips to NIWeek. This year’s
competition received more than 90 submissions that were
judged on both their originality and complexity.
National Instruments invests in several other forms of
healthy competition to encourage the next generation
of students to “do engineering.” NI is an avid sponsor of
students competing in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition
of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition and WRO
(World Robot Olympiad), which both allow kids to construct
robotics applications using NI products. Gearheads around the
globe take advantage of LabVIEW and NI Single-Board RIO
devices to get diagnostic data and to control engine
performance in the Formula SAE student design competition.
National Instruments continues its support of students and
the innovations that competition brings.
Learn more about NI student competitions
at ni.com/studentcompetitions.
LabVIEW EverywherePOWERED BY
From inexpensive medical devices to complex underwater autonomous vehicles, NI encourages students to engineer a better world using the LabVIEW.
It’s easy to talk about the fruits of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Seeing it in action is rare.
Recently, National Instruments followed three student groups who are sweeping FLL, FTC, and FRC competitions on a regional and national level. Through LabVIEW software’s intuitive interface and the approachable LEGO design, these school children are learning to master robotics before they can drive cars.
The side effects of this collaboration are the real highlights: Invitations to MIT or internships with SpaceX. Seeing how engineering comes alive—and falling in love with learning.
What could the FIRST program do for your school?
Get ideas and see the documentaries at poweredby.labview.com.
At this year’s FIRST Championship in St. Louis, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and NI announced the extension of their technology partnership through 2019.
This phase of the technology partnership centers around the use of the next-generation embedded robotics control platform called NI roboRIO, which is based on the NI LabVIEW reconfigurable I/O (RIO)
architecture. NI roboRIO is a rugged, reconfigurable controller that, when paired with NI LabVIEW system design software, makes it possible for FIRST teams to design complex systems faster than ever. Students will use NI roboRIO starting in the 2015 season of the FIRST Robotics Competition.
View the details at ni.com/first.
NI: Walking the STEM Walk
NI and FIRST Robotics Extend Partnership
ni.com/products Third Quarter 201314 15
Product In-Depth
Interact With Your System Using New Touch Panel ComputersNI touch panel computers (TPCs) now include the TPC-22xx
family, which can be deployed as human machine interfaces
(HMIs) in harsh industrial environments. These displays are the
first NI HMIs with an extended temperature range of -20 ºC to
60 ºC, allowing a wider range of application options. The
NEMA4- and IP65-certified TPC-22xx computers are available
in three sizes—6 in., 12 in., and 15 in.—and are functional
even in washdown conditions.
Built around a 1.33 GHz Intel Atom processor, these new
TPCs help you create complex and media-rich interfaces with
the reliability, flexibility, and extended support of the Windows
Embedded Standard 7 (WES7) OS. With WES7 Embedded
Enabling Features (EEFs), which are unique to the WES
product family, you can eliminate or manage disk corruption
during power failure or system crashes. When applied to a
specific use case, these features can increase the reliability
and fault tolerance of the entire system. Powered by LabVIEW,
these devices easily connect to other NI hardware such as
CompactRIO, PXI, DAQ, and vision devices through simple
network communication protocols such as TPC/IP.
Product: NI touch panel computersSource: ni.com/tpc
Make Smarter Machines With Vision Engineers are constantly looking for ways to cut development
and manufacturing costs without affecting quality and
throughput. Embedded systems and robots need information
about their environments, and machines must be more flexible,
higher performing, and smarter to meet today’s automation
requirements. Vision hardware and software help meet these
needs by gathering and analyzing visual data about the operating
environment inside or outside a machine. They can replace
statistical quality assurance with 100 percent inspection, which
increases quality while reducing the cost of returns and
mechanical jams caused by defective parts.
You can use vision technology to guide robots, develop
high-resolution medical imaging systems, and monitor a turbine
to ensure a repairman didn’t forget a wrench. The use cases
for which visual data can make a machine smarter are nearly
endless, and the NI LabVIEW 2013 Vision Development Module
provides new algorithms to help tackle these applications. The
new version includes object tracking, so you can automatically
track objects as they move within an image for machine vision
and intelligent surveillance. It also features improved vision
algorithms such as pattern matching and optical character
recognition (OCR) to increase performance in nonideal settings.
Vision is on the rise, and the LabVIEW Vision Development
Module can make your machine faster, safer, and smarter.
Product: LabVIEW 2013 Vision Development ModuleSource: ni.com/labview/vision
NI LabVIEW 2013 system design software is now available
to purchase or download for anyone with an active service
contract. It’s our best LabVIEW yet, with powerful new tools
that can help you develop systems with the latest technology.
This version’s added features will save development time thanks
to new documentation and debugging tools, better tools for
deploying systems, time-saving editor improvements, and more.
The new LabVIEW 2013 makes managing and developing
VIs even easier. Comments can now be attached to code, which
improves the readability of your block diagrams and ensures
notes never get misplaced. You can do this in one step: simply
click and drag the comment to the code it references.
Comment navigation is also easier across your entire
application. With the new bookmark manager window, you and
other developers can easily browse comments from a single
window and instantly jump to the appropriate portion of code,
to help you and your team stay organized during development.
Placing a hashtag in front of any word turns it into a bookmark,
such as #codeneeded, #bug, or #fixthis!
Improvements to web services and the LabVIEW Application
Builder make deploying your LabVIEW system simpler. Web
services have been redesigned to streamline deployment and
debugging in embedded systems, while the latest LabVIEW
Application Builder can now detect drivers and run-time engines
that should be included when creating a desktop installer.
Additionally, Wirebird Labs, an NI Alliance Partner has released
Deploy, a LabVIEW add-on that helps streamline releasing
systems to customers. You can download and install third-party
add-ons like Deploy quickly since the Tools Network (powered
by JKI VI Package Manager) is installed with 2013.
The 2013 release also includes several highly requested
features from the community, including mouse scroll-wheel
events, event structure improvements, improved graphical diff
capabilities, and more. You can use its overhauled core, LabVIEW
Real-Time Module, LabVIEW FPGA examples, and new sample
projects as a strong springboard for any new undertaking.
Anyone with an active service contract has access
to an expanded library of self-paced online training courses,
including six new advanced online LabVIEW courses on topics
like object-oriented programming, advanced architectures,
software engineering, FPGAs, and more.
Product: LabVIEW 2013Source: ni.com/labview
LabVIEW 2013: All Systems. Go.
LabVIEW 2013 enables efficient system design with the latest technologies.
The NI LabVIEW 2013 Vision Development Module features enhancements such as pattern matching, which supports matching on low-contrast images.
NI TPC-22xx touch panel computers feature a variety of sizes to meet your application requirements.
16 17Third Quarter 2013ni.com
Smart Grid Analyzer
Redesigned. Reimagined. Remarkable.
LabVIEW
NI CompactRIO
The new NI cRIO-9068 software-designed controller features improved performance, openness, flexibility, and connectivity. This means that you can use software to design any embedded control and monitoring system. The CompactRIO platform is ideal for broad applications from smart grid analyzers to power inverter controllers to engine control units. With the newest controller, NI is fundamentally changing embedded system design, again.
Robotics Control System
Industrial Controller
Asset Monitoring System
Multiaxis Motor Drive and Controller
Smart Machine Controller
Programmable Automation Controller
Power Inverter Controller
Engine Controller
Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A9 Processor
100+ Available C Series I/O Modules
Open-Source NI Linux Real-Time OS
Security and Ruggedness
LabVIEW System-Level Design Software
High-Throughput Data Communication
C/C++ Code Migration and Development
NI LabVIEW RIO Architecture
Xilinx Artix-7 Series FPGA Fabric
ni.com/crio-9068
Special Focus
Product In-Depth
Achieving Highest Power Density With a New Generation of Power SuppliesNI PXIe-4112/13 power supplies use an innovative switching
architecture to offer two 60 W channels in a single PXI Express
slot. This is the highest power density available in PXI, and you
can combine the two channels to achieve a single 120 W channel.
The high power density helps test system designers save
expensive rack space and simplifies their tasks by eliminating the
need to mix multiple instrumentation form factors. NI PXIe-4112/13
power supplies are tightly integrated with NI LabVIEW system
design software to provide a powerful combination of hardware
and software to help engineers dramatically reduce development
time and improve system scalability for a wide range of
applications, from aerospace and defense to automotive and
component test.
Product: NI PXIe-4112/13Source: ni.com/powersupplies
Are You in the Business of Building Products or Building Test Executives? Test management software is a critical component of an
automated test system. It typically includes a development
environment for test engineers, UIs for assembly line operators,
and results logging for later review in reports and databases.
By using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)
test management software such as NI TestStand,
you can avoid the long-term maintenance costs of
custom solutions and instead focus on building
better products. A key advantage of NI TestStand
is that you can easily reuse existing test code
because it has built-in integration for test code
written in NI LabVIEW, NI LabWindows™/CVI,
C++, C#.NET, and a number of other languages.
With nearly 15 years in the market,
NI TestStand 2013 offers many new features
that can improve your test times and overall
workflow. With the new release, you can simplify
the management of existing deployments
through installer patching, use more system
memory with Large Address Aware support,
and take advantage of improved integration
with both LabVIEW and .NET languages.
Product: NI TestStand 2013Source: ni.com/teststand
Third Quarter 2013 19ni.com/products18
Development TimeTime Saving WithCOTS Test Executive
Development Time (in Days)
DevelopmentEnvironment
Custom Operator Interface
Sequence Execution Engine
Database Logging
Report Generation
User Management
Parallel Testing
Unit (Serial Number)Tracking
Interface toCoding Languages
Deployment Tool
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Localization
Documentation
Need to get a data-logging system up and running in minutes?
Chameleon software developed by Gold NI Alliance Partner
PVI Systems is an intuitive configuration-based DAQ tool,
powered by NI LabVIEW system design software, for sensor
measurements with the NI CompactDAQ platform. This new,
stand-alone software has a simple user interface that you can use
to easily build a system to acquire static and dynamic signals
without any programming. Chameleon software is designed to
work with a variety of NI CompactDAQ chassis, including the new
stand-alone system. This system includes a built-in dual-core
Intel processor and onboard storage to deliver high-performance
processing and logging in a single, portable chassis.
Available on the LabVIEW Tools Network, PVI Systems’ new
software application can be used to acquire and log mixed
measurements including voltage, current, vibration, strain, and
temperature. You can view live data, review logged data, and
export data for analysis in LabVIEW or NI DIAdem software.
Additional features include calculated channels, user-defined
alarms, and triggered acquisition from analog or digital signals.
With Chameleon, you can configure single-chassis systems or
combine and synchronize multiple chassis for high-channel-count
applications. Chameleon has a proven track record with
Northrop Grumman Company and Raytheon BBM Technologies
for applications such as vibration monitoring, impact testing, and
jet engine testing.
Product: Chameleon for NI CompactDAQ Source: ni.com/newsletter/nsi3304
The NI cDAQ-9188XT is an 8-slot NI CompactDAQ Ethernet
chassis designed for distributed or remote measurements in
rugged environments. With a temperature range of -40 °C to
70 °C and 50 g shock and 5 g vibration operating specifications,
you can now take high-quality streaming measurements in
industrial environments. The chassis has also been tested and
certified to operate in Class 1, Division 2, and ATEX hazardous
locations. The NI CompactDAQ platform delivers high-speed
data and ease of use in a flexible, mixed-measurement system.
The rugged chassis also has native integration with
NI LabVIEW system design software, which offers hardware-
abstracted DAQ, extensive signal processing libraries, and user
interface controls built for measurement data visualization and
storage. Additionally, the chassis is the first in the NI CompactDAQ
product line to offer an onboard watchdog with defined safe
states to help protect your tests and equipment. With 10 chassis
options, three buses, and over 50 C Series modules featuring a
wide range of connectivity and I/O, you can use NI CompactDAQ
and LabVIEW to solve your application with reliable modular
hardware and software options in demanding environments.
Product: NI cDAQ-9188XTSource: ni.com/info and enter nsi3303
Chameleon Software Simplifies Data Logging for Structural Test Applications
Take High-Quality Measurements in Rugged Environments With the New NI CompactDAQ Chassis
You can download PVI Systems’ new software application from the LabVIEW Tools Network to log mixed measurements including voltage, current, and vibration.
The NI cDAQ-9188XT is a rugged 8-slot Ethernet chassis that delivers the measurement quality and flexibility of NI CompactDAQ to more demanding environments.
NI PXIe-4112 NI PXIe-4113
2 channels 2 channels
60 V at 1 A per channel 10 V at 6 A per channel
5.2 kS/s sample rate 5.2 kS/s sample rate
ni.com/products Third Quarter 201320 21
Product In-Depth
Increase Processing Capability With the New 7 Series NI FlexRIO FPGA ModuleIntroduced during NIWeek 2013, the NI PXIe-7975R is the
latest addition to the NI FlexRIO FPGA platform. Built on the
NI LabVIEW reconfigurable I/O (RIO) architecture, NI FlexRIO
combines high-performance modular I/O, powerful Xilinx FPGAs,
and PC-based technologies into a platform that is ideally suited
for onboard processing and real-time analysis. This new series of
modules adds extra features by incorporating the
new Kintex-7 FPGAs from Xilinx, allowing for more
parallel processing, more complex algorithms, and
faster data transfer rates.
The 7 Series FPGAs are optimized for streaming
and digital signal processing applications. Thanks to
its PCI Express x4 Gen 2 data bus, the new NI FlexRIO
can transfer data back to a host processor at sustained
rates of more than 1.6 GB/s: twice as fast as its
predecessor. This FPGA module has four times the
on-board DRAM as the previous generation, for a
total of 2 GB, and the interface to that DRAM is
almost three times as fast. And finally, users can
access about twice the internal memory and digital
signal processing slices as before. Overall, the
NI PXIe-7975R is an example of how the LabVIEW
RIO architecture empowers engineers to take direct
advantage of the technological advances made
possible by Moore’s law.
The new NI FlexRIO modules take advantage
of the highest performance I/O adapter modules
available from NI to help you tackle embedded
applications such as software defined radio, medical
imaging, signal intelligence, and scientific research.
When you design a system, you face not only
increasing algorithm complexity and data throughput
requirements but also ever more stringent time-to-market
requirements to stay competitive. The unique combination
of powerful hardware and productive software makes
NI FlexRIO the ideal architecture to design, prototype, and
deploy high-performance applications.
The newest NI FlexRIO FPGA modules can also be used
to augment the capabilities of test systems. As digital interfaces
evolve, FPGAs are increasingly used to achieve “protocol aware”,
real-time communication with devices under test. And using
NI peer-to-peer streaming technology allows NI FlexRIO modules
to act as coprocessors and take advantage of the parallelism
of FPGAs to accelerate calculations from the host controller to
lower test times.
NI FlexRIO offers the most flexible and productive way to
harness the most powerful FPGAs available. The introduction
of the NI PXIe-7975R takes this architecture to the next step
of evolution.
Product: NI PXIe-7975R moduleSource: ni.com/flexrio
Merge Compatibility and Flexibility With Instrument Driver FPGA ExtensionsNI introduced the world’s first software-designed instrument, the
NI PXIe-5644R vector signal transceiver (VST), at NIWeek 2012.
In addition to the small size and high performance of the RF
hardware, the VST was revolutionary in that end users could
program the device’s FPGA through NI LabVIEW system design
software. This approach greatly increases flexibility beyond
vendor-defined instruments and better meets application
demands with additional FPGA-based processing and control. NI
later added VST hardware support to its full-featured NI-RFSA
and NI-RFSG instrument drivers for maximum compatibility
with existing applications as well as cellular and wireless
measurement software. This instrument driver support required
a fixed, precompiled FPGA personality, which introduced a
trade-off between maximum compatibility through NI-RFSA and
NI-RFSG programming and maximum flexibility when designing
a completely custom instrument in the LabVIEW FPGA Module.
NI is now introducing instrument driver FPGA extensions,
a new feature of the NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG instrument drivers
you can use to customize the VST FPGA capabilities in LabVIEW
while preserving the full feature set of the instrument driver APIs.
An abstraction layer in the FPGA source code implements
the default FPGA capabilities required by the NI-RFSA/RFSG
API while exposing the relevant control and data signals
necessary to enhance automated test applications. Test
engineers can add application-specific FPGA IP to the base
VST FPGA design and then independently control this IP from
their host programs in parallel with NI-RFSA/RFSG API calls.
This architecture enables a variety of application-specific
enhancements that take advantage of the parallelism, low-latency
control, and processing performance of the VST FPGA. These
enhancements include custom and/or novel instrument capabilities
such as frequency mask triggering; better system integration
through hardware-timed device under test (DUT) control and the
deterministic triggering of other instruments; accelerated test
throughput with FPGA-based measurements and coprocessing;
and even closed-loop or protocol-aware tests in which the
instrumentation hardware responds to the DUT in real time.
You can download precompiled FPGA personalities that use
instrument driver FPGA extensions from ni.com/vstgettingstarted.
These include the necessary host examples and application IP that
demonstrate how to take advantage of the FPGA enhancements.
You can also register to participate in the Instrument Driver
FPGA Extensions Early Access Program so you can build your
own custom VST personalities, which are compatible with
NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG. Pick and choose from application IP on
ni.com or build your own to create a customized, software-
designed instrument tailored to your automated test application.
To download personalities for NI VSTs that use NI-RFSA
and NI-RFSG FPGA extensions, go to ni.com/vstgettingstarted
and select “Download examples and application IP for the VST.”
Product: NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG Instrument Driver FPGA extensions
Source: ni.com/vstgettingstarted
The NI-RIO API provides host-to-FPGA communication for both the NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG instrument drivers and the application-specific IP.
Application IP Host VIs
NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG Host API
Host
Co
ntr
ol a
nd
Dat
a
FPGANI-RFSA and NI-RFSG FPGA API Abstraction
Co
ntro
l and
Data
Application IP FPGA VIs
NI RIO
The new NI FlexRIO modules exemplify how LabVIEW RIO architecture empowers engineers to utilize the technological advances made possible by Moore’s law.
Product In-Depth
Tough Project? Don’t Go It Alone
Have you ever wandered the aisles of a home improvement store
searching for the right tool for a project? You may only need a
hammer and nails to hang a portrait, but what about adding a
bathroom? A home expansion project probably needs more
than just the right tools; it needs a professional.
At National Instruments, we know our customers have big
projects that often require more than just a hammer and nails,
which is why we have a vast network of trusted partners that
can help your team accomplish its goal. Additionally, you can
use our directory to locate a professional with the exact skills
for the job.
With the Alliance Partner Directory, you can
1 Search based on your location using a map and location
drop-down
2 Find Alliance Partners within your specific industry or
application area
3 Narrow your search by the service you need (training,
consultation, or integration)
4 Find companies with NI and industry certifications and
extensive NI product knowledge
5 Read what other customers are saying in reviews
6 Download examples of solutions our Alliance Partners
have delivered
7 Request that an Alliance Partner contact you directly
Find the assistance you need today by searching the
NI Alliance Partner Directory at ni.com/findapartner.
Camera Network Simplifies Camera Selection ProcessThe proliferation of machine vision in test, automation, and
embedded systems requires engineers and scientists to
integrate cameras into their intelligent systems more frequently.
In many cases, the system designer does not have in-depth
machine vision knowledge, and the large number of cameras
to choose from can be overwhelming. To reduce the time and
effort spent searching for machine vision cameras compatible
with NI hardware and software, you can now use the new
NI Camera Network.
The Camera Network is an online camera directory that is
searchable by parameters such as resolution, bus type, frame
rate, manufacturer, and much more to find the best fit for your
application. The Camera Network also provides compatibility
reports or camera files for each camera listed in the directory
as well as a list of compatible NI hardware. NI has partnered
with industry-leading camera manufacturers like Allied Vision
Technologies, Basler, and e2v to ensure quality cameras are
tested for compatibility and included in the directory, giving
you peace of mind in your camera selection.
Product: NI Camera NetworkSource: ni.com/cameras
Green Engineering Grant Program Accelerates the Advancement of Clean Energy TechnologiesTo help support and further advance smart grid and clean
energy technology, NI launched the Green Engineering Grant
Program in January 2010. This program gives engineers and
scientists of start-up companies and research groups around
the world easier access to the most advanced graphical
system design tools for addressing today’s toughest energy
challenges. Now in its fourth year, the Green Engineering
Grant Program has helped over 50 companies create and
develop innovative monitoring and control solutions for
distributed energy generation, energy storage, electrical
vehicles, and grid-tied power electronics control systems.
If your next project relates to clean energy or electrical power,
it might be a great fit for the Green Engineering Grant Program.
Apply for the program by November 1 at
ni.com/green-engineering-grant.
Green Engineering GrantNational Instruments
Third Quarter 2013 23ni.com/products22
Alliance Partner Network
The NI Camera Network offers an easy way to find NI-compatible machine vision cameras for your applications.
The Alliance Partner Directory allows NI customers to search by location, industry, or application, and view specific information about each Alliance Partner.
NI AND THE EVOLUTION OF DAQ
Yale University (1992)Challenge: Automate the laboratory study of the acute sensitivity of the sense of smell. Solution: An easy-to-use DAQ system based on LabVIEW and the NI NB-MIO-16 DAQ board that stimulates, records, and analyzes the responses from fruit fly olfactoryreceptor neurons. Boeing (1995)Challenge: Monitor and analyze Space Shuttle Main Engine Controller performance during hot-fire simulations.Solution: A Macintosh IIfx-based system that captures relevant engine parameters during simulations by using LabVIEW and the NI NB-DIO-32F digital I/O board to acquire data within 3.7 ms and store it to a 500 MB data drive for analysis.
AT&T (1998)Challenge: Monitor distributed telecommunications transmissions for quality assurance, troubleshooting, and research for future systems. Solution: Remotely accessible systems based on LabVIEW and the NI PC-DIO-24 digital I/O board that you can access at any time from corporate headquarters to extract the most important network performance data.
Ford (2006)Challenge: Measure in-vehicle temperatures during Ford Motor Proving Grounds test-drives to ensure vehicles meet or exceed design specifications. Solution: In-Vehicle Data Acquisition System based on LabVIEW and SCXI that can replace bulky, complicated, fixed-functionality data loggers and that is modular and flexible enough to measure 400 thermocouple channels yet expand to include velocity and oil pressure inputs.
North American Eagle (2013)Challenge: Collect measurements including stress, strain, video, pressure, and velocity in the supersonic North American Eagle vehicle despite extremely harsh conditions. Solution: A DAQ system based on LabVIEW and the NI cDAQ-9188XT rugged 8-slot Ethernet chassis to provide reduced setup time and a simplified interface while ensuring accurate measurements in extreme conditions.
National Instruments customers have used data acquisition to solve some of the world’s most demanding engineering challenges for the last quarter century. NI’s DAQ platform began with the launch of a plug-in DAQ board that featured NI LabVIEW system design software. LabVIEW revolutionized the DAQ market by replacing much of the functionality of box instruments while providing additional flexibility and analysis. Today’s systems are modular, distributed, and intelligent, making it possible for engineers and scientists to get accurate data from anywhere and transform it into decisions faster. NI continues to invest in DAQ systems to meet the changing demands of the latest applications.
Applications Through the Years
NI CompactDAQ 9188XT (2013)NI NB-MIO-16 (1988)
24
Follow the evolution at ni.com/daq.
1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013to date
90,000,000
10,000,000
50,000,000
90 Million DAQ Channels Sold and Counting 1988–2013
NI CompactDAQ Goes Stand-Alone
Windows or Real-Time OS
Dual-Core processor
Up to 24-Bit, Up to 1 MS/s
0 °C to 55 °C Operating
Temperature
LabVIEW and NI-DAQmx
1988NuBus1986
LabVIEW 1.0
1999ISA
1996E Series
2003 R Series
1995PCI
1998PXI
2004M Series
2006PCI Express,
NI CompactDAQ
2009X Series,
WSN
2011 1-Slot
NI CompactDAQ
2008 NI WiFi DAQ, Ethernet DAQ
2010USB X Series,
SC Express
2012NI CompactDAQ
Stand-Alone Chassis
2013NI CompactDAQ rugged Ethernet
chassis
Changing the Game
255
26 27Third Quarter 2013
Developer’s View
Instrumentation Newsletter
3 Ways LabVIEW FPGA Helps You Develop Complex Test Applications FasterLarge IP libraries, a high-fidelity simulator, and easier debugging match the new LabVIEW FPGA to the complexity of modern devices.
Taking advantage of FPGA-based hardware in your test systems
provides a number of benefits ranging from low-latency device
under test (DUT) control to high-performance signal processing.
For years, developers have used the NI LabVIEW FPGA Module
to incorporate FPGAs into their systems to reduce test times
and increase overall measurement performance. More recently,
the software platform has evolved to address some of the most
complex applications, including software-defined RF instrumentation.
Through this evolution, LabVIEW FPGA has integrated
cutting-edge technologies while maintaining a highly productive
software environment that test developers use to more efficiently
and effectively design, simulate, and debug high-throughput
test systems. With these enhancements, the latest version of
LabVIEW FPGA offers a significant advantage over other FPGA
design tools.
Graphical AbstractionTraditional development for complex test systems requires
using low-level software tools such as a hardware description
language (HDL), which can be tedious and time consuming.
To help developers deliver these systems faster, LabVIEW
FPGA provides a graphical programming language that
abstracts complex items such as I/O interfaces and data
communication. For example, LabVIEW FPGA provides
graphical configuration-based blocks for DMA transfer, so you
can quickly stream data between an FPGA device and host.
Because LabVIEW FPGA abstracts I/O, you can quickly
interface to and customize some of the highest performance
hardware available for real-time signal processing and control,
including NI FlexRIO and the world’s first vector signal
transceiver (VST).
Ecosystem of Reusable Code To increase your software development productivity when
designing with FPGAs, efficient code reuse is imperative.
Whether you are building an application from scratch or making
modifications to a prewritten personality through the new
instrument driver FPGA extensions, you can benefit from a
large ecosystem of reusable code blocks, often referred to as
intellectual property or IP. LabVIEW FPGA IP blocks are available
in the product and on the web at ni.com/ipnet. From within
LabVIEW, you can access IP developed by NI and Xilinx for
basic functions such as accumulators, digital signal processing
(DSP) algorithms, high-throughput math, and industry-specific
IP like video decoding. When programming with in-product IP,
you can simply drag and drop the IP block onto your LabVIEW
FPGA block diagram and configure parameters through a
configuration dialog.
If you’re interested in reusing IP written in VHDL or
Verilog, you can use tools such as the IP Integration Node
or the Component-Level IP (CLIP) Node to integrate third-party
IP into your application. With these tools, you can execute IP
either inline or in parallel with your LabVIEW FPGA application.
No matter which source you use for IP—whether it’s LabVIEW
FPGA, Xilinx, or third-party—LabVIEW serves as the glue of your
system, bringing everything together into a single application.
Rapid Algorithm DevelopmentWhile code reuse can save you a tremendous amount of
development time, some applications require very specific
IP that may not be available elsewhere. When you must
design your own IP, it is imperative that you catch as many
implementation errors as possible before compilation. The
latest version of LabVIEW FPGA is fully equipped with built-in
simulation capabilities and debugging tools, including several
new features to further enhance the experience.
When developing a block of IP in LabVIEW FPGA, such as
a filter, you can quickly verify the functionality by running it on
the desktop where you have access to hundreds of math and
analysis libraries. Additionally, you can debug the algorithm
using core LabVIEW debugging features such as highlight
execution, breakpoints, and probes.
When you’re ready to verify the algorithm further with bit
true simulation, you can change the execution of your VI from
the desktop to the built-in FPGA simulator with just one click.
NI has improved the fidelity of the built-in simulator over the
past few years, so you can spend more time in simulation
prior to compilation. The new Waveform Probe feature in
LabVIEW 2013 FPGA improves the simulation experience by
giving you the ability to view signals in relation to each other
with history, all within a single waveform graph.
Finally, you can validate your LabVIEW FPGA IP by creating
a test bench and comparing the results to the output of the
desktop IP. The same test bench can interface with IP when
executing in the simulator, and when executing in hardware.
With a highly integrated development environment, a large
ecosystem of IP libraries, a high-fidelity simulator, and new
debugging features, LabVIEW 2013 FPGA helps test
developers more efficiently and effectively design test systems
to address the increasing complexity of modern devices.
For more information, visit ni.com/fpga.
Meghan Kerry [email protected] Meghan is a product marketing manager for platform software at NI.
LabVIEW FPGA increases productivity by abstracting complex items such as DMA.
LabVIEW FPGA users can program their IP with both graphical and HDL syntax.
28 29Third Quarter 2013ni.com
Restoring and Improving Urban InfrastructureMeasuring the Impact of Growing Populations, Earthquakes, and Pop Concerts on Today’s Structures
According to the American Society of Civil Engineers,
the average grade for various categories of US
infrastructure in 2005 was a “D.” With a report
card like this, today’s engineers face the challenge
of restoring and improving infrastructure to support
civilization, especially in high-density urban areas
where the daily stress of many residents wears
on buildings, roads, and other structures. Expected
deterioration of urban infrastructure isn’t the only
challenge engineers must overcome; protection
against natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and
accidents must also be considered as we improve
our structures.
National Instruments customers are addressing
this challenge worldwide every day through the
restoration and preservation of functional but
aging structures as well as irreplaceable historical
monuments. Innovative solutions are being developed
using NI technology to continuously monitor the health of our
infrastructure and ensure safety as well as historical preservation.
Restoration: Key to Saving Historical Infrastructure
Fiber-Optic Strain Gages Protect Restoration of Milan CathedralLocated in Milan, Italy, the Duomo di Milano is one of the
largest and most impressive Gothic structures in the world.
Construction of the elaborate Duomo started in 1386 and
continued for more than five centuries. In 1762 a prominint
feature of the Duomo, the main spire or Guglia Maggiore, was
erected at a height of 108.5 m and topped with the gold
Madonnina statue of the Virgin Mary. In 2010 the Veneranda
Fabbrica del Duomo, the organization responsible for preserving
the cathedrals undertook the task of restoring the marble of
the main spire, which was degraded by weather and pollution.
This complex restoration required the construction of a
massive scaffolding structure that completely enveloped the
main spire. The scaffolding weighed more than 90 tons, rested
on the base of the cupola, was freestanding, and could not
make any contact with the spire walls. Concern over the
additional weight of the scaffolding on the base of the cupola,
along with the increased risk of higher wind loads, led the
Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo to contact the Politecnico di
Milano to develop a reliable, continuous monitoring system
that monitored both the spire and the scaffolding. The
Politecnico di Milano is a top technical university in Italy
familiar with the deployment of many structural health
monitoring systems based on NI platforms.
Preservation: Increasing the Life of Today’s Most-Used Structures
University of Nevada, Reno Researchers Move a Bridge to the Lab to Measure Earthquake Effects Traditionally to test a bridge under earthquake conditions,
engineers had to wire-rope a bulldozer to the side of a bridge
and pull it over before cutting the cable to let the bridge free
vibrate. Although this method helped determine some of the
dynamic properties of the structure, it was quite difficult to
find a potential bridge candidate for testing. In 1990, a team at
the University of Nevada, Reno, decided to move a bridge into
the laboratory and outfit it with two 50-ton payload capacity
shake tables.
Team members began with simple bridge columns but
their needs quickly escalated, which meant the few instruments
and closed-software DAQ system they were using wasn’t
going to cut it. The team turned to NI hardware and LabVIEW,
which made it possible to rapidly prototype ideas and take
advantage of an unlimited scope of instrumentation and
conditioning. Today, the team has four shake tables, numerous
NI systems, and a second laboratory under construction.
Hundreds of bridge columns, dozens of bridges, thousands of
tests, and numerous gigabytes of data later, the team tested
the largest curved bridge ever with six fully loaded trucks
resting on top.
The shake table system accurately produced the
earthquake records required, and the CompactRIO system
successfully monitored the hydraulic system, ensuring any
potential problems would be immediately recognized.
Systems like this go a long way toward preserving current
urban infrastructure—and increasing safety—to withstand
natural elements such as earthquakes.
Structural Monitoring: Preventing Infrastructure Breakdown
Meazza Stadium Uses CompactRIO to Usher in a New Frontier in Structural MonitoringThe Meazza stadium in Milan, also known as San Siro, suffers
from typical problems that plague large structures, including
building stress induced by large numbers of people using the
facility for events such as soccer games and pop concerts.
During these events, significant vibratory events occur with
the jumping and movement of thousands of people in sync
with the rhythm of the music or their favorite team scoring a
goal. If the rhythm of the movement matches a natural
frequency of the structure, the vibration amplitude gets
significantly larger, making it is necessary to measure this
phenomena and keep it under control before the vibrations
reach hazardous levels.
Milan municipality workers collaborated with the Politecnico
di Milano to conduct a detailed study of the Meazza stadium.
This led to the design of an innovative monitoring system that
uses a sensor network with distributed acquisition and data
storage based on the CompactRIO platform. The system can
measure vibration within a tenth of a point, evaluate corrosion on
metallic parts, and monitor other physical parameters. The system
is also durable enough to withstand the stadium environment
and its high-mechanical, thermal, and electromagnetic stresses.
Applications like these remind us that today’s engineers
and scientists are essential to solving any engineering grand
challenges such as preserving urban infrastructure.
What are you working on that may help solve today’s big
problems? Tell us about it at [email protected].
This article is the 3rd installment in a four-part series on the Engineering
Grand Challenges to be featured quarterly in Instrumentation Newsletter.
Amee Christian [email protected] Christian is a marketing communications manager for corporate programs at NI.
Feature
Scientists at Duomo di Milano climb the scaffolding to make adjustments to the structural monitoring system.
Researchers at The University of Nevada, Reno, attach instruments and cables to a full-scale bridge model in their seismic testing laboratory.
30 31Third Quarter 2013Instrumentation Newsletter
Tech OutlookEvents and Training
NI and Xilinx Collaborate to Embrace the Future
One of the key elements in the latest CompactRIO software-
designed controller is the award-winning Xilinx Zynq-7000 All
Programmable system on a chip (SoC). The Zynq SOC platform
adds another level of intelligence to today’s embedded systems.
Xilinx defines the device as “All Programmable,” meaning you
can add intelligence to your systems by programming the Zynq
SoC’s dual ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processing system and its
FPGA fabric through C/C++ and SystemC software. This
approach makes it possible to drastically speed up your system
by programming additional data processing and functionality
into the device’s logic fabric while taking full advantage of its
high-speed I/O.
The Zynq SoC is a useful device for all innovators from
scientists and inventors to commercial system developers, as
it allows users to reprogram the device’s software, hardware,
and I/O at any time—even after they have deployed their
systems in the field. This makes it possible for companies to
enhance and expand the life of their system, while decreasing
costs, increasing system performance, and lowering overall
system power—offering systems of much greater value to
their customers. What’s more, the Zynq SoC is backed by
Xilinx’s Vivado Design Suite and the industry’s most robust
ecosystem of ARM AXI-4 based IP, OpenCV libraries, broad
support for the most popular IDEs, OSs and RTOSs.
The numerous system design benefits plus the latest
technology made it an easy decision for NI to collaborate
with Xilinx on the latest evolution of CompactRIO.
To learn more about NI’s collaboration with Xilinx,
visit ni.com/xilinx.
If you have ever attended NIWeek in person or followed along
virtually, then you know how exciting it is to hear about the
latest technological innovations firsthand. National Instruments
extends this excitement and the NIWeek experience globally
through an event series called NIDays.
As you plan your day, you can choose sessions from
different technical tracks that are customized for each region,
including automated test, embedded control and monitoring,
measurements, and NI LabVIEW software. NIDays also includes
hands-on workshops using NI hardware and software to help
you get familiar with the LabVIEW development environment.
New Event Locations in 2013Last year, NI successfully hosted NIDays events in
39 countries around the world in cities including Bangalore,
London, Paris, and Tokyo. This year, the event is coming to
America, giving engineers in the US and Canada their first
chance to attend. The inaugural NIDays North America
conference will occur in Boston, Chicago, San Jose, and
Washington, DC.
NIDays is a series of premier events that gives you the
chance to network with peers in your industry, hear about
cutting-edge industry advancements, and view the latest
products firsthand. The full event program includes■■ Keynote presentations highlighting the latest innovations
and technology■■ More than 50 technical sessions for novices to experts
■■ An expo center with 20 exhibitors including NI Alliance
Partners Circuit Check, Averna, and Cal-Bay Systems■■ Access to real-world projects from NI Alliance Partners
in the NIDays solution center■■ Time to connect with industry experts including
NI leadership, and members of the NI R&D team
NIDays attendees include engineers, scientists, researchers,
professors, system integrators, and third-party developers.
Both NI engineers and regional technical experts attend each
event to present sessions, answer questions, and share
information on their current projects. The NIWeek experience
doesn’t have to end. NI delivers the largest technology and
innovation conference directly to you with NIDays.
Register for an NIDays event near you at ni.com/nidays.
NIDays Delivers the Latest Technologies Directly to Your Door
Starting in January 2014, we’re making a shift. The articles we’ve been sending four times a year for 26 years are going online. You can think of this printed Instrumentation Newsletter like a traditional, vendor-defined box instrument—we all hold a certain nostalgia in our hearts for those tactile knobs and buttons, but they’re just no match for the speed and versatility of a virtual instrument.
Visit us online to customize the way you receive news and stories from NI. By subscribing to NI News Global, you’ll be sure to receive all the content you’ve come to expect from Instrumentation Newsletter but in a faster, smaller, more flexible form factor.
To sign up to receive NI News Global,
visit ni.com/newsletter.
New Averna RF Studio record and playback software extends support for the NI USRP™ software defined radio platform. With RF Studio, algorithm designers can record and reproduce real-world environments in the lab.
Platinum NI Alliance Partner Averna has now made this new software add-on available through the LabVIEW Tools Network, the premier online resource for certified, third-party add-ons that help expand the NI graphical system design platform.
To download your free trial of RF Studio, visit
ni.com/labviewtools/rfstudio.
It’s a Digital World, We’re Just Living in It
New Add-On RF Software for NI USRP Products
Members of the NI leadership team and engineering community take NIWeek on the road during the NIDays keynote presentations.
The NIDays expo includes live demos of the latest products, systems, and technologies.
NI collaborated with Xilinx on the latest evolution of CompactRIO—the NI cRIO-9068 controller.
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©2013 National Instruments. All rights reserved. AutoCode, Big Analog Data, cDAQ, CompactRIO, CVI, DAQBook, DAQCard, DAQ-STC, DASYLab, DIAdem, Electronics Workbench, FieldPoint, Flex ADC, FlexMotion, HiQ, IOTech, Instrumentation Newsletter, LabVIEW, Lookout, MATRIXx, Measure, Measurement Studio, MITE, Multisim, NAT4882, National Instruments, NI, NI-488, ni.com, NI-CAN, NI CompactDAQ, NI-DAQ, NI Developer Suite, NI-FBUS, NI FlexRIO, NI-IMAQ, NI miniSystems, NI SoftMotion, NI TestStand, NI VeriStand, NIWeek, Planet NI, RTSI, SCXI, Sensors Plug&Play, SignalExpress, SourceAdapt, SystemBuild, The Software is the Instrument, The Virtual Instrumentation Company, Tracer DAQ, Turbo488, USRP, USRP2, Ultiboard, VirtualBench, and Xmath are trademarks of National Instruments. The mark LabWindows is used under a license from Microsoft Corporation. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. LEGO, the LEGO logo, MINDSTORMS, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. Tetrix by Pitsco is a trademark of Pitsco, Inc.©2013 ARM, Keil, and µVision are trademarks or registered trademarks of ARM Ltd or its subsidiaries. Tektronix is a trademark of Tektronix, Inc. FireWire is a trademark of Apple, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.
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