NI LabVIEW Software

Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) is

a system-design platform and development environment for a visual programming
language from National Instruments. It is systems engineering software for applications that
require test, measurement, and control with rapid access to hardware and data insights.
LabVIEW offers a graphical programming approach that helps you visualize every aspect of
your application, including hardware configuration, measurement data, and debugging.
LabVIEW is commonly used for data acquisition, instrument control, and
industrial automation on a variety of operating systems(OSs), including Microsoft Windows,
various versions of Unix, Linux, and macOS .

This visualization makes it simple to integrate measurement hardware

from any vendor, represent complex logic on the diagram, develop data analysis algorithms,
and design custom engineering user interfaces. LabVIEW programs are called virtual
instruments (VIs), because their appearance and operation imitate physical instruments like
oscilloscopes. LabVIEW is designed to facilitate data collection and analysis, as well as
offers numerous display options. With data collection, analysis and display combined in a
flexible programming environment, the desktop computer functions as a dedicated
measurement device.

A virtual instrument (VI) has three main components—the front panel, the block diagram and
the icon/connector pane.
Front Panel Windows
When you open a new or existing VI, the front panel of the VI appears. The front panel is the
interactive user interface for the VI. It is named a front panel because it stimulates the front
panel of a physical instrument. Build the front panel with controls and indicators. Controls
are inputs used to simulate instrument input devices and supply data to the block diagram of
the VI, and indicators are outputs displays used to simulate instrument output devices and
display data the block diagram acquires or generates. The front panel is customized to
emulate control panels of traditional instruments, create custom test panels, or visually
represent the control and operation of processes.
 Figure 1: LabVIEW Virtual Instrument Front Panel

Block Diagram Windows

The block diagrams accompany the program for the front panel. Front panel objects appear as
terminals on the block diagram and the components wired together. After the front panel is
built codes are added using graphical representations of functions in the block diagram to
control the front panel objects. The block diagram contains the graphical source code
composed of nodes, terminals, and wires. The block diagram is the actual executable
program. The components of a block diagram are lower-level VIs, built-in functions,
constants and program execution control structures. Wires have to be drawn to connect the
corresponding objects together to indicate the flow of data between each of them. Front panel
objects have analogous terminals on the block diagram so that data can pass easily from the
user to the program and back to the user. Use Express VIs, standard VIs and functions on the
block diagram to create our measurement code. Block diagram objects include the terminals,
subVIs, functions, constants, structures and wires.
 Figure 2: LabVIEW Virtual Instrument Block diagram

Icon/Connector Pane
To use a VI as a subVI, it must have an icon and a connector pane. Every VI displays an icon
in the upper-right corner of the front panel and block diagram windows. An icon is a
graphical representation of a VI. The icon can contain both text and images. To use a VI as a
subVI, you need to build a connector pane. The connector pane is a set of terminals that
correspond to the controls and indicators of that VI.
Advantages:
 Graphical user interface.
 Drag-and-drop built-in functions.
 Multi platforms.
 Reduces cost and preserves investment.
 Connectivity and instrument control.
Disadvantages:
 Single sourced.
 Cost of ownership.
 It can take a little familiarization time for those who are accustomed to text programming.
 No zoom function.
 Not portable to android platforms.
Applications:
 Signal and image processing.
 Simulation and prototyping
 Measurements and instrumentation
 Control design
 Machine monitoring and control