A PROJECT REPORT

ON

VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT

BY

GAJENDER SINGH

PROJECT ASSSISTANT (AEG)

Project Guide: Submitted By:

SHRI. K.S.N. Rao GAJENDER SINGH
Scientist ‘G’
AEG, Electronics for Societal Purpose,
Central Electronics Engineering
Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani.

WORK CARRIED OUT AT

CENTRAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING RESEARCH INSTITUTE

PILANI – 333031 (RAJASTHAN)

Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute 1

 CEERI

(Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute)

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
Pilani – 333031, India.

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Report entitled “VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT ” is being

submitted by Mr. Gajender Singh ,PROJECT ASSISTANT –II. The project work
was carried out by him under my supervision at Agri-Electronics Group, Central
Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani (Rajasthan).

Mr. K.S.N. Rao

Deputy Director (Scientist ‘G’)
AGRI ELECTRONICS GROUP
CEERI, Pilani, Rajasthan.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
During the tenure that has been spent here in CEERI, Pilani, many people have
contributed directly as well as indirectly to the development of this project - “Virtual
Instrument ”. Consequently, I am indebted to all those who have guided me in each and
every phase of the development cycle of this project. I acknowledge all helpful comments
received from all the learned people at CEERI. I apologize to anyone whom I may have
failed to mention.
I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to Dr. Chandrasekhar, Director,
CEERI PILANI, for providing me an opportunity to work in this elite institute of Indian
Scientists.
Words indeed are inadequate to express my deep sense of gratitude to Shri. K.S.N. Rao
Scientist ‘G’, Agri Electronics Group, CEERI, Pilani for suggesting the problem which
formed my project work and providing guidance at every stage of the work. It is a great
privilege to have an opportunity to work and learn a lot under his guidance.

I am also very thankful to Dr. Shashikant S. Sadistap (Scientist ‘EII’), Mr. Santosh
Kumar (Scientist ‘B’)

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all other AEG group members for their
timely help during my project work.

GAJENDER SINGH

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 INSTITUTE PROFILE

CEERI :
Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani, Rajasthan, is a
pioneer research institute in the country and a constituent laboratory of Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi. Late Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal
Nehru laid the foundation stone of the Industry on September 21, 1953 for advanced
Research and Development (R&D) in the field of Electronics. Since its inception, it has
been working for the growth of electronics in the country and has established the required
infrastructure and well-experienced manpower for undertaking R&D in the major areas:

 Microwave Tubes
 Opto-electronics Devices
 Electronic System Area
 MEMS & Sensors.

ELECTRONIC SYSTEM AREA:

The main objective of the Electronic Systems Area (ESA) is to provide complete system
level solutions to Indian industry. CEERI has entered several key sectors viz. Agro-based
and process Control Industries, energy, transportation, consumer electronics, speech and
telephony etc. and developed field proven technologies during last two decades. Currently
the emphasis is being laid in modernizing these core sector Industries. The scientists of
this area closely interact with industry, academic institutions and have international
collaborative projects with counterparts from Australia, Germany, Italy, UK, and USA.

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 The institute has excellent computing facilities with many workstations inter linking
through Internet. The institute has a well-maintained Library with a good collection of
books, references, and current periodicals published all over the world.

CEERI has, under one roof, an advanced comprehensive program of development for
power Semiconductor devices as well as Application specific Integrated Circuits and
Electronic Systems for various applications.

The main objectives of the Organization are as follows:

 To carry out R&D in the electronics devices and systems,
 To assist industry in technology absorption, up gradation and diversification;
 To provide R&D services to industry and users in design, fabrication and testing;
 To provide technical for specific needs towards product development and precision
and quality

The major R&D programs of CEERI can be categorized into three major areas;
microwave tubes, semiconductor devices and electronics systems. In the area of
microwave tubes the major focus is on communication tubes and industrial tubes. In the
area of semiconductor devices, projects are being actively pursued on IC design, power
devices, device processing, microwave devices, hybrid microchips, opto-electronic
devices and semi-conductor materials. R&D work in the area of electronics systems is
focused on digital systems, agri electronics, speech technology, industrial electronics,
instrumentation systems and communication engineering.

CSIR :

The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) --the premier industrial R&D
organization in India was constituted in 1942 by a resolution of the then Central
Legislative Assembly. It is an autonomous body registered under the Registration of
Societies Act of 1860. CSIR aims to provide industrial competitiveness, social welfare,
strong S&T base for strategic sectors and advancement of fundamental knowledge.

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 The Strategic Road Map designed for CSIR as it stepped into the new Millennium
envisaged:

 Re-engineering the organizational structure;

 Linking research to market space;
 Mobilizing and Optimizing the resource base;
 Creating an enabling infrastructure; and
 Investing in high quality science that will be the harbinger of future
technologies.

It presents Science and Technology with a human face and emphasizes realities such
as facing open, global competition; need for examining social, economic and
environmental consequences of S&T; and, aggressive international benchmarking and
innovation.

Today CSIR is recognized as one of the world largest publicly funded R&D
organizations having linkages to academia, R&D organizations and industry. CSIR’s 38
laboratories not only knit India into a giant network that impacts and add quality to the
life of each and every Indian but CSIR is also party to the prestigious Global Research
Alliance with the objective of applying global knowledge pool for global good through
global funding. CSIR’s R&D portfolio embraces areas as diverse as Aerospace,
Biotechnology, and Chemicals…indeed, almost the entire Indian Science!

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 CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.0 Lab VIEW

1.1 DAS CARD
CHAPTER 2: VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTATION
2.0 What is Virtual Instrumentation?
2.1 Virtual Instruments using Lab VIEW
2.1.1 Front Panels
2.1.2 Block Diagram
2.1.3 Icons and Connectors
2.1.4 Sub VI
2.1.5 Tools Palette
2.1.6 Hierarchy Toolbar Buttons
2.2 Lab VIEW, a graphical programming language
2.2.1 Introduction to Lab VIEW
2.2.2 Features and Working of Lab VIEW

CHAPTER 3: DATA ACQUISITION CARD

3.1 PISO 813
3.2 PIO 821

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 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Lab VIEW: -

Lab VIEW is a program development enviroment, much like modern C or Basic

development environments, and National Instruments LabWindows/CVI. However,
LabVIEW is different from those applications in one important respect. Other
programming systems use text-based languages to create lines of code, while
LabVIEW uses a graphical programming language, G, to create programs in block
diagram from.

LabVIEW, like C or BASIC, is a general-purpose programming system with extensive

libraries of function for any programming system with extensive libraries of function for
any programming task. LabVIEW includes libraries for data acquisition, GPIB and
serial instrument control, data analysis, data presentation, data storage.

HOW DOES LabVIEW WORK:-

LabVIEW is a general-purpose programming system, but it also includes libraries of

functions and development tools designed specifically for data acquisition and
instrument control. LabVIEW programs are called Virtual instruments (VIs) because
their appearance and operation can imitate actual instruments. However, Vis is similar
to the functions of conventional language programs.

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A VI Consists of an interactive user interface, a data flow diagram that serves as the
source code, and icon connections that icon connections that allow the VI to be called
from higher level VIs.

VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTATION

2.0 WHAT IS VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTATION :-

Virtual Instrumentation is the use of customizable software and modular measurement

hardware to create user-defined measurement systems, called virtual instruments. Unlike
physical instruments, they are totally automated and take instructions through an application
software running on a remote computer monitored by the user.

A virtual instrument (VI) is a program in the graphical programming language. A VI consists

of a user interactive, a dataflow diagram that serves as the source code, and icon
connections that allow the VI to be called from higher level VIs.

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'Traditional' or 'physical' instrumentation systems are made up of pre-defined hardware
components, such as digital multimeters and oscilloscopes that are completely specific to
their stimulus, analysis, or measurement function. Because of their hard-coded function,
these systems are mostly limited in their versatility than virtual instrumentation systems. The
primary difference betIen 'physical' instruments and virtual instrumentats is the software
component of the virtual instruments. The software enables complex and expensive
equipment to be replaced by simpler and less expensive hardware; e.g. analog to digital
converter can act as a hardware complement of a virtual oscilloscope, a potentiostat enables
frequency response acquisition and analysis in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
with virtual instrumentation.

The concept of a synthetic instrument is a subset of the virtual instrument concept. A

synthetic instrument is a kind of virtual instrument that is purely software defined. A synthetic
instrument performs a specific synthesis, analysis, or measurement function on completely
generic, measurement agnostic hardware. Virtual instruments can still have measurement

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specific hardware, and tend to emphasize modular hardware approaches that facilitate this
specificity. Hardware supporting synthetic instruments is by definition not specific to the
measurement, nor is it necessarily (or usually) modular.

2.1 VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS USING LAB VIEW: -

A virtual instrument (VI) has three main parts: the Front Panel, the Block Diagram, and the
Icon/Connector. The Front Panel specifies the user interface of the VI. The Block Diagram
consists of the executable code that is created using nodes, terminals, and wires. The
structure of VIs is as follows.

 The interactive user interface of a VI is called the Front Panel, because it simulates
the panel of a physical instrument. The Front Panel can contain knobs, push
buttons, graphs, and other controls and indicators.
 The VIs receives instructions from a Block Diagram, which is constructed in G. The
Block Diagram is a pictorial solution to a programming problem. The block diagram is
also the source code for the VI.
 VIs are hierarchical and modular. VIs can be used as top-level program, or as
subprograms within other programs. A VI within another VI is called a sub VI. The icon
and connector of a VI work like a graphical parameter list so that other VIs can pass
data to sub VI.

2.1.1 FRONT PANEL: -

The user interface of a VI is like the user interface of a physical instrument, i.e. the Front
Panel. A feasible Front Panel for a VI is shown in the figure on the next page.

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The front panel of a VI is primarily a combination of controls and indicators. Controls are
generally inputs provided by the user to the VI whereas Indicators are the outputs that are
the processed information returned by the VI.

2.1.1.1 CONTROLS AND INDICATORS:-

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Controls simulate instrument input devices and supply data to the Block Diagram of the VI.
Indicators simulate instrument output devices that display data acquired or generated by the
Block Diagram of the VI. Controls and indicator are added to the Front Panel by selecting
them from the floating Control Palette as shown in the given figure.

Both the Front Panel and the Block Diagram have identical menu bars and tools icons except
that for Front Panel there is a Controls menu while for Block Diagram there is a Functions
menu. Controls menu contributes to control and indicators; they represent the input
parameters and output values respectively. Functions menu contributes to functions used to

achieve the desired objective of the system to be developed.

2.1.2 BLOCK DIAGRAM:-

The diagram window holds the Block Diagram of the VI, which is the graphical source code
of a VI. The Block Diagram is generally constructed by adding together objects that send or
receive data (Controls and Indicators), perform specific functions, and control the flow of
execution. The following simple VI computes the sum of and difference between two
numbers. The diagram shows several primaries block diagram objects like nodes, terminals
and wires etc. As is evident from the figure, both the Front Panel and the Block Diagram can
be observed and manipulated at the same time.

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When a control or indicator is placed on the Front Panel, a corresponding terminal appears
on the Block Diagram. Terminals that belong to a control or indicator cannot be deleted. The
terminal disappears only when its respective control or indicator is deleted on the Front
Panel.

The ‘Add’ and ‘Subtract’ function icons in the given figure also have terminals. The terminals
can be considered as entry and exit ports. Data that is entered into the controls (‘a’ and ‘b’)
exits the Front Panel through the control terminals on the Block Diagram. The data then
enters the ‘Add’ and ‘Subtract’ functions. When these functions complete their internal
calculations, they produce new data values at their exit terminals. The data flows to the
indicator terminals and reenter the Front Panel, where it is displayed. Terminals that produce
data are referred to as Data Source terminals and terminals that receive data are Data Sink
terminals.

Nodes are program execution elements. They are analogous to statements, operators,
functions, and subroutine in conventional programming languages. The ‘Add’ and ‘Subtract’

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functions are type of nodes. G has an extensive library of functions for math, comparison,
conversion, I/O etc.

Another type of node is a ‘Structure’. Structures are graphical representations of the loops
and Case statements of traditional programming languages. The G programming language
also has nodes for linking to external text based codes and for evaluating text based formula.

Wires are the data paths between sources and sink terminals. These are analogous to the
wiring done in physical systems. A source terminal cannot be wired to another source, nor
can a sink terminal be wired to another sink. However, one source can be wired to one or
more sinks. In layman’s language, each wire is of different style and color. Technically
speaking, each wire is specific to data types, i.e. depends on the type of value that flows
through the wire. In the previous figure the wire style for a numeric scalar value is shown as a
thin, solid line of Orange color.

Dataflow is the principle that governs G program execution. Stated simply, a node only
executes when all data inputs arrive; the node supplies data to all of its output terminals
when it finishes executing, the data immediately passes from source to sink terminals.
Dataflow programming contrasts with the control flow method of executing a conventional
program, in which instructions are executed in the sequence in which they are written. The
control flow execution is instruction driven whereas the dataflow execution is data driven or
data dependent.

2.1.3 ICONS AND CONNECTORS:-

Every VI has a default icon displayed in the upper-right corner of the Front Panel and Block
Diagram windows. For VIs, the default is the LabVIEW VI icon and a number indicating how
many new VIs have been opened since launching LabVIEW. The Icon Editor can be used to
customize the icon by turning individual pixels ON or OFF. To use a VI as a sub VI to another

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VI, an icon and relevant connectors, to which inputs and outputs are connected, must be
created and consequently be placed on the block diagram of the VI.

A sub VI in G is equivalent to a subroutine in conventional programming languages. The

controls and indicators of a sub VI receive data from and return data to the diagram of the
calling VI.

Basically, the connector is a set of terminal that corresponds to the sub VI controls and
indicators. The icon is either the pictorial representation of the purpose of the VI, or a textual
description of the VI or its terminals.

The connector is much like the parameter list of a function call; the connector terminals acts
like parameters. Each terminal corresponds to a particular control or indicator on the Front

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Panel. A connector receives data at its input terminals and passes the data to the sub VI
code through the sub VI controls, or receives the results at its output terminals from the sub
VI indicators.

The connector generally has one terminal for each control or indicator on the front panel. Up
to 28 terminals can be assigned. If it is anticipated that future changes to the VI might require
a new input or output, some extra terminal may be left unconnected. An example is as shown
in the figure

2.1.4 SUB VI: -

A sub VI is much like a subroutine in text based programming languages. It is a VI that is

used in the Block Diagram of another VI.

Any VI that has an icon and a connector can be used as a sub VI in another VI. If a VI is
opened that does not have an icon and a connector, a blank, square box appears in the
calling VI's Block Diagram and wiring cannot be done to this node.

While sub VI is analogous to a subroutine, a sub VI node (icon/connector) is analogous to a

subroutine call. The sub VI node is not the sub VI itself, just as a subroutine call statement in
a program is not the subroutine itself. A Block Diagram that contains several identical sub VI
nodes calls the same sub VI several times. A sub VI or created virtual instruments can be
used in other virtual instruments.

As an example, if it is required that an input value will be checked and if it is not less than 0,
then initial value of factorial is set on 1 whereas if the value is greater than 0, then the
factorial for the value given as input will be displayed. This can be easily achieved by using a
‘Case Structure’ (one of the most essential programming tools) and checking the input value
at the start of the loop execution. If the condition is false (i.e. input value is greater than 0),
then the factorial is calculated and displayed along with a message that the work has been
successfully completed. But if the condition is true (i.e. input value is less than 0), the factorial
value would is set to 0 with a warning message saying that input should be greater than 0.
The figure for both the conditions is as on the next page.

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 "False" condition

"True" condition

An Icon can also be created, within a sub VI, with one input and two outputs, one for result
and one for message. LabVIEW offers its own tool for icon drawing.

It is possible to create a new virtual instrument that will contain a created virtual instrument
for factorial calculating. The created virtual instrument is as given in the figure below.

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Double clicking on the virtual instrument will open the Front Panel for that instrument in the
Block Diagram itself. Dragging the mouse arrow on created instrument and holding Ctrl+H,
will display the Help window for that virtual instrument as shown in the figure given in the next
page.

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. It can contain text, images, or a
combination of both. If a VI is used as a sub VI, the icon identifies the sub VI on the block
diagram of the VI.

Custom icons can be created to replace the default icon for better comprehension of the
objective achieved by the VI. The normal size image of the icon appears in the appropriate
box to the right of the editing area, as shown in the dialog box in figure1.

2.1.5 TOOLS PALETTE: -

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Another very important feature of LabVIEW is the Tools Palette. Tools Palette is a special
operating mode of the mouse cursor. It is used to define the operation-taking place when
subsequent mouse clicks are made on the panel or diagram. A general outlook of the Tools
Palette is shown in the figure below.

VIs must be saved as individual files because.

 The file system can be used to manage them (copying, moving, renaming, backing up,
and managing source code).
 VI hierarchy cannot be practiced within a VI library – VI libraries can’t contain
subdirectories or folders.

 Loading and saving files are faster from the file system than from VI libraries as less
disk space is required for temporary files during the load and save processes.

 Storing VIs and controls in individual files is more robust than storing the entire project
in the same file.

 VI libraries are not compatible with the source code controls in the some developer
toolkits.

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2.1.6 HIERARCHY TOOLBAR BUTTONS:-

A toolbar in the hierarchy window contains buttons affecting the display of the window. This is
generally useful for better perception of VIs, sub VIs and the way in which they interact.
Buttons performing some of the same actions in the View menu, are described as follows

 Redo Layout: This feature redraws the windows layout to minimize line crossings and
maximize symmetry, which is useful after successive operations on hierarchy nodes. If
a focus node exists, the windows scroll to show that node. If no focus node exists, the
window scrolls the first root of sub VIs.

 Vertical Layout: This feature arranges the nodes from top to bottom with the
calling VIs above their sub VIs.

 Horizontal Layout: This is similar to Vertical layout but it arranges the nodes from left
to right with the calling VIs to the left of their sub VIs.

 Include VI Lib: This feature toggles the hierarchy window to include or exclude VIs in
vi.lib.

 Include Global: This feature toggles the hierarchy window to include or exclude global
variables if they are used anywhere in the VIs or sub VIs.

 Include type definitions: This feature toggles the hierarchy window to include or
exclude type definitions if they are used anywhere in the VIs and sub VIs.

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2.2 LabVIEW, A GRAPHICAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE: -

2.2.1 INTRODUTION TO LabVIEW: -

LabVIEW (short for Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) is a platform

and development environment from National Instruments, for a visual programming language
to construct strong Virtual Instruments. The graphical language is named "G". Originally
released for the Apple Machintosh in 1986. It is commonly used for data acquisition,
instrument control, and industrial automation on a variety of platforms including Microsoft
Windows various flavours of Unix,Linux , and Mac OS.

G is the easy to use graphical data flow programming language on which LabVIEW is based.
G simplifies scientific computation, process monitoring and control, and test and
measurement applications, and it can also be used for a wide variety of other applications.

G, like C or BASIC, is a general-purpose programming language with extensive libraries of

functions for any programming task. G includes libraries for data acquisition, GPIB and serial
instrument control, data analysis, data presentation, and data storage. G also includes
conventional program debugging tools, so breakpoints can be set, the execution can be
animated to see how data passes through the program and single-step through the program
to make debugging and program development easier. G differs from those programming
languages in one important respect. Other programming languages are text-based while G is
graphical.

LabVIEW provides tools for data visualization, user interface design, web publishing, report
generation, data management, and software connectivity.

LabVIEW programs are called virtual instruments (VIs) because their appearance and
operation can imitate physical instruments such as oscilloscopes and millimeters. However,

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VIs is similar to the functions of conventional language programs. Drawing an icon creates
virtual instrument, including defining inputs and outputs. It can also be included in other
virtual instruments simply by importing the icon in program and connecting its inputs and
outputs with other variables. That way it became sub-virtual instrument. Double click on that
icon will open its front panel and block diagram.

The VIs contains three components-the Front Panel, the Block Diagram, and the Icon and
Connector pane. The latter may represent the VI as a subVI in Block Diagrams of calling VIs.
Controls and indicators on the Front Panel allow an operator to input data into or extract data
from a running virtual instrument. However, the Front Panel can also serve as a
programmatic interface. Thus a virtual instrument can either be run as a program, with the
Front Panel serving as a user interface, or, when dropped as a node onto the Block Diagram,
the Front Panel defines the inputs and outputs for the given node through the connector
pane. This implies each VI can be easily tested before being embedded as a subroutine into
a larger program.

2.2.2 FEATURES AND WORKING:-

 Dataflow programming
 Graphical programming
 Benefits

2.2.2.1 DATAFLOW PROGRAMMING: -

The programming language used in LabVIEW, called "G", is a dataflow language. Execution
is determined by the structure of a graphical block diagram (the LV-source code) on which
the programmer connects different function-nodes by drawing wires. These wires propagate
variables and any node can execute as soon as all its input data become available. Since this
might be the case for multiple nodes simultaneomely, "G" is inherently capable of parallel
execution. Multi-processing and multi-threading hardware is automatically exploited by the
built-in scheduler, which multiplexes multiple OS threads over the nodes ready for execution.

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Programmers with a background in conventional programming often show a certain
reluctance to adopt the LabVIEW dataflow scheme, claiming that LabVIEW is prone to race
conditions. In reality, this stems from a misunderstanding of the data-flow paradigm. The
afore-mentioned data-flow (which can be "forced", typically by linking inputs and outputs of
nodes) completely defines the execution sequence, and that can be fully controlled by the
programmer. Thus, the execution sequence of the LabVIEW graphical syntax is as well-
defined as with any textually coded language such as C. Visual BASIC, Python etc.
Furthermore, LabVIEW does not require type definition of the variables; the wire type is
defined by the data-supplying node. LabVIEW supports polymorphism in that wires
automatically adjust to various types of data.

The above figure is shows the Block Diagram and Front Panel simple LabVIEW program that
generates, synthesizes, analyzes and displays waveforms. Each symbol on the Block

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Diagram represents a LabVIEW subroutine (subVI) which can be another LabVIEW program
or a LV library function.

2.2.2.2 GRAPHICAL PROGRAMMING: -

LabVIEW is a graphical language and is used for description of connections and relations
between objects in block diagram. G language is different then textual language in many
ways. First of all, program is executed linearly, meaning one by one command. The next
command is executed after the previous has been finished, meaning that only one command
is being executed at a time. It has different characteristics. Since it is graphical language,
linearity is excluded. One graphical block can be executed only when its inputs are defined or
determined. That means it is possible to create a diagram with a few parallel branches, thus
realizing simultaneous execution of numerous operations at the same time.

It is a complete programming language and offers usual structures, such as for and while
loops, case structure, and a novelty which is not characteristic for text- oriented languages
called sequence structure, which allows linear execution of certain parts of the program. That
is very useful in situations similar to those when first some data is to be sent to certain
instrument, and then wait for a while and act accordingly.

Data types are presented with different colors and different shapes of connecting lines. Blue
color presents integer, orange - float, purple - character, green - Boolean, etc. User defined
types are presented with some other colors.

The graphical approach also allows non-programmers to build programs by simply dragging
and dropping virtual representations of the lab equipment with which they are already
familiar. The LabVIEW programming environment, with the included examples and the
documentation, makes it easy to create small applications. The most advanced LabVIEW
development systems offer the possibility of building stand-alone applications.

G language/ Visual programming language (VPL) is any programming language that lets
users specify programs by manipulating program elements graphically rather than by
specifying them textually. A VPL allows programming with visual expressions, spatial

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arrangements of text and graphic symbols. Non Visual Programming languages are
completely based on text, when using non VPL applications it is impossible to see images
until the program is run. This is a disadvantage to programmers as the user is unable to see
the results of their coding unless the program is run.

VPLs may be further classified, according to the type and extent of visual expression used,
into icon-based languages, form-based languages, and diagram languages. Visual
programming environments provide graphical or iconic elements which can be manipulated
by users in an interactive way according to some specific spatial grammar for program
construction.Naturally visual languages have an inherent visual expression for which there is
no obviome textual equivalent.

2.2.2.3 BENEFITS: -

Some of the benefits of LabVIEW over other development environments are given as
follows:

 The extensive support for accessing instrumentation hardware: Drivers and

abstraction layers for many different types of instruments and buses are included or
are available for inclusion. These present themselves as graphical nodes. The
abstraction layers offer standard software interfaces to communicate with hardware
devices. The provided driver interfaces save program development time. The sales
pitch of National Instruments is, therefore, that even people with limited coding
experience can write programs and deploy test solutions in a reduced time frame
when compared to more conventional or competing systems. A new hardware driver
topology (DAQmxBase), which consists mainly of G-coded components with only a
few register calls through NI Measurement Hardware DDK (Driver Development Kit)
functions, provides platform independent hardware access to numerous data
acquisition and instrumentation devices. The DAQmxBase driver is available for
LabVIEW on Windows, MacOSX and Linux platforms.

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  In terms of performance: LabVIEW includes a compiler that produces native code for
the CPU platform. The graphical code is translated into executable machine code by
interpreting the syntax and by compilation. The LabVIEW syntax is strictly enforced
during the editing process and compiled into the executable machine code when
requested to run or upon saving. In the latter case, the executable and the source
code are merged into a single file. The executable runs with the help of the LabVIEW
run-time engine, which contains some precompiled code to perform common tasks
that are defined by the G language. The run-time engine reduces compile time and
also provides a consistent interface to various operating systems, graphic systems,
hardware components, etc. The run-time environment makes the code portable across
platforms. Generally, LV code can be slower than equivalent compiled C code,
although the differences often lie more with program optimization than inherent
execution speed.

 Efficiency: The LabVIEW Professional Development System allows creating stand-

alone executables and the resultant executable can be distributed an unlimited
number of times. The run-time engine and its libraries can be provided freely along
with the executable. A benefit of the LabVIEW environment is the platform
independent nature of the G-code, which is (with the exception of a few platform-
specific functions) portable between the different LabVIEW systems for different
operating systems (Windows, MacOSX and Linux). National Instruments is
increasingly focusing on the capability of deploying LabVIEW code onto an increasing
number of targets including devices like Labview real timecontrollers, PocketPCs,
PDAs, FieldPoint modules and into FPGAs on special boards.

 Supplementary: LabVIEW delivers the performance, flexibility, and compatibility of a

traditional programming language such as C or BASIC. In fact, it has the same
constructs that traditional languages have - variables, data types, and objects, looping,

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 and sequencing structures as well as error handling. And, with LabVIEW,
programmers can reuse legacy code packaged as DLLs or shared libraries and
integrate with other software using ActiveX, TCP, and other standard technologies.

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 DAS CARD
PIO 821

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'

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PISO 813

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 RESULT / CONCLUSION

Working in CEERI I know how to work in a team and I

expertise in lab VIEW.
I also test different type of DAS cards like PISO-813, PIO-
821 etc and also acquire data from them successfully.

And I also participate in different running project of AEG.

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 REFERENCES

(1) Rahman Jamal and Herbert Pichlik, LabVIEW Applications and Solutions.
National Instruments Virtual Instrumentation
(2)User Manual for LabVIEW (National Instruments
(3) Functions and VI Reference Manual (National Instruments)
(4) Data Acquisition Basics Manual
(5) PISO-813HG User’s Manual (High-performance Multifunction DAS Cards)
(6) PIO-821 User’s Manual (Wiring Terminal Board)

SOFTWARE USED DURING PROJECT WORK :-

PLATFORM: - Window XP

TOOL: - LabVIEW 7.1, SQL, DATABASE MS ACCESS

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