NIDays 2011 - Presentations

Track A

Tips and tricks to speed up application development in LabVIEW - Rik Prins (National Instruments)
Attend this presentation that covers a wide variety of tips and tricks to help you write LabVIEW code quicker. Learn simple techniques that can be used in every project to improve LabVIEW programming speed.

Four steps to professional LabVIEW development - Morten Pedersen (CIM)
CIM has evolved to become a leading KnowHouse in Europe in the development of systems based on NI TestStand and LabVIEW software. CIM have with a targeted strategy, evolved from being an adhoc-driven company to a dedicated and complete organization working with knowledge development, structured program development and project management. With 5 CLAs, CIM has cemented its position as Europe's leading NI knowledge company. We will in this session open for our movement over the last 8 years and present the four most important steps in our evolution.

LabVIEW templates for common data acquisition applications -- Rik Prins (National Instruments)           
Are you tired of starting from a blank VI every time you begin a new project? Do you have problems trying to scale an NI-DAQmx example into a full application? Look at some extensible LabVIEW templates for common data acquisition applications.

Developing web-based interfaces to control LabVIEW applications - Nico Lammens (National Instruments)
In many measurement and control applications, remote monitoring through web browsers is required. The new LabVIEW Web UI Builder addresses this need. The LabVIEW Web UI Builder is a tool for developing lightweight, web-based applications that connect to your I/O system. In this presentation you will learn how LabVIEW Web UI Builder combines your remote  LabVIEW application, RESTful Web services (or other Web Services) and a user interface, into a remote monitoring application.

Track B

The right development process for LabVIEW FPGA success (*) - Erik van Hilten (National Instruments)
There are a lot of wrong ways to approach a LabVIEW FPGA design. As with anything you do, starting the project in a wrong way, and following the wrong process along the way, will likely create undesirable results in the end. Learn a  succesfull  design process and design patterns for developing LabVIEW FPGA code in this presentation.

Testing high-power hydraulic pumps with CompactFieldPoint, NI LabVIEW and the StateChart module - Jeffrey Habets (VI Technologies)        
A tale about updating an over 20-year old generic hydraulic pump test setup to modern standards using LabVIEW (RT), shared variables and the StateChart toolkit for control, data-acquisition and reporting. How we build the RT-control and Windows UI (almost) from scratch to fit the new hardware that was already present before we even came into the picture.

Best practices for building professional User Interfaces with LabVIEW (*) - Michiel Herman (National Instruments)
This session will explain best practices for designing professional user interfaces in LabVIEW.  Learn how to customize the front panel and create reusable UI components that comply with standard OS themes.  See examples of highly interactive data displays, configuration dialogs and ways to show a large amount of data while ensuring the usability of the application.

Inter-thread data communication in LabVIEW (*) - Stijn Schacht (CENAT)
With today’s applications ever increasing complexity and the number of threads being proportional to this complexity, the inter-thread data communication problem becomes more challenging. Every developer ever faced the problem of retrieving or sending data to a thread, especially when this thread is running in a dynamically loaded VI. There are about 10 different ways for data communication in LabVIEW, going from local and global variables to memory mapping and other more exotic methods. This seminar explains the different methods and their usage, with a focus on their impact on the overall application execution speed and ease of integration in your application.

Track C  

Using LabVIEW as the solid foundation for the development of a true modular, flexible and reusable, PC-board test platform - 6TL Engineering
NI Alliance member 6TL Engineering, is a well-established Engineering company with over 25 years of experience building and designing modules that can easily be combined in an energy efficient test system oriented Test rack, (In-line or Off-line) to form a flexible, re-usable test platform with as little as possible internal wiring. Using distributed intelligence through CanBus, a Reliable Mass Interconnect Interface from VPC and National Instruments LabVIEW as the spill to combine these modules to form the reliable 6TL Base Test Platform.

Building a complete data monitoring and storage system with CompactRIO  -  Arnoud de Kuijper (C.T.O. - T&M Solutions)
Building a configurable monitoring system for synchronized measurement of vibrations and other signals can be a challenge. Learn the software design considerations for engineering a data acquisition, analysis, and storage system as well as advanced software techniques, design patterns, and software architectures.

Simulation and experiment in an educational environment - Frank Sierens (Hogeschool Gent)           
In the electromechanics programme of Faculty Nature and Technology at the University College Ghent we use NI Multisim and the NI ELVIS platform to facilitate teaching and courseware production. Two case-studies show how this is implemented. A first case is about the integration of simulation and experiment in an electronics course and focuses on the pitfalls and opportunities. The second case-study is about the production of learning material and course content in an integrated multimedia environment.           
            
           
The ABC of LabVIEW - Vincent Claes (XIOS University College)       
XIOS University College, a Certified LabVIEW Academy, teaches LabVIEW to a broad public, from children, students to researchers. Therefore vivid teaching methods are used, such as LEGO Mindstorms NXT, USB-6008 modules and single-board RIO modules in combination with mechanical systems. Every project shows the usability of the LabVIEW programming language as a valid tool for automation of large mechatronic systems and towards compact embedded systems.       
           
           
Engineering Experience project - Luc Janssens (GROEP T - Leuven Engineering College)       
Het “Engineering Experience project” maakt deel uit van de algemene opleiding van de GroepT industrieel ingenieur. Het wordt door alle 2de BAC studenten gevolgd. Het centrale thema van dit onderdeel is “Make things work”. In team onderzoeken studenten de verschillende elementen om een “computer based control system” te maken. Dit omvat het ontwerp en de realisatie van een mechanisch systeem met sensoren en motoren. De data-acquisitie (DAQ), signaalconditionering en het programmeren met LabVIEW op een PC maken tevens deel uit van het project. Ook de economische aspecten van het prototype moeten worden overwogen, dit impliceert een kostenstudie tijdens de realisatie en een postevaluatie om het ontwerp rendabeler te maken. De studenten communiceren hun werk in een eindrapport en verdediging.                   
           
Students develop a battery electric vehicle using NI CompactRIO - Brecht Van Hooreweder (K.U.Leuven, Dept Werktuigkunde, Afd. PMA)       
At the mechanical engineering department of the K.U.Leuven, a team of eleven masterstudents was challenged to develop a battery powered electric vehicle starting from a conventional car, commercially available components, a limited financial budget and a manpower budget of twenty working days per student. The resulting vehicle uses the NI CompactRIO to communicate with the power electronics of the switched reluctance motor via CAN signals. A variety of analog signals such as the throttle position, motor speed, safety signals and temperatures are processed in order to calculate and generate the required CAN signals to achieve a comfortable and safe driving experience of the electric vehicle.

(*) These presentations are considered to be interesting for 'Advanced' LabVIEW users.