William Wong
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ED Online ID #13267 |
August 10, 2006
Some might be surprised that LabVIEW lacked OOP support since so much of its interface uses an object oriented, but that is another story. The new object support builds a class using LabVIEW’s virtual instruments (VI). Each method in a new class is a VI. Object variables are LabVIEW controls. Surprisingly simple but extremely powerful. It will take most LabVIEW developers a little time to experiment and experience OOP but it is likely to change the way LabVIEW is used and perceived.
Speaking of perception, vision was in use in many of the demonstrations on the exhibit floor. LabVIEW’s vision support was used to build an assembly line sorting system (see Figure 5) as well as doing some quality control (see Figure 6). [[Click here to see sorting video]] [[Click here to see quality-control video]] These were built using the Vision Development Module and NI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI).
Another hot topic at the show was PXI Express, the follow-on to PXI, a PCI-based bus designed for test and measurement applications. The standard was released about a year ago but this NI Week was where boards can backplanes were on display from NI and many of its partners.
PXI Express bring many of the PCI Express features including 110-Mbyte/s bandwidth and low latency. Features like hot swap support and the ability to run cables between systems make it significantly more powerful than PXI. Surprisingly, prices for these more powerful systems are lower as well. The PXI with MXI-Express system from NI starts at only $999.
Students Build A Segway NI’s CompactRIO was out in force as well but one of the most inspiring examples was courtesy of three engineering students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Teresa Bernardi, Laura Corman, and Matthew Rosmarin. These engineering students built a self-balancing human transporter (see Figure 7). Given the buzz the original Segway Human Transported spawned it is not a surprise that this was one of the hits of the show. You can see the CompactRIO through the Plexiglass floor (see Figure 8). The students worked under the guidance of Kevin Craig, professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at RPI.
The students used LabVIEW to learn the basics, design a system, implement and build a prototype and then build and test the unit shown in the figures. Not bad for a semester course. It shows how LabVIEW allows people to concentrate on the problem and not the infrastructure. In this case it was the feedback system.
Some Wireless Surprises I did have some surprises at the show since I was expecting primarily T&M and LabVIEW related technology. Actually, I should not have been given how hot wireless technology like Zigbee and 802.15.4 are.
One product I saw was Oki Semiconductor’s Arm-based Zigbee development kit. I will be doing a hands-on review of it and a number of other kits in a few weeks. Oki’s solution is relatively unique at this time with a 32-bit microcontroller with a Zigbee stack. More vendors will be supporting 32-bit MCUs and Zigbee in the future. Oki’s kit includes a pair of Zigbee dongles for a PC in addition to the Arm-based board and software. Not bad for under $500. More on this later.
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