NI News from National Instruments Your Global, Customized Source for Company and Product News, Events, and Support Top Stories -------------------------------------------- NI Offers Industry’s First PCI Express Image Acquisition Board http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104aT1 Add Terabyte-Deep Memory for NI Modular Instruments http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104aT2 In This Issue -------------------------------------------- Company and Product News-- 1. National Instruments LabVIEW, PXI Refine Scale-Model Testing at Caterpillar 2. NI Introduces Four-Channel Module for High-Speed, 24-Bit DAQ 3. Tutorial: Optimize Visual Basic for Test, Measurement, and Automation Applications 4. Strain Gage Module Cuts High-Channel Measurement Cost 5. NI Data Acquisition Makes Ultrasonic Test Affordable 6. Soliton Creates Automated Calibration and Inspection System 7. NASA Stabilizes a Fabry-Perot Interferometer with LabVIEW 8. Simultaneous-Sampling Data Acquisition Architectures 9. Building Smart Ethernet-Based I/O Systems with NI LabVIEW 10. NI Continues Advancement of IVI Instrument Driver Software Events-- 1. Web Event: Streaming with NI Modular Instruments 2. A New Way to Search for Web Events on Demand 3. Creating Data Management Systems with LabVIEW and DIAdem 4. Advanced Instrument Control Techniques in LabVIEW Support-- 1. Stimulus and Acquisition Considerations in the System Identification Process 2. Identification of Closed Loop Systems 3. Pollution Degree Rating for Electrical Equipment 4. Adaptive Thresholding in IMAQ Vision 5. Synchronizing a DSA Device and MIO Device to Sample at the Same Rate 6. LabVIEW Text to Speech Using Microsoft Speech SDK 7. Color Thresholding Algorithm for Vision-based Inspection Applications Company and Product News -------------------------------------------- 1. National Instruments LabVIEW, PXI Refine Scale-Model Testing at Caterpillar Caterpillar Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, selected a combination of NI LabVIEW software and real-time PXI hardware to effectively perform scale-model testing of earth-moving machines. By using NI software and hardware, engineers can evaluate and optimize product performance without expensive full-scale prototype evaluation. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a01 2. NI Introduces Four-Channel Module for High-Speed, 24-Bit DAQ You now can perform high-channel-count audio and vibration analysis applications faster and with more accuracy using the new National Instruments PXI-4462 DAQ module. The NI PXI-4462 DAQ module is the newest addition to the company’s 24-bit sound and vibration measurement hardware family and is ideal for engineers requiring high-channel-count analog input. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a02 3. Tutorial: Optimize Visual Basic for Test, Measurement, and Automation Applications Measurement Studio for Visual Basic includes ActiveX controls specifically designed to simplify the development of test, measurement, and automation applications. Through these multimedia tutorials, learn how these controls extend Visual Basic functionality to include hardware interfaces to instruments and data acquisition boards, scientific analysis, advanced visualization, and simplified Web connectivity. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a03 4. Strain Gage Module Cuts High-Channel Measurement Cost The NI SCXI-1521 strain gage input module delivers the performance and reliability of SCXI signal conditioning for less than half the cost of current modules. The new module provides 24 channels of quarter-bridge inputs for 120 O and 350 O strain gages and is ideal for static measurements common in structural test applications. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a04 5. NI Data Acquisition Makes Ultrasonic Test Affordable With the latest advances in NI DAQ devices, you now can use virtual instrumentation to create an advanced, inexpensive ultrasonic instrument. You can use the NI S Series family of multifunction DAQ devices for ultrasonic sensor frequencies ranging from 150 kHz to 5 MHz, and NI high-speed digitizers for rates more than 50 MHz. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a05 6. Soliton Creates Automated Calibration and Inspection System Using NI LabVIEW and NI-IMAQ driver software to build a reliable and cost-effective system, Soliton developed a comprehensive and integrated computer-based solution to perform multipoint calibration and inspection of multiple gauges in a modern electronic instrument cluster. The system, designed in just eight weeks, provides flexibility, expandability, and high throughput. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a06 7. NASA Stabilizes a Fabry-Perot Interferometer with LabVIEW Using LabVIEW and IMAQ Vision, NASA developed a user-friendly, automated control system that can stabilize, maintain, and monitor the alignment of parallel mirrors in a Fabry-Perot interferometer. The program adjusts for thermal, mechanical, and laser frequency drifts to maintain the mirror alignment over a long time with minimal user input. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a07 8. Simultaneous-Sampling Data Acquisition Architectures There are several simultaneous-sampling data acquisition architectures to choose from, and knowing the differences can be critical to the success of your application. Learn the important differences and similarities and how you can use a low-cost PC to perform any timed-hardware simultaneous sampling. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a08 9. Building Smart Ethernet-Based I/O Systems with NI LabVIEW The growth of Ethernet has greatly improved the capability and integration of networked measurements and remote monitoring. However, because many programming codes contain thousands of networked nodes, software is sometimes inaccessible and unmanageable. With powerful yet easy-to-use Internet-enabled software such as NI LabVIEW, engineers can easily manage and connect these hardware nodes. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a09 10. NI Continues Advancement of IVI Instrument Driver Software The NI Interchangeable Virtual Instruments (IVI) Compliance Package 2.2 contains IVI class drivers and support libraries necessary for the development and implementation of applications that use instrument interchangeability. With the new software package, military and aerospace test system developers who require interchangeability with their instruments now can quickly and easily develop IVI-compliant instrument drivers. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a10 Events -------------------------------------------- 1. Web Event: Streaming with NI Modular Instruments Learn both software and hardware architecture techniques to maximize streaming-to-disk and streaming-from-disk rates with modular instruments. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a11 2. A New Way to Search for Web Events on Demand You now can search for archived Web events by product, application, industry, language, and date. Easily find what you want anytime from anywhere. Start taking advantage of the more than 200 Web Event on Demand topics that are available today. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a13 3. Creating Data Management Systems with LabVIEW and DIAdem Are you collecting more test data then you know what to do with? See how you can build a simple yet robust data management system using LabVIEW and DIAdem. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a12 4. Advanced Instrument Control Techniques in LabVIEW View this 45-minute Web Event on Demand to learn how to move beyond simple reads and writes, how to use advanced debugging tools, and how to develop applications to communicate with several buses including USB and Ethernet. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a14 Support -------------------------------------------- 1. Stimulus and Acquisition Considerations in the System Identification Process For control design engineers, the LabVIEW System Identification toolkit provides a powerful set of mathematical algorithms that reduce the effort needed to develop models used in model based design. The identification of a model is substantially influenced by the selection of stimulus signals used as input to the system. The LabVIEW System Identification toolkit incorporates the identification algorithms, stimulus waveforms and data acquisition into a single integrated environment for system identification. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a15 2. Identification of Closed Loop Systems There are three basic approaches to closed-loop identification. These approaches are direct, indirect, and joint input-output. In this article we outline each approach and the system identification techniques that may be used to implement them. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a16 3. Pollution Degree Rating for Electrical Equipment Pollution degree is a classification according to the amount of dry pollution and condensation present in the environment. This classification is important since it affects creepage and clearance distances required to insure the safety of a product. Office and laboratory areas are considered pollution degree 2 environments according to safety standards and certification bodies. Pollution degree 1 may be considered inside sealed components and within air/water tight enclosures. Pollution degree 3 is a harsher environment typical in many industrial manufacturing areas. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a17 4. Adaptive Thresholding in IMAQ Vision For Machine Vision users who are challenged by non-uniform or changing lighting conditions, the Adaptive Thresholding algorithm is an image segmentation tool that is both powerful and flexible. Unlike global value threshold algorithms, adaptive thresholding algorithm allows the user to extract relevant information from images under broad variations in lighting conditions. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a18 5. Synchronizing a DSA Device and MIO Device to Sample at the Same Rate This example demonstrates how you can synchronize a DSA device with a MIO device while sampling at the same rate in DAQmx. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a19 6. LabVIEW Text to Speech Using Microsoft Speech SDK These example VIs call Microsoft Speech SDK 5.1 and retrieve the voice and audio output information available for your computer. These VIs allow you to select the voice and audio device you would like to use, enter the text to be read, and adjust the rate and volume of the selected voice. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a20 7. Color Thresholding Algorithm for Vision-based Inspection Applications The Color Thresholding algorithm allows the user to select a sample template from which it extracts color histogram information. It then uses the histogram information to perform color segmentation on subsequent images. The example implementation provides a tool for users to learn, adjust and inspect for colors on an 8-bit level for both the Hue and Saturation values, which supports inspection over a wide range of colors. http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/nn1104a21 NI News is customized to your product, industry, and content subscription preferences. 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