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Forum Agenda
Education Track
UT Tour
Tour of a few of the cutting-edge labs at the University of Texas at Austin to see work in various application areas and how NI technology is used to further research.
UT Tour
Jaewon Choi, the University of Texas at Austin
Learn about integrating NI LabVIEW software into a mechatronics undergraduate course for mechanical engineers at the University of Texas at Austin
Mechanical Engineering
Dynamic Systems and Controls Lab
The goal of this junior/senior-level undergraduate laboratory core course is to provide practical hands-on experience in modeling, analysis, simulation, and control of engineering systems. Emphasis is given to developing and using experimental techniques in LabVIEW for simulation, data analysis, and data
acquisition. A novel vision-based control experiment using a webcam and USB DAQ will be demonstrated.
(Course: ME 144L)
Aerospace Engineering
Sensors and Actuators Lab
The Sensors and Actuators Laboratory is a hands-on design course targeted mainly for graduate students. Students experiment with aerospace devices such as control-moment gyroscopes, inertial navigation systems, optical navigation systems, magnetometers and robots. These instruments are applied to experiments involving visualization, remote actuation, and attitude determination. Students use LabVIEW, CompactRIO and PCI R series data acquisition equipment to study many different types of sensors and actuators.
(Course: ASE 387P)
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG)
The WNCG is an interdisciplinary center for research and education in wireless networking, communications, and related industry applications. The Wireless Communications lab course takes an experimental approach to wireless digital communication. Theory in the classroom is translated directly into practice with the help of National Instruments' PXI RF platform and LabVIEW Modulation toolkit. The emphasis is on physical layer concepts rather than implementation considerations. Specific topics covered in this course in the lecture and laboratory include bandwidth, sampling, complex baseband equivalent representation, upconversion, downconversion, narrowband signals, channel estimation, and principles of software defined radio.
(Course: EE 371C)
Biomedical Engineering
Instrumentation and Senior Design Labs
Visit the new Biomedical Engineering Building, and see the new Undergraduate Teaching Lab and Senior Design Lab. Students use LabVIEW, NI ELVIS, and PXI modular instruments to learn the basics of instrumentation for recording and displaying electrophysiological signals, including pressure, flow, temperature, ultrasonics, and bioelectric signals. In addition, students use the equipment during the development of a one semester senior design project of a biomedical system.
(Courses: BME 221, 374k, 371)
Integrating LabVIEW and Environmental Sustainability into Engineering Instruction
Vinod Lohani, Virginia Tech
We share our experience and approach to gradually integrating LabVIEW programming concepts into a freshman engineering course at Virginia Tech. We also introduce a LabVIEW Enabled Watershed Assessment System (LEWAS) and discuss the status of its development.
NI Product-In-Depth: New NI ELVIS II+ and Plug-In Boards
Sandra Tso, National Instruments
National Instruments is extending the NI Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite (NI ELVIS) family of products, with NI ELVIS II+, now featuring a 100 MS/s oscilloscope. Discover how this integrated platform can be implemented in the classroom and lab. Explore how you can extend your lab beyond instrumentation and circuits with new NI ELVIS plug-in boards and courseware from NI partners.
Portable, Low-Cost Experiments for Lecture-Based Courses
Bonnie Ferri, Georgia Tech
Our goal is to enhance student learning of fundamental, theoretical signal processing concepts with a hands-on experience. We work toward this goal by developing portable experiments that can enhance learning for courses that do not have labs using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT and a low-cost NI data acquisition (DAQ) board.
Reinforcing Circuits Principles and Problem-Solving Techniques Using Simulation and Measurement
Michel Maharbiz, University of California at Berkeley
Maharbiz, UC Berkeley co-author of a contemporary new introductory circuits textbook recently published by NTS Press, examines using NI Multisim simulation software for mastering circuits and their applications. The companion laboratory manual explores optimizing hands-on experimentation with the NI tool chain that fosters comparison between theory, simulation, lab data, and analysis.
Targeting Instruction at the Typical LabVIEW Developer
Stuart Brand, OSU, College of Engineering
The typical beginning LabVIEW developer does not have a significant formal programming background, and the current training model, aimed at immediate application to data acquisition tasks, is not designed to foster one. Adjusting the training model to address fundamental programming concepts, and adding the data acquisition component late in the process has significant advantages.
Teaching a Motion Control Undergraduate Lab Course Using LabVIEW
Wayne Book, Georgia Tech
NI LabVIEW MathScript along with the LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation Module are used to teach students in the motion control lab at Georgia Tech. Topics and lab projects include positioning using linear motors, hydraulic cylinders, and pneumatics. Students also learn modeling, identification, and control design techniques.
Using LabVIEW in an Introduction to Computer Tools Course
Greg Bucks and William Oaks, Purdue University EPICS
First-year engineering students at Purdue University must take an introductory course on problem solving using computers. The course has traditionally been taught using MATLAB®. This presentation discusses results from a study exploring the use of LabVIEW software to aid in developing an understanding of programming concepts.
Learning and Developing Intelligent Control Systems Painlessly with LabVIEW
Dr. Pedro Ponce Cruz, Tec de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de Mexico
Virtual instrumentation offers new possibilities for learning intelligent control systems. The Intelligent Control Toolkit for LabVIEW (ITCL), developed by the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM), introduces step-by-step methods for learning and applying control theory to real-world practice for undergraduate teaching and graduate research.
A DAQ Device in Every Hand: Integrating NI Hardware into Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum
Greg Sawyer, University of Florida
What happens when every student coming through the door is given a USB DAQ device? We answer this with the recent integration of acquisition hardware into a new Mechanical Engineering Mechanics of Materials laboratory course at the University of Florida. We discuss the implications of this teaching paradigm on engineering curriculum as a whole.
The VISIR Open Lab Platform
Thomas Lagö, Blekinge Institute of Technology
The VISIR Open Lab Platform enables universities to open laboratories for remote access. Students use a virtual breadboard and virtual instrument panels displayed on their PCs to perform physical electrical experiments from home. The platform software is released as open source and you are invited to join the VISIR Community.
Robots That Fly, Hover, and Play Music - Designed by Students
George Anwar, University of California at Berkeley
Learn about the airplane, hovercraft, piano-playing robot, and other innovative projects designed by students in the mechanical engineering real-time systems course at UC Berkeley. In a semester, students built these robots from the ground up using the NI CompactRIO system and LabVIEW Embedded Module for ARM Micrcontrollers.
MP3 Encoding Based on LabVIEW and Other Signal Processing Algorithms Engage Students with Interactivity and Relevance
Mark Yoder, Rose Hulman
Digital signal processing is the basis for MP3 players, cell phones, and many other technologies that often play significant roles in student’s lives, making these technologies ideal for teaching. This presentation examines how NI LabVIEW software can be used to interactively explore audio processing, MP3 coding, and other “student-relevant” signal processing algorithms.
Research Track
Graphical System Design in Scientific Computing
Igor Alvarado, National Instruments
Scientific computing combines hardware acceleration technologies such as multicore CPUs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), graphical programming units (GPUs), and digital signal processors (DSPs); algorthms and applied mathematics; and advanced visualization, into one integrated environment. Learn how graphical system design and NI LabVIEW software can help you combine measurements with online data anaysis and visualization to increase your productivity and effectiveness when conducting experimental research.
Development of Simulation and Real-Time Control Platform for Fuel Cell Powertrain
Dr. Jin, Tsingua
Based on the graphical system design platform, a simulation and real-time control system for a fuel cell powertrain is developed and a model-based controller development platform is constructed. Subsystems of the powertrain are modeled and simulation software is developed with the NI LabVIEW Simulation Module. A real-time control system is constructed with PXI real time and the LabVIEW Real-Time Module.
Virtual Instrumentation in Nanotechnology: From Tool to Architecture to Enabler
Scott Jordan, PI
Nanotechnology is a potent field for research and an everyday reality in industry, routinely spinning out disruptive technologies, materials, processes, and products. Review how virtual instrumentation plays a central role, evolved from PC-connected and -coordinated instrumentation to custom logic harnessing arrays of transducers, forming tools of unprecedented performance.
FPGA-Based Feedback to Create an Ultrastable Atomic Force Microscope
Dr. Allison Churnside, University of Colorado
We use six independent FPGA-based control loops to separately stabilize an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip and sample to within 10 pm in each axis – a threefold improvement over standard CPU-based LabVIEW. This feedback is integrated into a data acquisition software suite, which the user can use to perform novel high-precision, single-molecule biophysics with the AFM.
Evolutionary Robotics with LabVIEW
Dr. Benito Fernandez, University of Texas at Austin
Involves the deployment of task-achieving multirobot systems, with coordination among the robots within the MRS and between the robots and agents in the task environment. A control scheme using artificial immune systems was developed and firmly grounded in the biological sciences, providing robust performance for the intertwined entities involved in any task-achieving MRS.
A New Approach to Large-Scale Online Computations Applied to Optimal Geosystems Management Using Graphical Programming
Dr. Eduardo Gildin, University of Texas at Austin
Optimal geosystems management relies on two requirements: predictive computational models and real-time field data acquisition/assimilation. Massive parallel computations are unfeasible for real-time implementations. This presentation proposes a new framework based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology (multicore, FPGA, GPU) and NI LabVIEW software, to solve large-scale, real-time optimal control of oil reservoirs.
Advanced 3D Visualization with Avizo Using LabVIEW Data and Programming Graphics in Graphical System Design
Dr. Shawn Zhang, Visualization Sciences Group-Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.
Programming graphics and visualization in a system design environment has not been an easy task. This presentation discusses it under the LabVIEW visual programming metaphor, how graphics programming can be approached and made more user-friendly by abstracting the API at appropriate high-level and defining generic data interface.
National Instruments Equipment to Enhance Education and Research: A Case Experience at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)
Dr. David Akopian, A. Samant, P. Kashyap, A. Melkonyan
This paper describes an UTSA experience in using NI equipment for enhancing education and research practices. It also reviews several ongoing projects including a remote hands-on educational module using the NI Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite (NI ELVIS), a testbed for impact detection using NI acquisition tools, and advanced navigation research using the recently introduced NI GPS Simulator.
The Most Powerful Laser in the World: The Texas Petawatt Laser
Dr. Enhard Gaul, University of Texas at Austin
The Texas Petawatt Laser is the highest power operating laser. It produces ultrashort (10^-13 seconds) laser pulses above one petawatt (10^15 W) peak power. Such lasers are the ultimate tool to access states of matter at unprecedented, extreme physical conditions, which are crucial to understand phenomena from controlled fusion to stellar interiors.
Advanced Numerical Methods with LabVIEW and Parallel Programming
LabVIEW R&D Group, National Instruments
NI customers work with demanding applications that move HPC-like algorithms to real-world situations. Complicated DSP/mathematics/control background combine with restrictive real-time constraints. The complexities require using standard hardware components with many core processors, including standard CPUs, blade servers, graphical programming units (GPUs), and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). We demonstrate numerical algorithms based on LabVIEW, data acquisition, real time, simulation, design, and visualization.
MATLAB® is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.
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