Don't Miss This Today

National Instruments Campus Tour
10:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m., Austin Convention Center Registration Area
Visit the NI headquarters to tour the manufacturing facilities and learn how NI has integrated its campus into the native Texas landscape while promoting its fun, innovative culture.

Hands-On: What's New in LabVIEW
10:30–11:30 a.m., Room 18C
Be one of the first to get your hands on LabVIEW 8.6. See how the latest features can further increase your productivity.

LabVIEW Coding Challenge
Noon–1:00 p.m., Technology Theater, Exhibition Hall
Think you have what it takes to be a LabVIEW coding expert? Come by the LabVIEW Zone to test your coding skills in the LabVIEW Coding Challenge.

Networking: Medical Device Development
Noon–1:00 p.m., Exhibition Hall Dining Area
Join Table No. 1 and discuss how to take your ideas from the clinic to the market at this Medical Device Development Peer2Peer Roundtable.

Hack Your Car with LabVIEW and NI CAN
1:00–2:00 p.m., Room 11B
Learn how you can use LabVIEW with the new NI USB CAN interfaces and Automotive Diagnostic Command Set to "hack" into your vehicle for logging data, monitoring parameters, and more.

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Simplify and Secure Your Wireless Measurements

Check out the new NI Wi-Fi data acquisition (DAQ) devices on the expo floor. The NI WLS-9211, WLS-9215, WLS-9234, and WLS-9237 combine IEEE 802.11 wireless or Ethernet communication, direct sensor connectivity, and the flexibility of LabVIEW software for remotely monitoring electrical, physical, mechanical, and acoustical signals. With the NI Wi-Fi DAQ devices, you can view data in real time while streaming dynamic waveform measurements on each channel at up to 50 kS/s with 24 bits of resolution. You also can:

• Protect your data with the 128-bit encryption standard and network authentication methods
• Use built-in signal conditioning for connectivity to thermocouples, accelerometers, load cells, and more

Watch the NI Wi-Fi DAQ guided tour

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Keynote Showcases Emerging Technologies, Future Plans for LabVIEW

During Wednesday’s keynote, NI Business and Technology Fellow Mike Santori, along with members of NI R&D, demonstrated emerging technologies and gave NIWeek attendees a sneak peek at products currently in development. From optimized multicore capabilities to configuration-based dynamic testing to wireless sensor nodes, these new technologies are at the core of graphical system design and provide higher-level engineering tools and powerful programming capabilities to engineers and scientists.

Next, NI cofounder and father of LabVIEW Jeff Kodosky entered the stage to the Italian operatic sounds composed by Puccini. He outlined challenges impacting programmers today and discussed the changing architecture of machines as they become massively parallel. Kodosky stated that we need to concentrate on the flow of data through these machines, so why not use a tool inherently capable of dataflow programming. Simply put, Kodosky states, "When you use LabVIEW for your designs, you are future-proofed."

As Kodosky and NI engineers bring more capabilities into LabVIEW, they must balance its ease of use to make users more productive. As for what the future holds, Kodosky shared his vision for advancements in the LabVIEW compiler technology, dubbed “DFIR” for dataflow intermediate representation, as well as his plans for the LabVIEW System Diagram as a higher-level abstraction tool.

View the keynote

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See NIWeek Robots in Action

Stop by the Robotics Pavilion on the expo floor to interact with some amazing robotic applications and the people who built them. Challenge a robot that plays the popular Guitar Hero video game, control an underwater vehicle, play with the latest LEGO® robot, and more.

Watch videos of five cool NIWeek robots

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Industry Experts Panel Addresses Environmental Crisis

Six industry experts came together to discuss technology advancements and their contributions in green engineering at the Industry Experts Panel on Wednesday. Dr. Deborah Estrin, director of the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), discussed how she is working on innovative ways to identify and measure carbon footprints. Manuel Gonzales, of CenterPoint Energy, is working on a similar project using smart grids to ensure that all his customers are aware of their energy use.

The question, "What level of sensor and measurement granularity is needed for energy efficiency?" shifted the discussion's focus to the need for worldwide standardization of environmental measurements and communication. Each of the panelists agreed that a common way to discuss these issues across countries and industries is necessary for technology sharing and advancement.

The panelists also agreed that there was no single answer to the environmental challenges facing society today but that a combination of solutions such as solar, wind, biodiesel, nuclear, and even fusion energy is required to resolve the crisis.

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Idea Wall Generates Witty, Insightful Feedback for NI

Here’s what NIWeek attendees had to say on the NIWeek Idea Wall, a matrix of cards with suggestions, opinions, drawings, and anything else that participants want to share with other NIWeek attendees.

NIWeek is:
Cool (and hot)
A place for idea exchange
NI Super Bowl

My advice to R&D:
LabVIEW Zoom
More cool features like Quick Drop and Block Diagram Cleanup
Keep making great products

I use LabVIEW to:
Do just about everything!
Confuse text-based programmers
Build robots to terrorize my cats

Green Engineering is:
Making heroes out of engineers and scientists
Developing cleaner, more efficient products and technologies by measuring and fixing
Fixing the mess we made

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