LabVIEW Student Edition Textbook

by Dr. Robert H. Bishop | University of South Florida

LabVIEW is widely taught in academic classrooms and labs to help students increase their rate of discovery, build solutions faster, and improve their success. This textbook provides an instructional and experimental approach for students to learn LabVIEW. It was written specifically with students in mind, offering explanations and activities that cover not only features and capabilities of LabVIEW, but also the computational thinking elements behind them. Each textbook includes a serial number for LabVIEW Student Edition, which offers all the capabilities of the full version of LabVIEW.

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students develop a working knowledge of the basic structures, data types, programmatic flow, and data acquisition techniques necessary to solve complex engineering problems with the LabVIEW software environment
Students gain insight into how LabVIEW is being used to solve real engineering challenges in industry through in-depth case studies
Students design graphical programming solutions to presented problems that build upon related chapter content, giving students a deeper understanding of the learning material

COURSE ALIGNMENT

Level	University
Topic	LabVIEW
Style	Textbook
Prerequisite Skills	Basic Knowledge of Programming

Included Course Labs

LABVIEW BASICS

Students are guided through the basics of the LabVIEW interface, including menus, palettes, and help options. After learning the basic structure of the program, students are guided through building an introductory LED circuit.

VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS

Students learn how build applications with virtual instruments, which are fundamental to the LabVIEW programming platform. They are introduced to the front panel, controls and indicators, block diagrams, and data flow programming. Students use this information to build a basic thermistor circuit.

EDITING AND DEBUGGING VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS

This chapter of the textbook guides students in learning about different ways to edit, customize, and fix errors with virtual instruments.

SUBVIS

Students learn the benefits and fundamentals of creating and customizing a subVI within a broader virtual instrument.

STRUCTURES

In this section, students learn the basic structures that are available to program with in LabVIEW, including the for loop, while loop, case structures, formula nodes, and flat sequence structures. Students are also introduced to common programming techniques that involve the structures discussed in this chapter.

ARRAYS AND CLUSTERS

In this section, students learn about two common LabVIEW data types: arrays and clusters. Students are introduced to the different LabVIEW functions available to them dealing with each type as well as how to create them.

CHARTS AND GRAPHS

Students learn how to display and customize the data that they acquire with hardware using charts and graphs.

DATA ACQUISITION

In this chapter, students learn the fundamentals of data acquisition including the different types of signals that can be acquired, signal conditioning, signal grounding, analog-to-digital converters, configuring DAQ devices to read into LabVIEW, the DAQ Assistant, as well as analog and digital I/O.

STRINGS AND FILE I/O

In this section, students learn how to use strings and how to write data to files.

NI LABVIEW MATHSCRIPT RT MODULE

Students learn about using the NI LabVIEW MathScript RT Module to add textual math to the LabVIEW development environment. The guide includes syntax, defining functions and create scripts, saving and loading data files, MathScript nodes, and useful applications of the module.

ANALYSIS

This section details the different mathematical analysis available to students within LabVIEW including statistics and curve fitting, differential equations, integration and differentiation, finding the zero of a function, signal generation, and signal processing.

INSTRUMENT CONTROL

This appendix outlines in detail how to control external hardware instruments from within LabVIEW using serial communication and instrument drivers.

LABVIEW DEVELOPER CERTIFICATION

This appendix provides an overview of the LabVIEW Developer Certification process as well as a sample CLAD Examination with detailed solutions.

Requirements

myDAQ

Combines a comprehensive set of plug-and-play computer-based lab instruments with portability for hands-on student learning in or outside the lab. Learn more

LabVIEW

LabVIEW is systems engineering software for applications that require test, measurement, and control with rapid access to hardware and data insights. Learn more

DETAILED REQUIREMENTS

Required Software

Download Academic Software, Learn About Software Licensing

LabVIEW Student Edition (Requires license, included in textbook purchase)
- LabVIEW MathScript RT Module (Requires license, included in textbook purchase)
- NI-DAQmx driver
Virtual Instrument Learning Library (Included in the resource tab)

Required Hardware

Purchase Engineering Education Products

NI myDAQ - View Specifications

Resources

OTHER RESOURCES

Download Accompanying LabVIEW Code

Related Resources

EXPLORE

These labs have related concepts that can expand student experience.

LabVIEW Core 1 Training Course

LabVIEW Core 2 Training Course

LabVIEW Academy Curriculum Package