PDF1. Background
This paper assumes that you have a basic understanding of real-time systems and the general hardware and software components that make up one of these systems.
After reading this paper, it is recommended that you visit Building a Real-Time System with NI Hardware and Software to learn about choosing the software and hardware components that are right for your project.
2. Advantages of NI Real-Time Technology
Developing a real-time system with reliable performance and precise timing typically means integrating your application code, a real-time operating system, and underlying computer hardware – tasks that can add time and cost to your development cycle. With National Instruments real-time hardware and software, you can create real-time programs, prototype them on real world hardware, and deploy them in a fraction of the time it takes with traditional tools. Below are just some of the reasons why engineers and scientists are choosing National Instruments real-time products for their projects:
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Accelerate Development with Graphical Programming NI LabVIEW is a graphical programming language that you can use to create applications quickly and intuitively. When you combine it with the LabVIEW Real-Time Module, LabVIEW software helps you create hard real-time systems with precise timing, deterministic I/O, and reliable communication much faster than with traditional development tools. LabVIEW also has hundreds of built-in signal processing, analysis, and control functions for you to reuse. |
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| Seamlessly Deploy to a Wide Variety of Targets At any time during the development process, simply click on the LabVIEW run arrow to automatically download and test your application on any NI real-time hardware target. You can choose from rugged automation controllers, high-performance computing systems, single-board computers, or even generic PCs. All NI real-time targets feature a fully integrated software stack that includes the real-time operating system, I/O drivers, and network communication. |
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Connect with Real-World I/O in Minutes Choose from dozens of I/O modules, including A/D and high-speed digital, to customize your real-time measurement or control system. Need to connect with remote devices on a bus? NI hardware can connect to virtually any industry-standard device from CAN to EtherCAT. |
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| Take Advantage of Multicore Technology LabVIEW automatically analyzes your real-time program and runs parallel sections of code on different processor cores. In addition, you can optimize your processing by targeting important routines to specific processors, and perform low-level debugging using the NI Real-Time Execution Trace Toolkit. |
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3. NI Real-Time Technology In Action
Whether you're interested in seeing examples of how NI products can be used to build real-time systems or just need to convince your boss that NI products are the best choice for your next project, you can browse through hundreds of detailed case studies available on ni.com. Thousands of customers worldwide have used NI hardware and software to successfully build reliable real-time systems and take on some of the most challenging applications on the planet - your project could be featured next!
4. Next Step
Learn how to choose the NI software and hardware components that are right for your real-time project by visiting the paper:
>> Building a Real-Time System With NI Hardware and Software
