LabVIEW controls the industrialized Mac OS-based system.īecause of LabVIEW's graphical nature, it is inherently a data presentation package. The Analysis Library contains a multitude of useful functions, including signal generation, signal processing, filters, windows, statistics, regression, linear algebra, and array arithmetic.įigure 1.1 The Space Industries Sheet Float Zone Furnace is used for high-temperature superconductor materials processing research in a microgravity environment aboard the NASA KC-135 parabolic aircraft.
LabVIEW also contains application-specific libraries of code for data acquisition (DAQ), General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB), and serial instrument control, data analysis, data presentation, data storage, and communication over the Internet. It has extensive libraries of functions and subroutines to help you with most programming tasks, without the fuss of pointers, memory allocation, and other arcane programming problems found in conventional programming languages. LabVIEW tries to make your life as hassle-free as possible. When your needs change, you can modify your virtual instrument in moments. Using LabVIEW, you can create exactly the type of virtual instrument you need, when you need it, at a fraction of the cost of traditional instruments. Your computer, plug-in hardware, and LabVIEW comprise a completely configurable virtual instrument to accomplish your tasks.
You, not the instrument manufacturer, define instrument functionality. LabVIEW offers more flexibility than standard laboratory instruments because it is software-based. And because LabVIEW has such a versatile graphical user interface and is so easy to program with, it is also ideal for simulations, presentation of ideas, general programming, or even teaching basic programming concepts. Programs that take weeks or months to write using conventional programming languages can be completed in hours using LabVIEW because it is specifically designed to take measurements, analyze data, and present results to the user. Using the very powerful graphical programming language that many LabVIEW users affectionately call " G" (for graphical), LabVIEW can increase your productivity by orders of magnitude.
LabVIEW can create programs that run on those platforms, as well as Microsoft Pocket PC, Microsoft Windows CE, Palm OS, and a variety of embedded platforms, including Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and microprocessors.
The LabVIEW development environment works on computers running Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. It is an interactive program development and execution system designed for people, like scientists and engineers, who need to program as part of their jobs.
However, LabVIEW is much more than a programming language. LabVIEW, short for Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench, is a programming environment in which you create programs using a graphical notation (connecting functional nodes via wires through which data flows) in this regard, it differs from traditional programming languages like C, C++, or Java, in which you program with text. Learn More Buy What Exactly Is LabVIEW, and What Can It Do for Me? LabVIEW for Everyone: Graphical Programming Made Easy and Fun, 3rd Edition