Controls help reduce coal power plant emissions, guide largest telescope

Coal power plant emissions will decrease using a mobile data acquisition and control system, and the world’s largest telescope gets control guidance from National Instruments hardware and software. Details and two photos follow below, along with more of each available in two new NI case studies available online.

By Control Engineering Staff November 7, 2008

Austin, TX – Coal power plant emissions will decrease, and the world’s largest telescope receives real-time control help from National Instruments hardware and software, as told in two new NI case studies available online.

This USB digitizer and I/O board is in the EUcoalsizer control unit electrical section, as shown in a National Instruments photo gallery posted with this case study.

EUtech Reduces Coal Power Plant Emissions Using NI Hardware and Software , a case studyThe challenge was to create a mobile data acquisition and control system for a laser-based probe to measure coal particles in coal pipes under severe operating conditions.The technologyThe second study is Developing Real-Time Control for the World’s Largest Telescope Using NI LabVIEW with Multicore Functionality , by Jason Spyromilio, European Southern Observatory .The write-up addresses the research, aerospace/avionics industry and highlights the LabVIEW Real-Time Module.The challenge was to use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions for high-performance computing (HPC) in active and adaptive optics real-time control in extremely large telescopes. A video is also offered.The M1 primary mirror, which is 42 m in diameter, features segmented mirror construction. The posted case study includes a photo gallery.

For a size comparison, two humans and a car (left) stand next to the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), in this image provided by National Instruments.

Close-up of image above.

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