National Instruments releases LabView 2009

National Instruments announced LabView 2009, the latest version of its graphical system design software platform, with more than 100 new or enhanced features.

By Control Engineering August 3, 2009

National Instruments (NI) announced LabView 2009, the latest version of its graphical system design software platform, according to Control Engineering . With more than 100 new or enhanced features, the software lets engineers use virtualization technology to reduce system cost and size, streamline algorithm design and deployment to embedded systems with real-time math, deploy distributed custom measurements across vast physical hardware systems with the new NI wireless sensor network (WSN) platform, and more.
With LabView 2009, the NI 9144 expansion chassis for C Series modules becomes a LabView FPGA target that can run custom timing, inline processing, and time-critical control as distributed I/O.
Additionally, technology advances have made it possible to deploy WSNs to perform distributed measurements across physical systems.
Enhancing wireless sensors with custom software logic traditionally has required knowledge of complex, low-level embedded programming. New LabView Wireless Sensor Network Module Pioneer, however, lets users program individual NI WSN measurement nodes via graphical programming.
Engineers and scientists can use LabView to extend node battery life, increase acquisition performance, and create custom sensor interfaces. Virtualization technology makes it possible to run multiple OSs side by side on the same multicore processing hardware. New NI Real-Time Hypervisor software combines the LabView Real-Time Module with general-purpose OS capabilities to reduce system cost and size while maintaining the determinism of the real-time application.
It works with dual- and quad-core NI PXI controllers, as well as the NI 3110 industrial controller. NI is adopting an annual release cycle for LabView, with version names based on the year of release.
NI says the software can be used for acquiring data and processing signals, instrument control, automating and validating test systems, industrial measurements and control, designing embedded systems, and teaching and research.
Read the full article and sidebar by Control Engineering .