Lesson 8 Data Acquisition and Waveforms

You Will Learn: A. About plug-in data acquisition (DAQ) boards B. About the organization of the DAQ VIs C. How to perform a single analog input D. About the DAQ Wizards E. About waveform analog input F. How to write waveforms to file G. How to scan multiple analog channels H. How to output an analog signal I. How to drive the digital I/O lines J. About buffered data acquisition
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Overview
DAQ library supports all DAQ boards LabVIEW uses the NI-DAQ driver-level software DAQ boards for Analog I/O Digital I/O Counter/timer I/O Data acquisition system components

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Analog Input Considerations

Single-Ended vs. Differential Resolution
(5kHz Sine Wave)
10.00

Range Gain

16-Bit Versus 3-Bit Resolution

8.75 7.50 6.25 5.00 3.75 2.50 1.25 0| 0
111 110 101 100 011 010 001 000
| | | |

16-bit 3-bit

Amplitude (volts)

50

100 Time (ms)

150

200

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Analog Input Considerations

Code Width Sampling Rate
Adequately Sampled 10 1 * 2 12 = 2.4 mV 20 1 * 2 12 = 4.8 mV

Aliased due to undersampling

Averaging
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DAQ Software Architecture Windows

Win95 Device Manager LabVIEW for Windows

DAQ Library VIs

nidaq32.dll for Windows

DAQ-STC

Windows Registry DAQ Board

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DAQ Hardware Configuration

Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX)

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The DAQ Signal Accessory

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Exercise 8-1 on page 8-10

Students examine MAX and the

DAQ Configuration Utility

Time to complete: 15 min.

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DAQ VI Organization
Analog Input Analog Output Digital I/O Counter

Calibration and Configuration

Signal Conditioning

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Analog Input VI Organization

Easy I/O VIs

Intermediate VIs Utilitly VIs Advanced VIs

Single-point VIs

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DAQ Channel Name Control

Data type used to communicate with DAQ boards Enter channel names by number or by virtual channel name defined in MAX

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Exercise 8-2 on page 8-23

Students build Voltmeter.vi *This VI will be used in a later exercise.
Time to complete: 20 min.

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Exercise 8-3 on page 8-25

Students modify Measurement Averaging.vi
Time to complete: 20 min.

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DAQ Wizards
DAQ Channel Wizard DAQ Solution Wizard

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Exercise 8-4 on page 8-27

Students use the DAQ Solution Wizard

Time to complete: 10 min.

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Waveform Analog Input

AI Acquire Waveform VI displays a dialog box if an error occurs

VI returns a waveform datatype

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Exercise 8-5 on page 8-33

Students Build Acquire Waveform.vi
Time to complete: 25 min.

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Writing Waveform Data to File

Waveform File I/O subpalette of the Waveform palette Three VIs for writing waveform data to file

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Exercise 8-6 on page 8-37

Students build Acquire Waveform to File.vi

Time to complete: 15 min.

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Scanning Multiple Analog Input Channels

AI Acquire Waveforms VI accepts multiple channel names as input 1D array of waveforms is returned Order of the channels (in DAQ Channel Name) determine the array order

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Scanned Waveforms and Graphs

Plot all waveforms on the same waveform graph

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Exercise 8-7 on page 8-40

Students examine and run Scan Example.vi
Time to complete: 15 min.

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Exercise 8-8 on page 8-41 (Optional)

Students build Scan Two Waveforms.vi
Time to complete: 20-25 min.

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Analog Output VIs

Single-point VI

Waveform Generation VI

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Exercise 8-9 on page 9-43

Students examine and run Voltage Output Example.vi with Voltmeter.vi
Time to complete: 15 min.

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Digital Input and Output VIs

Line = single TTL signal

Port = collection of lines (4 or 8)

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Exercise 8-10 on page 8-48

Students examine and run Digital Example.vi

Time to complete: 20 min.

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Buffered Data Acquisition (Optional)

Intermediate VIs - Highly recommended for most applications - Continuous acquisition with triggering available - Interval scanning - Different gains for different channels - Streaming data to disk - Error handling
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Analog Input Operations

Sequence AI Config Configure channels, gains, and computer buffer AI Start Set trigger conditions, program clocks, and start DAQ AI Read Read data from buffer (repeat if continuous) AI Clear Stop DAQ, free board and computer resources General VI parameters taskID to control execution order Bold terminals Default values
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Analog Input Intermediate VIs

Buffered Analog Input

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Continuous Data Acquisition

Exercise 8-11 on page 8-52 (Optional)

Students build Continuous Acquire with MIO.vi
Time to complete: 20-25 min.

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Summary
Use the Measurement & Automation Explorer to configure DAQ boards and virtual channels DAQ VIs organized into five subpalettes Analog Input, Analog Output, Digital I/O, Counter, Configuration and Calibration, and Signal Conditioning Analog Input and Output subpalettes are divided into levels Easy I/O, Intermediate, Advanced, and Utility VIs Easy I/O contains VIs for Single-channel analog input and output Single-channel waveform input and output Multichannel waveform input and output Digital input and output Continuous DAQ can be performed using the intermediate VIs of AI Config, AI Start, AI Read, and AI Clear
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Additional Exercises on page 8-56

8-12 -- Students build Temp Monitor with LED.vi

Time to complete: 25 min.

8-13 -- Students use the DAQ Solution Wizard to open Simple Data Reader.vi
Time to complete: 25 min.

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Lesson 9 Instrument Control

You Will Learn: A. An overview of instrument control B. About GPIB communication and configuration C. About LabVIEW instrument drivers D. How to use instrument driver VIs E. About Virtual Instrument Software Architecture F. How to use the VISA functions G. About serial port communication H. About waveform transfers
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Instrument Control Overview

Control any instrument if you know the following: Type of connector on the instrument Type of cables needed Electrical properties involved Communication protocols used Software drivers available
Instruments
Computer

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GPIB Communication
GPIB Instrument GPIB Interface

GPIB Cable

1965
LV Instr 1-192

1975

1987

1990

1992 1993 1999

GPIB Hardware Specifications

Max cable length between devices = 4 m (2 m average) Max cable length = 20 m Max number of devices = 15 (2/3 powered on)

DIO1 DIO2 DIO3 DIO4 EOI DAV NRFD NDAC IFC SRQ ATN SHIELD

13

12 24

DIO5 DIO6 DIO7 DIO8 REN GND (TW PAIR W/DAV) GND (TW PAIR W/NRFD) GND (TW PAIR W/NDAC) GND (TW PAIR W/IFC) GND (TW PAIR W/SRQ) GND (TW PAIR W/ATN) SIGNAL GROUND

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GPIB Software Architecture Windows

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Configuring GPIB Board and Instruments

Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX)

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Exercise 9-1 on page 9-7

Students use MAX to examine the GPIB board settings and communicate with an instrument
Time to complete: 20-25 min.

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Instrument Drivers
More than 650 LabVIEW instrument drivers Programming simplified to high-level API

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Installing and Finding Instrument Drivers

NI Web site or Instrument Driver CD Install the instrument driver VI Library into LabVIEW\instr.lib directory Access drivers from Instrument I/O Instrument Drivers subpalette

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Exercise 9-2 on page 9-13

Students open the Getting Started Instrument Driver VI for the NI Instrument Simulator
Time to complete: 20-25 min.

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Instrument Drivers
Instrument drivers have a similar hierarchy

Instrument Driver VI Tree

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Instrument Driver Inputs and Outputs

NI DEVSIM Initialize.vi

VISA Sessions A connection or link to a specific instrument Created after instrument is initialized Used throughout VI whenever you communicate with that specific instrument Error Clusters
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VISA Resource Name

Exact name and location of the instrument Use the VISA Resource Name control (like the DAQ
Channel Name control)

You can specify the full resource name or the VISA Alias

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Putting It All Together

VISA Sessions

Error Clusters

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Initialize instrument Do operation(s) Close instrument Check error status

Exercise 9-3 on page 9-21

Students build the Voltage Monitor.vi
Time to complete: 10 min.

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Virtual Instrument Software Architecture

VISA
Serial
OS Calls

GPIB
NI-488.2

VXI
NI-VXI

PXI

Standard API for programming instruments

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Platform independent Interface independent Interface to Serial, GPIB, and VXI instruments Uses VISA.DLL

VISA Terminology
ResourceInstrument, Serial Port, or Parallel Port SessionConnection to a Resource Instrument DescriptorResource location Format: Interface Type::Address::INSTR

Examples:

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Instrument Descriptor Syntax

Resource Name contains interface info VISA Aliases also work Interface Resource Name Grammar Serial GPIB VXI ASRL[board][::INSTR] GPIB[board]::primary address[::INSTR] VXI[board]::VXI logical address[::INSTR]

GPIB-VXI GPIB-VXI[board][::GPIB-VXI primary address]::VXI logical address[::INSTR]

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VISA Functions

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Exercise 9-4 on page 9-29

Students build Read VISA Waveform.vi
Time to complete: 20-25 min.

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Serial Communication
RS-232 Instrument PC Serial Port

RS-232 Cable

Popular means of communication between computer and peripheral device Data sent one bit at a time across the cable Used for low transfer rates or long distances Only a cable is needed since most computers have at least one available serial port
LV Instr 1-210

Serial Communication

Terminology Baud rate bits per second Data bits inverted logic and LSB first Parity optional error-checking bit Stop bits 1, 1.5, or 2 inverted bits at data end Flow control hardware and software handshaking options
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Serial Hardware Connection

RS-232 Most PCs DCE or DTE configurations 9-pin or 25-pin Single-ended RS-422 Macintosh 8-pin Differential RS-485 Multidrop Industrial Automation
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Pin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DCD RxD TxD DTR Com DSR RTS CTS RI

DTE DCE Input Output I O O I O I I O O I I O I O

Serial VIs and Functions

Found in Serial subpalette under Instrument I/O Based on VISA functions

Serial VIs and functions also work with parallel port communication

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Serial I/O Example

Initialize the serial port settings Write commands to the device Read device response Check for errors

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Exercise 9-5 on page 9-38

Students examine and run Serial Write & Read.vi
Time to complete: 15-20 min.

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Waveform Transfers (Optional)

ASCII Waveforms

Binary Waveforms 1-byte integers

2-byte integers

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Exercise 9-6 on page 9-45 (Optional)

Students examine and run Waveform Example.vi
Time to complete: 20 min.

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Exercise 9-7 on page 9-49 (Optional)

Students build Binary Waveform.vi
Time to complete: 20-25 min.

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Summary
LabVIEW can communicate with any instrument that connects to your computer if you know the interface type Use the Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) to detect, configure, and test your GPIB interface and instruments An instrument driver eliminates the need for your to have detailed knowledge of the specific strings used by an instrument Instrument Library more than 650 instruments supported Instrument driver VIs share a common hierarchy and come with an example to help you get started VISA a standard protocol for using multiple types of I/O and instrument driver development Serial library contains functions for serial communication You need to know the format of the returned data string in order to convert it to the correct values
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Additional Exercises on page 9-51 9-8 Students use the NI DEVSIM Getting Started VI to communicate in serial mode with
a device
Time to complete: 20-25 min.

9-9 Students modify a previous VI and save it as Voltage Data to File.vi

Time to complete: 20-25 min.

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Lesson 10 VI Customization

You Will Learn: A. B. C. D. E. How to customize the panel window How to create pop-up panels How to use Key Navigation How to edit VIs with disabled options About customizing palettes

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Customizing VI Properties
Access VI Properties... by right-clicking on icon pane or selecting it from the File menu Affects every instance of that VI in all applications

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Window Appearance
Only affects VI panel while VI is running

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Window Size
Set minimum and current panel size Adjust size of panel relative to the monitor Scale objects on panel as window resizes

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Creating Pop-Up Panels

Use Top-Level Application Window or Dialog appearance types Create custom window appearance

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SubVI Node Setup

Access SubVI Node Setup by right-clicking on subVI icon on calling VIs diagram Affects only that single instance of the subVI

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Exercise 10-1 on page 10-8

Students build Use Pop-Up Graph.vi and

Pop-Up Graph.vi
Time to complete: 20-30 min.

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Key Navigation
Assigns keyboard strokes to front panel controls

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Exercise 10-2 on page 10-13

Students build Temperature System.vi

Time to complete: 25-30 min.

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Combination of VI Properties (Optional)

Opens, runs, and closes LabVIEW without user intervention

Save with Options to make backups

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Exercise 10-3 on page 10-19

(Optional)
Students modify Edit_Me.vi
Time to complete: 25-30 min.

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Customizing LabVIEW Palettes (Optional)

Access different palette sets from the Options button in Control or Function palette Display either icon or text Control and Function palettes

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Editing Control & Function Palettes

Modify the existing palettes Create your own palettes

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Exercise 10-4 on page 10-25 (Optional)

Students modify the Functions Palette
Time to complete: 20-25 min.

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Summary
Use VI Properties to set VI execution, window, and documentation options Use SubVI Node Setup to set execution options for a single instance of a subVI Use the Key Navigation option to assign front panel controls to a keyboard key combination Use the Save with Options from the file menu to make backups of your VIs You can often edit VIs by aborting them from the diagram of another VI You can fully customize the Control and Function palettes from the Option button in the Function Browser window
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