Labview 8 delivers distributed intelligence for design, control and test, and features streamlined distributed system development and new Labview project
National Instruments has announced Labview 8, a major upgrade to the Labview graphical development platform that improves the productivity of engineers and scientists in design, control and test.
This upgrade introduces distributed intelligence - a powerful suite of new capabilities for engineers and scientists to easily design, distribute and synchronise intelligent devices and systems.
Labview 8 also features a new project-based environment for developing and managing large-scale applications as well as the latest in Express technology for simplified instrument control.
This release also includes significant updates to the Labview real-time module, Labview FPGA module, Labview PDA module and Labview datalogging and supervisory control module.
"For nearly 20 years, Labview has become the preeminent solution for instrumentation system design offering unparalleled productivity to engineers and scientists," said James Truchard, NI president and CEO.
"With the release of Labview 8, National Instruments expands the platform even further to increase productivity for a broader range of applications and technologies, including heterogeneous test systems, rapid system prototyping, full-scale system automation and embedded real-time, FPGA and microprocessor systems - all using the same time-proven, open and intuitive platform".
Design, distribute and synchronise intelligent devices.
Labview 8 extends graphical programming further into test and control systems, from rack-and-stack test solutions to automation plant networks, with new flexible and easy-to-use distributed communication and control tools.
The latest version of Labview presents a simplified, scalable interface for communicating with and synchronising between remote intelligent devices and systems, such as real-time processors and FPGAs.
Embedded designers, test engineers and control system engineers now can use the same graphical platform for simple data transfer, deterministic real-time communication and network synchronisation with integrated alarms, events and data logging.
"National Instruments Labview has evolved into the premier software tool for producing industrial measurement and control applications," said Steve Conquergood, president and founder of Advanced Measurements.
"Using a Labview configuration-based approach, engineers can easily synchronise intelligent nodes and incorporate either NI real-time and FPGA-based programmable automation controllers (PACs) or the third-party PLCs of their choice.
"Labview 8 dramatically simplifies the development, testing and support of distributed applications in test, control and design".
Streamline application and device management.
A key new feature in Labview 8, the Labview Project, introduces a new project-based environment for managing large applications and team development.
The Labview Project also includes tools for multiple target management; integrated code differencing and source code control; multi-build management; and the ability to seamlessly deploy applications to desktop, mobile, industrial and embedded targets.
With these features, engineers and scientists can more easily integrate Labview into advanced software engineering processes required for managing large teams of programmers or for compliance with industry- and government-defined development process certification standards.
Measure in minutes with the latest Express technology.
Additionally, Labview 8 continues to build on Express technology with new tools for simplifying instrument control and data acquisition.
With the new Labview instrument driver finder, engineers and scientists can now automatically recognise connected instruments and search, download and install the appropriate driver from the more than 4000 available on the NI instrument driver network.
The completely automated process eliminates tedious manual configuration and setup time, significantly reducing the time to first measurement.
With an enhanced Daq Assistant as well as NI-DAQmx 8 support for simulating NI data acquisition devices, engineers and scientists can begin programming their Labview 8 applications without hardware.
National Instruments offers Labview 8 in multiple languages, including French, German, Japanese and, for the first time, Korean, as well as Labview documentation in simplified Chinese.
For more than 17 years, NI has supplied European and Asian markets with localised services and support in local languages, currencies and time zones with branch offices in nearly 40 countries worldwide.
NI says that Labview - noted by industry, academia and the editorial community as premier software in the electronic test, industrial control and electronics design industries - has redefined measurement and automation with its unique graphical development methodology.
The recipient of 15 awards in 2004, Labview delivers an intuitive and powerful way to acquire, analyse and present measurements at every stage of development, from prototyping to design to manufacturing test.
With the release of Labview 8, NI paves the way for even more third-party connectivity with Labview, an open platform featuring compatibility with hundreds of cameras, motion stages, Teds-compliant sensors and actuators, OPC-enabled industrial devices as well as more than 4000 GPIB, VXI, PXI, PCI, serial, ethernet and USB-controlled measurement devices.
Labview is available on Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems.
National Instruments is a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation - a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists in industry, government and academia approach measurement and automation.
Leveraging PCs and commercial technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for test, control and design applications through easy-to-integrate software, such as NI Labview, and modular measurement and control hardware for PXI, PCI, USB and ethernet.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3600 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries.
In 2004, the company sold products to more than 25,000 companies in 90 countries.
For the past six years, Fortune magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.
