Introduction to

LabVIEW

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Department of Mechatronics Engineering​
• LabVIEW - Laboratory Virtual Instrument
Engineering Workbench
• A graphical programming environment which has
become prevalent throughout research labs,
academia and industry
• It is a powerful and versatile analysis and
instrumentation software system for
measurement and automation.
• Its graphical programming language called G
programming is performed using a graphical
block diagram that compiles into machine code
and eliminates a lot of the syntactical details.
• LabVIEW offers more flexibility than standard
laboratory instruments because it is software
based.
• Using LabVIEW, the user can originate exactly
the type of virtual instrument needed and
programmers can easily view and modify data or 2
control inputs.
Department of Mechatronics Engineering​
  Graphical user interface: Design
professionals use the drag-and-drop user
interface library by interactively
Advantages customizing the hundreds of built-in user
objects on the control palette.
of LabVIEW  Drag-and-drop built-in functions:

software Thousands of built-in functions and IP

including analysis and I/O, from the
functions palette to create applications
easily.
 Modular design and hierarchical
design: Run modular LabVIEW VIs by
themselves or as subVIs and easily scale
and modularize programs depending on the
application.
 Multiple high level development tools:
Develop faster with application specific
development tools, including the LabVIEW
State chart Module, LabVIEW Control Design
and Simulation Module and LabVIEW FPGA
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Department of Mechatronics Engineering​ Module.
  Professional Development Tools:
Manage large, professional applications and
tightly integrated project management
Advantages tools; integrated graphical debugging tools;
and standardized source code control
of LabVIEW integration.
 Multi platforms: The majority of computer
software systems use the Microsoft Windows
operating system. LabVIEW works on other
platforms like Mac OS, Sun Solaris and
Linux. LabVIEW applications are portable
across platforms.
 Reduces cost and preserves
investment: A single computer equipped
with LabVIEW is used for countless
applications and purposes—it is a versatile
product. Complete instrumentation libraries
can be created for less than the cost of a
single traditional, commercial instrument.

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  Flexibility and scalability: This ensures
Advantages that your applications not only work well
today but that you can easily integrate new
of LabVIEW technologies in the future.

software
 Connectivity and instrument control:
LabVIEW has ready-to-use libraries for
integrating stand-alone instruments, data
acquisition devices, motion control and
vision products, GPIB/ IEEE 488 and
serial/RS-232 devices, and PLCs to build a
complete measurement and automation
solution.
 Open environment: LabVIEW provides the
tools required for most applications and is
also an open development environment.

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  Distributed development: Can easily
develop distributed applications with
Advantages LabVIEW, even across different platforms.
 Visualization capabilities: LabVIEW
of LabVIEW includes a wide array of built-in visualization
tools to present data on the user interface of
software the virtual instrument as chart, graphs, 2D
and 3D visualization.
 Rapid development with express
technology: Use configuration-based
Express VIs and I/O assistants to rapidly
create common measurement applications
without programming by using LabVIEW
signal Express.
 Compiled language for fast execution:
LabVIEW is a compiled language that
generates optimized code with execution
speeds comparable to compiled C and
develops high performance code.
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  Simple application distribution: Use
the LabVIEW application builder to create
Advantages executables(exes) and shared libraries
(DLLs) for deployment.

of LabVIEW  Target management: Easily manage

multiple targets, from real-time to
software embedded devices including FPGAs,
microprocessors, microcontrollers, PDAs
and touch panels.
 Object–oriented design: Use object-
oriented programming structures to take
advantage of encapsulation and
inheritance to create modular and
extensible code.
 Algorithm design: Develop algorithms
using math-oriented textual programming
and interactively debug .m file script
syntax with LabVIEW Math Script.

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 Components Front panel
in LabVIEW window
Block diagram
Icon / connector
pane

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 Front Panel
Window
• When you open a new or existing VI,
the front panel of the VI appears. The
front panel is the interactive user
interface for the VI.
• It is named a front panel because it
stimulates the front panel of a
physical instrument.
• The front panel can include knobs,
push buttons, graphs and various
other controls (which are user inputs)
and indicators (which are program
outputs).
• Controls are inputs used to simulate
instrument input devices and supply
data to the block diagram of the VI,
and indicators are outputs displays
used to simulate instrument output
devices and display data the block
diagram acquires or generates.
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 Block Diagram
Window
• The block diagrams accompany the
program for the front panel. Front
panel objects appear as terminals on
the block diagram and the
components wired together.
• After the front panel is built, codes are
added using graphical representations
of functions in the block diagram to
control the front panel objects.
• The block diagram contains the
graphical source code composed of
nodes, terminals, and wires.
• Block diagram objects include the
terminals, subVIs, functions,
constants, structures and wires.

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 Icon / Connector
Pane
• To use a VI as a subVI, it must have an icon and a connector pane.
• Every VI displays an icon in the upper-right corner of the front panel and
block diagram windows. An icon is a graphical representation of a VI.
• The icon can contain both text and images.
• To use a VI as a subVI, you need to build a connector pane. The connector
pane is a set of terminals that correspond to the controls and indicators of
that VI.

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