Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench Research Articles

Hard Disk Drive Servo System Based on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays

Servo systems are essential components of current magnetic storage hard disk drives (HDDs). In this paper, we demonstrate a novel servo scheme using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Adjacent magnetic tracks with two different frequencies are recorded on the magnetic disk and are used as servo tracks to encode the position information. A discrete Fourier transform is employed to decode the magnetic head position and to obtain the position error signal (PES). The PES is defined in terms of the difference of the magnitudes of the two frequencies. The relationship between the displacement and the PES is obtained by offline calibration. A real-time signal acquisition and processing system using a commercial FPGA, analog-to-digital converter chips, and digital-to-analog converter chips is built to do the high-speed spectrum analysis and generate the PES. The PES is transmitted to a laboratory virtual instrument engineering workbench (LabVIEW) real-time control target to implement the control algorithm. The computed control output from the real-time control target is amplified to drive a piezoelectric stage, which moves the magnetic head along the radial direction to compensate for the position error. A simple repetitive and proportional-integral-derivative control algorithm is implemented for head positioning and to verify this new servo scheme in this paper. With the controller, most of the major disturbances, such as the harmonics of the spindle runout, have been effectively attenuated compared with an open-loop control scheme.

Software System Development of the Outer Rotor Permanent Magnet Generator Experimental Platform

In order to show the performance of the outer rotor permanent magnet generator timely and accurately under different input parameters, we coupled two software of outer rotor permanent magnet generator experimental platform based on LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench)-Virtual torque and Three-phase electric parameter tester. Firstly, we picked up the DLL (Dynamic Link Library) of virtual torque and generated an excel file through VB (Visual Basic), through LabVIEW we picked up the excel form to acquire the system input parameters (torque and speed); Secondly, we collected the real-time parameters (voltage and current) of three-phase power meter by means of the LabVIEW serial communication; Lastly, we could see the efficiency of the outer rotor permanent magnet generator on the LabVIEW front panel. The experiment show that we can couple the input and output parameters of the system based on LabVIEW, and we can see the efficiency of the outer rotor permanent magnet generator under each fixed input parameters. This experiment avoid the tedious work that people deal with data, optimize the software system of outer rotor permanent magnet generator experimental platform, and provide the technical support for optimal design of permanent magnet generator.

Design and Creation of the Automatic Data Testing Tools for Smart Sensor Based on CAN Bus

As the purpose of environmental protection, NOxsensor is driven to develop. It is built to detect the concentration of nitrogen oxides in the exhaust emissions of motor vehicles. During the development of sensor, the automatic test for the sensor ́s output message is a significant procedure. This article is aimed to design a user friendly test tool based on LabVIEW for real time testing, evaluating and error detecting of sensor data transmitted via CAN bus. Controller area network (CAN) is one of the most widely and frequently used communication protocols in automotive applications. LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) is a system-design platform and development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments. NI Company provides flexible and diverse CAN bus interface hardware and software drivers which is useful and necessary for building an automatic test system. It contains the features of configuration, displaying and decoding CAN data frames, checking CAN bus errors, testing and evaluating decoded messages, report generation, signal setting and validation.

Research of Multiplex Smart Responder Design Based on the Virtual Instrument Technology

In this paper, introduces a multiplex smart responder based on the virtual instrument technology. The programming language Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) is used and the NI Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite II (NI ELVIS II) platform is chosen as target device in designing this responder. The control kernel of this responder is LabVIEW program, it can realize lots of functions, such as adjusting question time and answer time, etc. The experiment proves, this responder is advantageous to have short design period, high reliability, easy operation and maintenance, and be helpful for user in the field of virtual instrument technology.

Data Fusion and Fault Diagnosis for Flexible Arrayed pH Sensor Measurement System Based on LabVIEW

This paper concerns the data fusion (DF) and fault diagnosis (FD), which could increase the reliability of measured results when one sensing window was faulty. The flexible arrayed pH sensor was fabricated by radio frequency sputtering system and screen-printed technology, which the ruthenium dioxide was deposited on the polyethylene terephthalate substrate as sensitive membranes and the miniature reference electrodes were fabricated by screen-printed technology. We measured pH buffer solutions for five times and the flexible arrayed pH sensor had a wide sensing range of pH 1-13 solutions. The average sensitivity and linearity were 47.70 mV/pH and 0.839, respectively. We used the Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench to do deficient diagnosis which could remove the fault sensing window. The average DF with FD, self-adaptive data fusion with FD and coefficient of variance data fusion with FD could increase sensitivity and linearity ~ 22% and 0.14, respectively.

PV-standalone monitoring system performance using LabVIEW

This paper presents and discusses the performance evaluation, monitoring and analysis of a stand-alone Photovoltaic (PV) system. This experimental investigation achieves its objectives using Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) interface capabilities. The installed PV generator system operates in extreme and severe weather conditions. The local area is characterized by a high level of irradiation, high humidity variations, very high ambient temperature and frequent dust storms. Two PV panels of 150 W rating each are used. Each panel feeds a variable resistive load separately and simultaneously. The constructed LabVIEW engine displays environmental parameters and the associated electrical variables (voltage, current and power) on dedicated graph windows continuously in a real time manner. The current versus voltage (I-V) and power versus voltage (P-V) characteristics are taken for any chosen panel, displayed and stored accurately. LabVIEW allows appending any characteristics for the sake of comparison, investigation and research purposes. LabVIEW has shown high performance in communicating with several devices simultaneously and high capability of displaying several variables behavior at a time. The designed virtual instrument (VI) filters are programmed to execute different tasks on a priority basis. The developed system reveals and stores the pronounced impact of dust, the variation of temperature and the irradiation changes on the PV panel power output behavior. The monitoring results are very satisfactory. The online data display in multi-scale window frame is very informative. The online efficiency evaluation is very useful for system operation and analysis. The developed system was found to be very supportive for research and educational purposes.

LabVIEW Based Design Implementation of M-PSK Transceiver Using Multiple Forward Error Correction Coding Technique for Software Defined Radio Applications

Software-Defined Radio (SDR) is an enabling technology which is useful in a wide range of areas within wireless systems. SDR offers a perfect solution to the problem of spectrum scarcity in wireless communication. With the significant increase in the demand for reliable, high data rate transmission these days, a different number of modulation techniques need to be adopted. The main objective of this paper is to design and analyze an SDR based M-Phase Shift Keying (PSK) transceiver using LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) and to measure the Bit Error Rate (BER) in the presence of Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) introduced in the channel. Forward Error Correction (FEC) is used as a channel coding scheme in this paper. FEC codes are used where the re-transmission of the data is not feasible, thus redundant bits are added along with the message bits and transmitted through the channel. This paper describes the fundamental concept for the design & development of an SDR -based transceiver simulation model under PSK Scheme & analyses the performance of two Forward Error Correction channel coding algorithms namely the Convolution and the Turbo Codes. In this paper we have shown that how fast and effectively we can build a PSK transceiver for interactive Software Defined Radio. With the help of this design we are able to see and prove that data errors can be minimized using coding techniques, which in turn improves the Signal to noise ratio (SNR).

Standoff Quantum Cascade Laser Photoacoustic Spectroscopy based Explosive Detection System

This paper focuses on the design and development of measurement technique and processing of signal for the detection of various explosive simulants like RDX(cyclo-trimethylene-tri-nitramine), TNT(Trinitro toluene), Sarin, TATP(Tri acetone triperoxide), their simulants like nitrobenzene, DNT(Dinitro toluene), DMMP(DiMethyl Methyl Phosphonate), acetone, propanol, etc. (in different states of matter) adsorbed on a metallic surface from a standoff distance ranging from few meters up to a distance of 25 meters in the wavelength range of 7-9 μm. The focus also lies on the measurement methodologies and the instrumentation employed in these systems. A dedicated single screen, single user, user friendly Graphical User Interface(GUI) for controlling the entire system, acquisition and processing of the incoming signal and demonstration of results has been developed with the help of Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LABVIEW). The dual phase sensitive detection technique has been employed. The “Data Acquisition for Explosive Detection System” (DAEDS) also carries out precise operation sequencing, parameter control, parameter measurement and storage of data. The incoming signal profile has been normalized with respect to the reference laser profile to obtain the resultant graph. Various experiments have been conducted and the resultant graphs have been plotted with intensity on the y-axis and wave-number on the x-axis as shown in the results section of this paper. Furthermore, online determination of the explosive or the simulant has been carried out. An engineering proto-type system has been developed which indicates the detected explosive/ simulant using the developed software.

LABVIEW BASED AUTONOMOUS AGRICULTURAL ROBOT USING FUZZY LOGIC CONTROLLER

This study proposes a LabVIEW based autonomous agricultural robot which can be used for ploughing. The control logic is designed using fuzzy logic controller to operate the robot in autonomous mode. The robot can also be controlled from a remote place using internet and its position is monitored using Global Positioning System (GPS), Data Socket protocol and Wi-Fi connection. Two DC motors are used to achieve movement control of the robot and they are controlled by the designed fuzzy logic controller. This control logic has two loops. One is outer speed control loop and the other one is inner current control loop. Based on the present position of the robot, the reference speed value is generated and based on this reference speed value the movement of an agricultural robot is controlled. Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) is a graphical programming environment suited for system-level design. This LabVIEW software enables complex and expensive equipment to be replaced by simpler and less expensive hardware. The primary difference between natural instrumentation and virtual instrumentation is the software component of the virtual instrument.

Development of On-Line Drill Wear Monitoring System in Machining of AISI 1018 Steel Using Virtual Instrumentation

This paper describes the development of on-line wear state monitoring system in drilling process on Vertical Machining Centre (VMC). In this work, standard data acquisition software LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) in the application of Virtual Instrumentation (VI) has been applied to predict the drill wear states of High Speed Steel (HSS) drill bit for drilling on a AISI 1018 Steel work piece. Drill wear state prediction allows the determination of the hole quality as well as tool replacement at proper time, during machining. Drilling experiments have been carried out over a wide range of varying cutting conditions (cutting speed, drill diameter, feed-rate) and the effects of drill wear on the spindle motor cutting current signals have been investigated. The effective drill wear model has been established to predict the drill wear states based on the relationship between the spindle motor cutting current signals and the various cutting parameters, using LabVIEW. The established on-line drill wear process monitoring system has been used for the continuous monitoring of the cutting tool status, and to exhibit the drill wear states as a percentage of the maximum permissible wear. Meanwhile, it facilitates defective tool replacement at the proper time in an automated manufacturing environment, and found to be in very good agreement to the experimentally determined drill wear values.

Serial Communication and Data Processing Based on Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench

Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench is a graphical programming software exploited by NI company with powerful real-time data processing and analysis functions. The paper focuses on the thread for designing and main function of serial communication module based on Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench and describes the function and use of the VISA function in Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench. Experiments show that the serial communication module is convenient, powerful, and of good portability and scalability.

Research of Intelligent Traffic Light Control System Design Based on the NI ELVIS II Platform

In this paper, introduces a crossroads two-way intelligent traffic light control system based on the virtual instrument technology. The programming language Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) is used and the NI Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite II (NI ELVIS II) platform is chosen as target device in designing this control system. The control kernel of the system is LabVIEW program, it can realize lots of functions, such as adjusting the passing time in all directions and the duration of the yellow light, passing time count down and treatment of abnormal traffic. The experiment proves, NI ELVIS II platform than traditional experimental teaching equipment more innovative, flexibility and practicality, be helpful for students in the field of innovation ability training.

USB Data Acquisition Using Peripheral Interface Control Microcontroller

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems have been widely used in industry applications. This paper describes design and implementation low-cost universal serial bus (USB) Data Acquisition (DAQ) which connected with computer through USB port and tested in SCADA system, the designed Data Acquisition build using new generation of microcontroller peripheral interface control PIC18F4550 which supported with USB module and it programmed in C-Language, the developed DAQ have 13 input analog channels and 16 digital I/O lines. At personal computer (PC) side, graphical user interface (GUI) application is designed using Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) program as SCADA software to acquire and monitor data and control all system I/O. The system consists of hardware part and software part. The main part of hardware is a data acquisition card, and the software part includes data acquisition card control procedures and PC software. The system hardware developed is a low-cost alternative to commercially available systems that use USB controllers. The work has been implemented for temperature sensing and controlling and the results shown currently support the hardware and software developed. It can be used for biomedical analysis, industrial temperature loggers, industrial process, instrumentation controls and in SCADA system.

DESIGN OF FUZZY LOGIC CONTROLLER FOR ONLINE SPEED REGULATION OF DC MOTOR USING PWM TECHNIQUE BASED ON LABORATORY VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT ENGINEERING WORKBENCH

This study details online speed regulation of DC motor using PWM technique based on LabVIEW. A fuzzy logic controller is designed to change the pulse width of switching signal applied to the converter and thereby the voltage fed to the armature of the separately excited DC motor to regulate the speed. The proposed system is connected to the server computer using a Data Acquisition Card (DAQ) and the server computer is configured to access remote client computer using Web publishing tool in LabVIEW. Now the speed of the DC motor can be controlled by a remote client computer with Internet connection. Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) is a graphical programming environment for creating custom applications that interact with real-world data or signals in fields such as science and engineering. The proposed online control system has been implemented to control the speeds of two different motors and the experimental results are plotted. The conventional controllers need design objectives such as steady state and transient characteristics of the closed loop system to be specified. But the designed fuzzy logic controller overcomes the problems with uncertainties in the plant parameters. The proposed online control technique saves time and reduces the manpower.

Design of a Single-Cell Positioning Controller Using Electroosmotic Flow and Image Processing

The objective of the current research was not only to provide a fast and automatic positioning platform for single cells, but also improved biomolecular manipulation techniques. In this study, an automatic platform for cell positioning using electroosmotic flow and image processing technology was designed. The platform was developed using a PCI image acquisition interface card for capturing images from a microscope and then transferring them to a computer using human-machine interface software. This software was designed by the Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench, a graphical language for finding cell positions and viewing the driving trace, and the fuzzy logic method for controlling the voltage or time of an electric field. After experiments on real human leukemic cells (U-937), the success of the cell positioning rate achieved by controlling the voltage factor reaches 100% within 5 s. A greater precision is obtained when controlling the time factor, whereby the success rate reaches 100% within 28 s. Advantages in both high speed and high precision are attained if these two voltage and time control methods are combined. The control speed with the combined method is about 5.18 times greater than that achieved by the time method, and the control precision with the combined method is more than five times greater than that achieved by the voltage method.

Design of On-Line Monitoring System for Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Power Plants

This paper describes the design of an on-line monitoring system for grid-connected photovoltaic plants. The proposed system consists of a meteorological data collection system for measuring meteorological parameters (e.g. irradiance, ambient air temperature, etc.), a set of data collection boxes for measuring electrical parameters (e.g. DC and AC current, DC and AC voltage, DC and AC power, etc.) and a PC. The collected data have been transmitted to the PC by two methods, wired transmission and wireless transmission. The software of the on-line monitoring system based on LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) package is used to process, display and store the collected data in the PC disk. The on-line monitoring system was installed in a grid-connected photovoltaic plant for an on-site measurement in Qinghai province in China. The obtained results demonstrate that it has the ability for data collecting, processing and analyzing and it meets the measurement requirements of grid-connected PV plants

The Calibration & Monitor System of Battery Operation Parameters Simulation Generator Based on LabVIEW

A battery operation parameters simulation generator was specially designed for testing battery management units. Its purpose is to provide a test platform for the industrialization of the battery management units. The parameters simulation generator can provide the battery in various conditions of voltage, current, temperature and other analog signals. In order to calibrate the battery simulation parameters in real-time, a complete set of the calibration and monitoring interface was designed based on LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) environment. The human-computer interface can achieve calibration control of voltage, current, temperature signals online, data analysis, data display, data storage, and fault diagnosis. Test results show that the developed human-computer interface is able to realize real-time calibration and monitoring functions for battery operation parameters simulation generator. Furthermore，the interface also has good real-time and stability, and has a certain application value on the testing and evaluation of the battery management unit.

Electrical Metrology Applications of LabVIEW Software

Automation in measurement has wide range of electrical metrology applications and construction of powerful calibration software is one of the highly accurate metrological laboratories’ priorities. Thus, two automatic systems for controlling and calibrating the electrical reference standards have been established at National Institute for Standards (NIS), Egypt. The first system has been built to calibrate the zener diode reference standards while the second one has been built to calibrate the electrical sourcing and measuring instruments. These two systems act as the comprehensive and reliable structure that, from the national electrical standards, disseminates the traceability to all the electrical units under calibration. The software of the two systems has been built using the Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) graphical language. The standard development procedures have been followed in the building of both systems software. The software requirement specifications as well as functional specifications are taken into consideration. Design, implementation and testing of the software have been performed. Furthermore, software validation for measurements’ uncertainty as well as results’ compatibility in both automatic and manual modes has been achieved.

Simulation of Generator Unit in Thermal Power Plant Using Labview

Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) are widely used in industry for supervisory control and data acquisition of industrial processes. This paper describes simulation of system for laboratory based thermal power plant generator setup using LabVIEW data logging and supervisory control (DSC) module. Using the input, output and functional parameters the simulation of generator unit and alarm handling technique is achieved.

Mathematical Modeling of Ultrasonic Phased Array for Obstacle Location for Visually Impaired

Ultrasonic beam steering characteristics of phased array transducer is mathematically modeled to detect and locate the obstacle for the visually impaired. The main purpose of Beam steering is to steer the beam at a given angle to investigate the object along the beam direction. The effects of various transducer parameters on beam steering properties are studied and optimal phased array is simulated. The device is constructed using 40 KHz practically available ultrasonic sensors of 16mm dimension. The main objective in designing is to minimize the main lobe width, to eliminate the grating lobes and to suppress the side lobes. In this paper the geometric parameters such as, number of elements, inter-element spacing, steering angle and array aperture are considered and transducer array is mathematically analyzed. The radiation pattern of the results is shown by the polar plots. These polar plots are simulated using LabVIEW (Laboratory virtual instrument engineering workbench) developed by National Instrument, is a graphical Programming environment suited for high-level or system level design. Advantage of this approach is the flexibility and very rapid development time offered by this graphical programming software.