NI myRIO Research Articles

LabVIEW based solar simulator and its hardware implementation using NI myRIO

LabVIEW based solar simulator and its hardware implementation using NI myRIO

RT Based Railway Gates Automation Using NI myRIO

Railway safety at level crossings remains a paramount concern due to the recurring incidence of train accidents. This study proposes an innovative solution to enhance safety by introducing an automatic gate system at unmanned crossings, replacing manual operation. The system utilizes strategically positioned proximity detectors to detect approaching trains, automating gate management. This reduces gate closure duration compared to manual operation, minimizing disruptions to road traffic. Additionally, the system reduces reliance on human labor, offering a more efficient and reliable solution. It is particularly suitable for unmanned crossings prone to higher accident probabilities, where dependable operation is crucial. By integrating infrared sensors and servo motors, the system ensures prompt gate closure upon train detection, reducing potential accidents caused by negligence. This study enhances prior research by utilizing two infrared sensors on each side of the track, improving train position tracking accuracy. The sensors are programmed using the LabVIEW platform, facilitating integration with myRIO controllers. Overall, this study presents a comprehensive approach to enhancing railway safety through innovative automation technology at unmanned level crossings. Keywords— NI myRIO, IR sensors, Servomotor, Labview.

E-Nose for Piston Ring and Cylinder Block Condition Detection of Motorcycle Engine Based on MyRIO LabVIEW Programming

This study has created a system capable of identifying the condition of the piston ring and cylinder block of a 4-stroke motorcycle engine using petrol or similar through exhaust emissions. Multisensory gas, sensitive to changes in CO, CO2, NOx, and HC gas elements and compounds, is installed as an input to the exhaust channel and integrated using LabVIEW programming on the NI myRIO module. Multisensory data is processed using the FFT and the backpropagation method to classify whether the piston rings and engine cylinder block are in good or damaged condition. Tests have been carried out on motorbikes with piston rings and engine cylinder blocks that are in good, damaged, or unknown condition. During the test, the target error value for motorcycles with piston rings and engine cylinder blocks in good or damaged condition is less than 1%. The system can distinguish the condition of the piston ring and cylinder block of a motorcycle engine that is 100% optimal and 100% damaged with an error of 0% compared to the compression test method, and the maximum error is 20% Compared to the technician's manual method. Ten motorcycles were randomly tested in unknown conditions; 50% were in good condition, and 50% were damaged. For further development, an electronic nose system can detect engine combustion conditions and damage to cylinder rings and 4-stroke motorbike engine blocks based on exhaust emissions.

Development of a Hardware-in-the-Loop Platform for the Validation of a Small-Scale Wind System Control Strategy

The use of renewable energies contributes to the goal of mitigating climate change by 2030. One of the fastest-growing renewable energy sources in recent years is wind power. Large wind generation systems have drawbacks that can be minimized using small wind systems and DC microgrids (DC-µGs). A wind system requires a control system to function correctly in different regions of its operating range. However, real-time analysis of a physical wind system may not be feasible. An alternative to counteract this disadvantage is using real-time hardware in the loop (HIL) simulation. This article describes the implementation of an HIL platform in an NI myRIO 1900 to evaluate the performance of control algorithms in a small wind system (SWS) that serves as a distributed generator for a DC-µG. In the case of an SWS, its implementation implies nonlinear behaviors and, therefore, nonlinear equations, and this paper shows a way to do it by distributing the computational work, using a high-level description language, and achieving good accuracy and latency with a student-oriented development kit. The platform reproduces, with an integration time of 10 µs, the response of the SWS composed of a 3.5 kW turbine with a fixed blade pitch angle and no gear transmission, a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), and a three-phase full-bridge AC/DC electronic power converter. The platform accuracy was validated by comparing its results against a software simulation. The compared variables were the PMSG currents in dq directions, the turbine’s angular speed, and the DC bus’s voltage. These comparisons showed mean absolute errors of 0.04 A, 1.9 A, 0.7 rad/s, and 9.5 V, respectively. The platform proved useful for validating the control algorithm, exhibiting the expected results in comparison with a lab-scale prototype using the same well-known control strategy. Using a well-known control strategy provides a solid reference to validate the platform.

Development of magnetic levitation system with position and orientation control

This work demonstrates the design and development of a magnetic levitation (MagLev) system that is able to control both the position and orientation of the levitated object. For the position control, a pole placement method was exploited to estimate parameters of the proportional integral derivative (PID) controller. In addition, the MagLev was constructed using a pair of electromagnets, two infrared (IR) receiver-emitter pairs and a servo motor to allow the orientation of the object to be controlled. The proposed controller was programmed in a LabVIEW environment, which was then compiled and deployed into an embedded NI myRIO board. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method was able to achieve a zero steady-state orientation error when the object was rotated from 0 ◦ to ±90◦ , a steady-state position error of 0.3 cm without rotation, and steady-state position errors of no greater than 1.2 cm with rotation.

Effects of long-term exercise training on physiological signals and personality traits in women in law enforcement

Law enforcement teams across the globe experience the highest occupational stress and stress-related diseases. Physical exercise and an active lifestyle are recommended as part of their profession to equip them to fight stress and related health adversities. The research is carried out using objective measures of Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Electro Dermal Activity (EDA), Heart Rate Recovery (HRR), and subjective questionnaires. HRV was generated with an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal acquired using NI myRIO 1900 interfaced with the Vernier EKG sensor. HRR was acquired with the help of a Polar chest strap exercise heart rate monitor and EDA acquisition was carried out with Mindfield E-Sense electrodes. Then statistical features are extracted from the collected data, and feed to the AQCNN (Aquila convolution neural network) classifier to predict the stress. Signal analyses were done in Kubios 4.0, Ledalab V3.x in a MATLAB environment. The results pointed out that exercise training is effective in increasing the vagal tone of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and hence improves the recovery potential of the cardiovascular system from stress. The proposed AQCNN method improves the accuracy by 95.12% which is better than 93.13%, 85.36% and 80.13% from Statistical technique, CNN and ML-SVM respectively. The findings have the potential to influence decision-making in the selection and training of recruits in high-stress positions, hence optimizing the cost and time of training by identifying maladaptive recruits early.

Flow rate Controlled Water Sprinkler using myRIO controller and LabVIEW

Agriculture is an important component of the primary sector and is also used to develop both secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. Therefore, agriculture is the backbone of India. Farmers suffer from various problems like debts, crop failure, mental health, technology, water problems, etc. A system has been proposed in this paper to improve farming in a sustainable method using the existing technology. Flow rate -controlled water sprinkler using a PID controller which is executed using NI LabVIEW and a interfacing device NI myRIO, has been designed. NI LabVIEW is a graphical programming tool for validation and resolving system. Sensors like the rain sensor and moisture sensor are interfaced with NI LabVIEW, with the help of NI myRIO. A flow sensor is interfaced with NI myRIO through a UART connection. Sprinkling of water to the crops based on the requirement of the soil has been accomplished using this proposed system.

Remote Access Greenhouse Automation Application Based On LabVIEW

Various automatic control systems have been established in order to increase the yield of the products to be obtained from the plants grown in the greenhouses. These control systems come into prominence in ensuring the automatic solution of the determined problems by being activated quickly, controlling the temperature and moisture values in the greenhouse and in the stable operation of the system. In this study, remote access greenhouse automation application was performed with the NI MyRIO control card, and system data was monitored and controlled in real time via the Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) graphical program. The values of the plants to be grown in the greenhouse such as water, temperature, moisture and appropriate photosynthesis light ratio are measured and determined by the sensors used in the system and shown to the user with the LabVIEW interface program with the NI MyRIO control card.

Cloud-Based, Expandable—Reconfigurable Remote Laboratory for Electronic Engineering Experiments

This article describes the design and development of the NI myRIO device-based remote laboratory. The cloud-based, expandable, and reconfigurable remote laboratory is intended to give students access to an online web-based user interface to perform experiments. Multiple myRIO devices are programmed to host several experiments each. A finite state machine is used to select specific experiments, while a single state can contain several. The laboratory web virtual instruments interfaces are hosted on the SystemLink cloud and SystemLink server. A user-friendly interface has been designed to help students to understand important electronic concepts. Virtual and real experiments were fused to give students a wide range of experiments they can access online. The instructor can check outputs of an experiment being executed on the device. Achieving connection between myRIO and SystemLink through global variables and SystemLink ensured that the low-cost device was utilized, and this is suitable for third-world countries’ universities that cannot afford expensive equipment. Students can perform the experiments which have some resemblance to physical execution. The system is expandable in that the number of myRIO devices or number of experiments can be increased to suit changing requirements. The reconfigurability of the system is such that the finite state machine-based coding technique permits only one experiment to be selected, configure the system, and run while other experiments are idle.

Sub-harmonic oscillations attenuation in hardware-in-the-loop models using the Integration Oversampling Method

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) technology has become widespread for testing purposes, gaining special importance in micro-grids and renewable energy. One of the main challenges in HIL technology is its use in mid or high-frequency applications. In those cases, oversampling gate signals is a must to obtain enough accuracy and avoid undesirable sub-harmonic oscillations in the emulation that would not appear in a real scenario or offline electrical simulation. However, handling the extra information obtained through oversampling increases significantly the complexity of switched models since the oversampling methods deal with more than one sample per simulation step. It leads to extra design effort if the models are designed ad-hoc or increased hardware resources when using vendor tools that implement oversampling techniques. In both cases, oversampling traditionally implies an increase in the overall cost of the HIL system. This paper proposes the Integration Oversampling Method (IOM), which manages the extra information obtained through oversampling with a minimum impact on the models’ complexity. In fact, the power model is not changed at all and uses just one switch state per simulation step. The method consists in adding a small hardware block in the input of the gate signals. Using the additional information obtained through oversampling, it generates a set of switch states in every simulation step that minimizes the integrated error in the input reading. The experimental results obtained through an NI myRIO device show clearly enhanced performance when using IOM both in transient and steady-state operation. At the same time, the additional hardware resources necessary for IOM implementation are negligible.

A New Software-Based Optimization Technique for Embedded Latency Improvement of a Constrained MIMO MPC

Embedded controllers for multivariable processes have become a powerful tool in industrial implementations. Here, the Model Predictive Control offers higher performances than standard control methods. However, they face low computational resources, which reduces their processing capabilities. Based on pipelining concept, this paper presents a new embedded software-based implementation for a constrained Multi-Input-Multi-Output predictive control algorithm. The main goal of this work focuses on improving the timing performance and the resource usage of the control algorithm. Therefore, a profiling study of the baseline algorithm is developed, and the performance bottlenecks are identified. The functionality and effectiveness of the proposed implementation are validated in the NI myRIO 1900 platform using the simulation of a jet transport aircraft during cruise flight and a tape transport system. Numerical results for the study cases show that the latency and the processor usage are substantially reduced compared with the baseline algorithm, 4.6× and 3.17× respectively. Thus, efficient program execution is obtained which makes the proposed software-based implementation mainly suitable for embedded control systems.

UDP Pervasive Protocol Design and Implementation on Multi Devices using MyRIO

Pervasive Computing is one of the practical computing applications to facilitate computer operations by minimizing human interaction with computers. Pervasive Computing has been developed using UDP protocol to recognize the other devices without manual configuration. NI MyRIO device is one of the most reliable devices for the prototyping process. However, there are still not many implementations of data transmission using specific protocols. And the direction of use for smart homes or smart environments is still not widely done. This research contribution implemented Pervasive UDP protocols on PC devices and two NI MyRIO using LabVIEW programming language. UDP protocols are used because they do not require a handshake to recognize another device to reduce delays and have smaller data sizes due to the absence of recognition fields and sequence fields. Each device uses a dual-state machine system design that has a function to detect other devices automatically and act as an application to use the address of another device. PC represents the host, and MyRIO represents the client. Using the same state machine to detect all devices can recognize more than one device on the same network. The obtained test results show that all functional testing scenarios succeeded 100%. The discovery time is averaged at 0.202754 seconds for First MyRIO as First Client and 0.303201 seconds for Second MyRIO as Second Client. The delay in sending data from the host to the client is no more than 2 seconds. Based on this research, MyRIO has the ability to pervasive Computing with other devices. And can be used for prototyping models with good capabilities.

Mathematical model and PID control of a hydraulic motor using on/off solenoid valve

Hydraulic motors have a high power capacity that makes them commonly used in different applications. These applications require precise control of hydraulic motors’ position, velocity, and force. Digital hydraulic valves are commonly used in hydraulic power systems. The high-speed on/off valves (HSVs) are digital valves usually used in flow or pressure control where high dynamic performance is required to improve the control accuracy. This paper aims to present an accurate method of controlling a hydraulic motor using HSV and PID control. A mathematical model of the whole system is presented. This model allows predicting the system response and refining the control gains to reach the desired response. The model parameters are obtained by experimental measurement, or typical values are used. The model is implemented using MATLAB and SIMULINK. Then it is validated experimentally using some tests. The designed control method is implemented on the motor using NI myRIO as a controller, which is coded by LabVIEW software

SoC FPGA-Based Rapid Prototyping of Compressed, Secured and Wireless Image Transmission for Wildlife Surveillance System

Wildlife plays an important role in balancing the earth’s ecosystem. Today, many species of wildlife are threatened with extinction. Images are important input data for wildlife surveillance technology,whichallowsreal situations in the field to be observed and analysed. This project proposed a wireless transmission systemof compressedandsecured imagesusing the SoCFPGA platformfor improving the existing systemin terms of image data collection. Image compression ensuredthat the proposed system wasefficient in terms of data processing, transmission and storage. Image data encryption aimed at ensuring that the security of the transmitted image data would not be hijacked by poachers or non-authorities and ultimately this system wouldtransmit compressed and secured images wirelessly to provide real-time data. The prototype usedLabVIEW 2017 software and NI myRIO (as image transmitter) and a computer (as image receiver) hardware. This platform has been utilisedfor the development of the architectural design of a compression system using the discrete cosine transform (DCT) method, the development of an encryption system using the advanced encryption standards (AES) method and wireless transmission using Wi-Fi. The implementation of DCT on the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) platform allowedthe imagesto be compressed by an average of 44% to shortenthe time used in the transmission process. The AES method guaranteeddata security with images that can only be viewedwhenusing the correct password. Combining both the DCT and AES methods, the rapid prototyping of the wireless transmission of compressed and secured images for a wildlife surveillance system equippedwith a motion sensor and a camera was developed to detect motion, capture imagesand transmit three (3) different image resolutions atdistances of up to 60m.

A Two-stage Single-phase Grid-connected Solar-PV System with Simplified Power Regulation

This study focuses on the design and development of a simplified active power regulation scheme for a two-stage single-phase grid-connected solar-PV (SPV) system with maximum power point (MPP) estimation. It aims to formulate and test an improvised new control scheme to estimate the real-time MPP of the PV panel and operate only at either the MPP or on the right-hand side (RHS) of the PV characteristics of the panel. A simple active power regulatory control scheme was formulated to provide frequency control services to a single-phase grid without using an energy storage device. The plant operator provides the reserve fraction as the input for the active power regulation controller. At any time, the reserve fraction is used to determine the magnitude of the reference power to be extracted from the PV panel for injection into the grid. A simple PI controller was used to track the calculated reference power. The different modes of operation of the regulatory scheme are presented in detail. All the above control schemes are integrated and implemented through appropriate switching of the DC-DC converter alone. The DC-AC converter maintains the DC link voltage and unity power factor at the single-phase grid terminals. The proposed control schemes were tested on a 250 Wp solar panel feeding power to a 230 V, 50 Hz single-phase grid through a two-stage converter. The entire scheme was modeled using the Matlab/Simulink platform, and the same was validated by hardware experimentation using Chroma Solar Simulator and NI myRIO controller under varied irradiation, temperature, and reserve fractions. The simulation and hardware results are compared and reported.

PI controller implementation for the two wheels of a differential robot using NI MyRio

Introduction. Computational power improvement throughout the time combined with the overall technology advancement has allowed the development and use of robotics for several applications, such as supervision in hazardous places, transportation, vigilance, tourism guiding and, cleaning, among others. The mobile robotics field industry is not yet visible in Brazil, since there is no expressive national manufacturer of a platform for robotics development and programming. Objective. Thus, this article aims to show the development of a mobile robot to be used in internal and external environments for didactic purposes and as a development platform. Methodology. The development of a mobile robot includes hardware and software design, and, in this last group, there are the speed controllers, which are an important part of the robot design and building. In our article, it is implemented a PI controller in an embedded system of National Instruments, called NI-MyRio. This system is programmed in LabVIEW and embeds speed control for the wheels, besides the encoders reading. Additionally, it is connected to an Ethernet network, allowing supervision and control from one or more computers in the same network. Results. It was possible to model the wheels and to configure the PI controller by using such models and the internal control model method. In the experiments, it was possible to prove the functionality of the controllers satisfactorily. Conclusion. In conclusion, using the methodology described above, it was possible to model, build, and evaluate the robot and the controller, fulfilling the project requirements.

Ušteda energije i poboljšanje performansi elektromagnetnog ventila velike brzine za uključivanje/isključivanje

High-speed on/off solenoid valves (HSVs) are digital vales commonly used in hydraulic power systems. These valves are usually used in pressure and flow control which requires high dynamic and energy performance to improve the control accuracy. This paper aims to propose a new control method used to improve the dynamic and energy performance of HSVs. The proposed method is based on the pulse width modulation (PWM) technique implemented by LabVIEW software and NI myRIO. Based on that, NI myRIO has a real-time module; no feedback is needed. A mathematical model of the HSV is introduced, describing each subsystem of the vale and its interactions with each other. The proposed method is validated under different operating conditions. The results show that applying the proposed control method on the HSV will reduce the valve spool closing time by 72% and reduce energy consumption by 94% compared to the traditional on/off control method.

Development and evaluation of a low-cost data acquisition system using heterogeneous sensors

Acquiring human's musculoskeletal movements is pivotal in conducting physiotherapeutic studies, rehabilitation exercises, and designing assistive devices to cater mobility impairments. Existing studies are generally more focused on measuring a specific phenomenon and/or lack the diversity needed to cover the range of human activities. In this context, the research presented herein is aimed to develop a low-cost wearable sensory system, having a diverse set of sensors, which can acquire data of healthy and rehabilitated subjects alike during diverse locomotor activities in both indoor and outdoor environments. The system consists of 20 wearable sensors, and two off-the-shelf NI's myRIO microcontroller boards. The statistical analysis showed no significant difference between and among the subjects for various locomotor activities (P-values < 0.05), hence, showing the system's reliability and reproducibility. Gait-event identification (i.e., heel contact/toe off) has also been evaluated and showed promising results (overall time difference = ± 50 ms during level ground and ramp activities).

Analysis of the aliasing effect caused in hardware-in-the-loop when reading PWM inputs of power converters

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems are commonly used to debug controllers in closed-loop operation. Therefore, the frequency response of the emulated subsystem is of special relevance. Undesirable oscillations can appear as a consequence of digitally sampling the switch control signals in power converter HIL models. These oscillations at relatively low frequencies, below the switching frequency, may confound the closed-loop operation and, therefore, the appropriate debugging of the controller. This paper shows that the lost information when an HIL model reads a PWM signal may create some output offset error or steady-state fluctuations, especially when the switching period and the sampling step get closer. The aliasing frequencies produced by the input sampling are calculated, and the small-signal analysis explains the relation between the output oscillation and the input PWM sub-harmonics. The output error spectrum proves that the main error sub-harmonics have the same aliasing frequency components. Both captured oscilloscope results obtained by an NI myRIO device and MATLAB simulations verify that significant distortions can be seen in the output inductor current if there is a low aliasing frequency in the digital version of the input PWM signal read by the HIL model.

Thermally degraded speed estimation of traction machine drive in electric vehicle

The speed of an induction machine drive (IMD) in the electrified powertrain of an electric vehicle (EV) suffers from thermal degradation caused by EV loading, driving cycle schedules, EV operating conditions, traffic state and temperature. It is necessary to estimate this thermal degradation in order to design appropriate control methodologies to address this significant issue that directly affects the EV performance. This study proposes a robust linear parameter varying (LPV) observer to estimate this degradation in IMD as well as EV speed under various thermal and loading conditions in steady state and during large transients. The stability and robustness of LPV methodology is ensured by optimal gains of H ∞ control and linear matrix inequalities using convex optimisation techniques. The weighting functions in LPV design are optimised by genetic algorithms. The proposed observer performance is compared with that of conventional sensorless field-oriented control and sliding mode observer. An improved speed performance during EV operation is also presented to validate the robustness of the proposed LPV observer against New European Driving Cycle. The performance analysis is conducted through NI myRIO 1900 controller-based electrical drive set-up.