Software development kit to start with LabVIEW using technical teaching equipment

Since the complexity of industrial processes and systems is increasing, the development of quick, maintainable, and scalable software solutions that can assume critical tasks in the control and supervision of these processes are needed. Therefore, we must use software development environments that make work easier and, at the same time, are powerful enough to deal with these types of applications.

We created ELK (EDIBON Software Development Kit) for that purpose. We based this programming kit on the LabVIEW development environment, which empowers users to get started with LabVIEW using the technical teaching equipment designed by EDIBON. These units reproduce industrial processes and systems based on real hardware elements. This translates into implementing SCADA systems like those widely used in industry (Figure 1).

Figure 1. ELK. EDIBON Software Development KIT, Powered by NI LabVIEW™.

ELK includes a set of open and specific libraries - developed for each EDIBON unit - so users can get started with LabVIEW programming and with the study of areas such as thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, process control, renewable energies, and more. The kit includes a free academic LabVIEW license to facilitate that work and make the most of the hardware provided.

Combining LabVIEW with EDIBON technical teaching equipment creates a very powerful dual learning environment. On one hand, users can acquire and control physical values, supervise processes, plot sensor readings or calculated values in real time, and more. On the other hand, the units have authentic industrial hardware such as valves, pumps, turbines, compressors, and temperatura sensors used in real systems and processes. This makes an ideal environment to study them.

A vital element in the mentioned developments is the hardware measuring system. We used high-performance and high-speed multifunction devices, such as the PCIe-6321 or PCIe-6251, to carry out the previously described applications. We used other reconfigurable I/O (RIO) devices, such as myRIO, in those applications that require programmable hardware or code executed in a real-time OS.

Finally, it is important to implement a specific guide to create software solutions. We developed a set of practical exercises to help the user make the most of both the LabVIEW programming environment and the implementation of efficient and simple solutions in the main areas of study. These include getting started with LabVIEW development environment and EDIBON technical units; study of different engineering areas; calculations and mathematical operations related to variables and processes; data acquisition, filtering, calibrating and processing exercises; measurements with sensors; analysis of different types of control on variables (PID, ON/OFF, PWM, and more); supervision of hardware elements and event log; and simulation of faults in the processes subsystems. Additionally, the software application EDIBON SCADA, entirely developed with LabVIEW, comes with the units as it helps the user become familiar with practical possibilities related to those units, study physical phenomena and concepts, or use it as a starting point for the design of a new SCADA application.

At EDIBON we develop products related to Labview programming applied with all kind of Engineering matters, check our units: