Preface

The LabVIEW software environment from National Instruments (NI) is a reference used by engineers and scientists worldwide. It is known for being used as a specific solution and, normally, is coupled with NI-made or third-party hardware or in conjunction with additional software. There is no laboratory or industry that does not adopt LabVIEW as a standard.

Since its inception in 1986, LabVIEW has grown enormously. It provides not only an annual upgrading policy, but also a variety of annexed software products such as supporting software and design tools for measurements, automation, simulation, hardware integration, and data analysis.

LabVIEW is wrongly regarded as a simple tool for acquiring, processing, and displaying data. On the contrary, it is an extremely powerful and complete programming language. The peculiarity of its graphical development interface, implemented in the so-called G-programming language (where G stands for "graphical"), is both an advantage and disadvantage of LabVIEW. Its implicitly simple approach based on graphical diagrams could deceive the user or potential developers, inducing them to think that LabVIEW is a simple or even a trivial way of programming basic or simple tasks. However, in spite of its intuitive interface, LabVIEW needs to be carefully understood and its development techniques must be acquired and well known in order to develop professional applications that are robust, readable, scalable, and maintainable. The knowledge of the language elements is far enough from the ability to develop good and effective applications. With the aim to accomplish that, it is suggested that beginners consistently study and practice using LabVIEW, while advanced users should keep abreast of updates to the software. Courses, webinars, documentation, forums, discussions, experience, and formation, in general, should be considered as a part of the personal patrimony as a professional LabVIEW developer. Moreover, developers should think about good and specific planning before they start to merely "design," in the sense of trying to put elements together to get a result.

To guarantee a complete and effective knowledge of the product, users should take into account the certification program available from NI. This program is a graduation process divided into three levels and based on exams. LabVIEW certification needs to be renewed every three years, making the owner responsible for keeping up with updates in the field. This is particularly important, especially since NI introduced a new platform for LabVIEW called LabVIEW NXG (New Generation), which should take the place of the "old" (but currently still used) traditional LabVIEW platform.

Given all of this, it is clear that LabVIEW has applications in many fields. As such, the chapters in this book cover such topics as didactics, laboratory applications of tests and measurements, and computational and modeling applications.

The book is organized into two sections: "LabVIEW as a Laboratory Tool" and "LabVIEW in Modeling." The first section contains six chapters and the second section contains three chapters.

**II**

**Chapter 8 143**

**Chapter 9 157**

LabVIEW as Power Disturbances Classification Tools *by Ahmad Farid Abidin and Mohd Abdul Talib Mat Yusoh*

Digital System Design *by Janani Rajaraman*

Chapter 1, "Analyzing and Presenting Data with LabVIEW," may appear to fit better in the second section of the book. However, I chose it as an introductory chapter because it contains a detailed summary of the calculation and analysis functions present in LabVIEW, giving the reader a wide overview of the possibilities that the development environment provides, which new users of the system often overlook. The same can be said about the aspects of data presentation made with LabVIEW, which is a peculiarity often delegated to further "external" software, an action that is not always necessary.

Chapter 2, "TeraVision: A LabVIEW Software for THz Hyper-Raman Spectroscopy," is a review of a complete research lab application carried out with LabVIEW. The chapter opens with a premise on terahertz physics, necessary to understand the nature of the application, and then moves on to the description of the measurement implementation using LabVIEW. It is interesting to note the complexity of the application, mainly due to the considerable quantity of instruments and elements to be controlled centrally.

Chapters 3, 4, and 5 deal with the same theme: everyone is looking for, and finding, a way to interface LabVIEW software with lean and affordable hardware like Arduino's Open Source. Although accompanied by respectable hardware from NI, LabVIEW can also be used easily with third-party hardware. This solution can be used where there is no need for stringent and absolute reliability (typical of industrial applications) but one can be satisfied with cheaper solutions. In this field, Arduino represents a frontier that has always been widely considered, given its low cost compared to that of NI hardware. Chapter 3 opens with a discussion of the management, economic and otherwise, of resources for an educational laboratory, with an eye toward the "remote control" of laboratories. Chapter 4 instead points directly to data acquisition techniques, with a focus on the concrete aspects of the electrical type. Chapter 5 deals with the practical aspects of interfacing with Arduino, presenting two different technical approaches to the integration between the parts and focusing on different platforms such as Raspberry.

Chapter 6, "Certain Applications of LabVIEW in the Field of Electronics and Communication", generically deals with the applications of signal treatments that can be carried out in LabVIEW in various fields. These include pattern recognition to use with embedded systems as well as applications in robotics, medicine, and education.

The second section begins with Chapter 7, which presents an algorithm, built entirely in LabVIEW, for determining the structural response of buildings to strong stimuli such as earthquakes. The chapter also presents some historical earthquakes that have been studied and analyzed using LabVIEW, using a discrete-time integration computation model. It concludes with a positive opinion regarding the use of LabVIEW for this application.

Chapter 8, "LabVIEW as Power Disturbances Classification Tools," presents an interesting application of LabVIEW in the field of monitoring the quality of electrical networks for power distribution. The system is based on a hybrid architecture, which uses standard commercial electrotechnical tools placed in the field and ends with an interface to LabVIEW where the data is collected and subsequently analyzed.

Chapter 9, "Digital System Design," uses LabVIEW for modeling digital logic. This represents a useful opportunity in the field of teaching, where potential learners

**V**

can build combinatorial logic based exclusively on gates and elementary logic. This activity represents a strong stimulus to the understanding of the realization of advanced logic networks, such as those built-in small- and medium-scale

LabVIEW offers endless possibilities and, as we said at the beginning, it must be imagined as a programming language in all respects. The use of LabVIEW requires passion, method, and rigor, which are all essential skills to obtain professional results. In particular, it should be pointed out that LabVIEW must be approached methodically, avoiding improvisations and attempts supported by the fact that the use of the G-language is implicitly easy; starting from this assumption would represent a false step. Any professional use of LabVIEW must be supported by adequate preparation, starting with the execution of the appropriate existing basic courses (Core 1, Core 2, and Core 3) and proceeding hand in hand with personal

Remember, the G is not just for graphics; the G combined with the correct programming structures and strategies makes a LabVIEW program worthy of

**Riccardo de Asmundis**

Section of NAPOLI, Italy

Department of Physics,

Napoli, Italy

Università di Napoli "Federico II",

INFN (Istituto Nazionale di fisica nucleare),

integrated circuits starting from basic logic.

experiences, towards any advanced courses.

the name.

can build combinatorial logic based exclusively on gates and elementary logic. This activity represents a strong stimulus to the understanding of the realization of advanced logic networks, such as those built-in small- and medium-scale integrated circuits starting from basic logic.

LabVIEW offers endless possibilities and, as we said at the beginning, it must be imagined as a programming language in all respects. The use of LabVIEW requires passion, method, and rigor, which are all essential skills to obtain professional results. In particular, it should be pointed out that LabVIEW must be approached methodically, avoiding improvisations and attempts supported by the fact that the use of the G-language is implicitly easy; starting from this assumption would represent a false step. Any professional use of LabVIEW must be supported by adequate preparation, starting with the execution of the appropriate existing basic courses (Core 1, Core 2, and Core 3) and proceeding hand in hand with personal experiences, towards any advanced courses.

Remember, the G is not just for graphics; the G combined with the correct programming structures and strategies makes a LabVIEW program worthy of the name.

**Riccardo de Asmundis**

INFN (Istituto Nazionale di fisica nucleare), Section of NAPOLI, Italy

> Università di Napoli "Federico II", Department of Physics, Napoli, Italy

**IV**

education.

LabVIEW for this application.

Chapter 1, "Analyzing and Presenting Data with LabVIEW," may appear to fit better in the second section of the book. However, I chose it as an introductory chapter because it contains a detailed summary of the calculation and analysis functions present in LabVIEW, giving the reader a wide overview of the possibilities that the development environment provides, which new users of the system often overlook. The same can be said about the aspects of data presentation made with LabVIEW, which is a peculiarity often delegated to further "external" software, an action that

Chapter 2, "TeraVision: A LabVIEW Software for THz Hyper-Raman Spectroscopy," is a review of a complete research lab application carried out with LabVIEW. The chapter opens with a premise on terahertz physics, necessary to understand the nature of the application, and then moves on to the description of the measurement implementation using LabVIEW. It is interesting to note the complexity of the application, mainly due to the considerable quantity of instruments and elements

Chapters 3, 4, and 5 deal with the same theme: everyone is looking for, and finding, a way to interface LabVIEW software with lean and affordable hardware like Arduino's Open Source. Although accompanied by respectable hardware from NI, LabVIEW can also be used easily with third-party hardware. This solution can be used where there is no need for stringent and absolute reliability (typical of industrial applications) but one can be satisfied with cheaper solutions. In this field, Arduino represents a frontier that has always been widely considered, given its low cost compared to that of NI hardware. Chapter 3 opens with a discussion of the management, economic and otherwise, of resources for an educational laboratory, with an eye toward the "remote control" of laboratories. Chapter 4 instead points directly to data acquisition techniques, with a focus on the concrete aspects of the electrical type. Chapter 5 deals with the practical aspects of interfacing with Arduino, presenting two different technical approaches to the integration between

the parts and focusing on different platforms such as Raspberry.

Chapter 6, "Certain Applications of LabVIEW in the Field of Electronics and Communication", generically deals with the applications of signal treatments that can be carried out in LabVIEW in various fields. These include pattern recognition to use with embedded systems as well as applications in robotics, medicine, and

The second section begins with Chapter 7, which presents an algorithm, built entirely in LabVIEW, for determining the structural response of buildings to strong stimuli such as earthquakes. The chapter also presents some historical earthquakes that have been studied and analyzed using LabVIEW, using a discrete-time integration computation model. It concludes with a positive opinion regarding the use of

Chapter 8, "LabVIEW as Power Disturbances Classification Tools," presents an interesting application of LabVIEW in the field of monitoring the quality of electrical networks for power distribution. The system is based on a hybrid architecture, which uses standard commercial electrotechnical tools placed in the field and ends with an interface to LabVIEW where the data is collected and subsequently analyzed.

Chapter 9, "Digital System Design," uses LabVIEW for modeling digital logic. This represents a useful opportunity in the field of teaching, where potential learners

is not always necessary.

to be controlled centrally.

Section 1

LabVIEW as a Laboratory

Tool

**1**

Section 1
