**Chapter 8 143**

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

### **Chapter 9 157**

Digital System Design *by Janani Rajaraman*

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

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,

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 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)

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

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

tests and measurements, and computational and modeling applications.

not adopt LabVIEW as a standard.

to get a result.

traditional LabVIEW platform.

section contains three chapters.

hardware integration, and data analysis.
