Bertec force plates

[DFD86]

Hello,

Does anyone know how to connect Bertec force plates to Labview? I would like Labview to read the data from the force plates, then when the forces on the force plate reache a particular threshold, I would like to to activate an image on the front panel. I don't know if I need a DAQ card, or if I can use a Constructor node. I tried a constructor node, but I was unsuccessful.

Thank you

[Frisbee]

Hello,

When acquiring data from a sensor, like the Bertec force plates, data acquisition hardware is required.

LabVIEW is a great platform on which to collect your data, but it requires hardware to translate the real-world, analog signals to digital signals. The following white paper should help explain basic data acquisition principles:

http://www.ni.com/white-paper/3536/en/

[DFD86]

Bertec has an SDK that can be used to interface the forceplates with Labview ( http://bertec.com/downloads.html.), but I am having trouble with getting Labview to connect with the force plates. I am unfamiliar with the .net connector, and I do not know how to add a refernce to the BertecDeviceNET class library. Are you familiar with that at all? I have attached the manual provided by Bertec.

Thanks

[RyanPoPo]

DDUFgators,

To use functions from a .NET assembly, you will need to use a Constructor Node to create an instance of a class within the .NET assembly. LabVIEW comes shipped with a few .NET examples which can be found by going to Help >> Find Examples. I recommend starting with these because to use this device you will just be creating an instance of one of the classes in the assembly, and then calling upon it's methods with invoke nodes to perform actions.

Regards,

Ryan

[Ars_Magna]

Hello DDUFgators,

I am doing something similar, trying to use Bertec's SDK to interface with Matlab. I have attmepted it using their C and Net interfaces but only get so far. I thought the problems/soulutions may be similar. Did you manage to get it working with NI? I have tried their tech support but they are disinterested in helping? Go figure!

Thanks.

[DFD86]

Ars_Magna,

I have included a picure of my block diagram. There a a lot of extra things (specifc my needs), but I hope you can see the steps I took to get Labview to read the data from the force plate. What is not pictured in the diagram is how I stopped pulling data from the foce plate. I just used two invoke nodes, one "stop" and the other "dispose" at then end of my code. 

I hope this helps. Let me know if you need me to explain anything.

[DFD86]

One other thing, the folder houses the SDK needs to be local (ie on the desktop) and not on a shared drive. That was one of the other reasons why I was unable to get Labview to read the forceplates.