selecting a particular DAQ

[KevinBolger]

Hi,

I'm completely new to LabVIEW and need some (alot of) help.

I am working on a projct to develop a digital circuit to control traffic lights.

As part of the project I want to develop a type of simulator.

Each bulb on the light set will be connected to one of 12 outputs on the circuit (digital I/O)

I have baught the NI USB-6008, I need labview to take each pin on this DAQ, match it too a boolean round LED, and turn the leds on & off as the signal into the DAQ changes.

Is it possible to change the shape of the round leds? I need to use a filter arrow on the lights as well as the round ones, I've tried importing pictures but I loose all the nice texturing labview provides.

Also while I'm waiting on the DAQ to arrive I heard I can simulate how the card will work so I can work on the simulator while I'm waiting on delivery.

Finally once all this was done, if its all possible, does LabVIEW have the capability to generate an stand alone exe like publishing from solidworks or Flash MX to let this sim work in sand alone form?

I know I have a lot of questions but I'm finding it extreamly hard to research all areas of the project with such a short timeframe, any help or suggestions with any of the questions would be such a great help.

Thanks

Kevo

[dpacaba]

Hello Kevo:

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@KevinBolger wrote:

I have baught the NI USB-6008, I need labview to take each pin on this DAQ, match it too a boolean round LED, and turn the leds on & off as the signal into the DAQ changes.

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For starters, I suggest that you use the DAQ Assistant. It is the easiest way to control any DAQ cards using LabVIEW.

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@KevinBolger wrote:

Is it possible to change the shape of the round leds? I need to use a filter arrow on the lights as well as the round ones, I've tried importing pictures but I loose all the nice texturing labview provides.

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You can create a customized leds. First, create a round led. Select it. Then go to Edit >> Customize Controls. Then viola, edit the led as you want it to be.

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@KevinBolger wrote:

Finally once all this was done, if its all possible, does LabVIEW have the capability to generate an stand alone exe like publishing from solidworks or Flash MX to let this sim work in sand alone form?

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There is this additional toolkit called "Application Builder" which will allow you to build your vi's as executable files. Unfortunately, I think it is not available on Student Edition of LabVIEW. It is available, though, on the Professional Edition.

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@KevinBolger wrote:

I know I have a lot of questions but I'm finding it extreamly hard to research all areas of the project with such a short timeframe, any help or suggestions with any of the questions would be such a great help.

Thanks

Kevo

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I am very happy to help. If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask. :D:D:D

[PNHorn]

Hi Kevo,

Unfortunetly the DAQ assistant will not work with the USB-6008 as it needs NI-DAQmx, and the low cost USB DAQ devices only work of a restricted version of NI-DAQmx, called NI-DAQmx Base. These two are not the same and are not compatible therefore you can't use the DAQ Assistant.

There are several datalogging examples which are designed to be used with the USB-6008/9. I would suggest that you look through these and try to figure out how these work. If you have any questions on these then please write back. Once you have got a bit more used to using your 6008 then you can look at customising these examples to suit yourself. This is the route I would suggest you take.

If you have any more queries then please feel free to write back.

Best regards,

Peter H.
Applications Engineer.
NIUK.

[KevinBolger]

Hey Peter,

Thanks for your comments, could you point me in the right direction to find the data logging examples for the USB 6008/9. I think I should have access to a Professional Edition of LabVIEW within the college labs and was wondering if I can still use the application builder with the USB 6008.

Aim beginning to think that LabVIEW may not be the best solution. I the simplest terms I guess I need to know if with the Hardware I'm buying will I be able to portray a logic hi/lo with Boolean LEDs?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Kevin

[PNHorn]

Hi Kevin,

The datalogging examples for the 6008/9 USB devices are in the Start menu. Go to Start>>All Programs>>National Instruments>>NI-DAQmx Base>>Examples>>LabVIEW 7.1. In here there are a couple of different examples. One important thing to note is that the device number is not noted in MAX. To find this, go to >>All Programs>>National Instruments>>NI-DAQmx Base>>NI-DAQmx Base List Devices. The USB device will be listed here. You will need to tell the LabVIEW example which device number it is otherwise it won't work.

I've quickly built an application using DAQmx Base and it worked OK. With regards to writing Low and High logic lines to the outputs of your device, you should be able to still do this fairly easily with DAQmx Base. The interactive control has DIO lines on it so you could just take this part of the VI and dump the rest.

Hope this helps,

Peter H.
Applications Engineer.
NIUK.