Graphing data from a serial port

[cassidento]

I have an evaluation board for a set of sensor ICs which periodically (1 set of samples / 100 mS ~ 1000 mS) pushes data out an RS-232 serial port for tabular display (3 ~ 6 columns) in a terminal window.  What I would like is for some way to dynamically graph that data (Y-axis) over time (X-axis), ideally plotting >= 3 lines on the same graph simultaneously.  It looks to me like LabView could do it, but it is probably massive overkill. 

Is there some smaller, perhaps demo version of LabView which I can use to do this ? 

The format of the serial data itself (most columns are in the range of +/- 3.000) can be changed by re-programming an MCU (with integrated RS-232 port) on the evaluation board, so the data can be munged so as to be line terminated or not, ASCII or not, or in just about any format capable of being transmitted over a serial port.  Any ideas would be appreciated.  Thanks,

    - john

[Albert.Geven]

Indeed LabVIEW can do that easily.

It is not overkil, if you process this data also in LabVIEW (say max/min or  fourier transform)
You could try the evaluation version (30 days) and see what happens.

You can have more than one serial port open or read data from more channels from one port.
ASCII or binary , with or without termination is also no problem but termination makes sure you have one set of data.

[cassidento]

Albert,

Many thanks for the quick reply.  However, I am concerned that the time limitation of the evaluation version may not cover my needs, and there may be a need for another couple of people to be able to demonstrate this.  A full installation of such a high-function application like LabView is likely to be a little cumbersome for this application, and the cost of even a Base version of LabView seems prohibitive for this situation.  This is why I am looking for just a limited function viewer or re-distributable demo, or some similar kind of thing that I can carry around with me or even execute from a Flash drive.  Do you know whether NI offers If this kind of limited and distributable software ?  If one does not currently exist, then I suppose I would contact my regional sales person to discuss this further.  Thanks again for your assistance.

    - john

[Albert.Geven]

With the professional version you can create executables (and installers) that are free to distribute and are smaller than the complete development version.
You could also try Signal Express but the first targets for Signal Express are the NI data aquisition cards.

[cassidento]

Albert,

Great, I'll look into pricing.  Thanks for your help.

   - john