Can labview do firmware? (nt)

[adamrussell]

Can labview do firmware? (nt)

[Rob Cole]

Can you define what you mean by doing firmware?

I have built a program that generates EEPROM data and programs for a microcontroller based system that we use here. That is firmware. I don't see why LabVIEW can't do such things.

Rob

[Labviewguru]

Please restate the question.

[adamrussell]

I've been doing labview programming for about 3 years but have little
experience in other languages. Recently I was on a project where I
communicated serially with a microcontroller which had firmware written in
C. Layoffs hit and the person who did the firmware got the sack. Now I'm
thinking that someone is going to have to do her job and since I'm "the
software guy" I stand a good chance of being a target so to speak. Someone
is bound to ask if I can pick up the slack of writing for firmware. So
since my C is almost nil, I wondered if firmware could be written in
labview.

[Spencer]

I received a mailer from NI last week that talked about this. I believe it
was the Real-Time LabVIEW or some subset of it. If I remember right it said
that it could download code to microcontrollers, but since I don't do that
in my line of work, the mailer found the trash can quickly. Sorry, I can't
tell you for sure. Check the NI site for LabVIEW RT, maybe you'll have some
luck.

Spencer

"Adam Russell" wrote in message
news:tpge221upfht11@corp.supernews.com...
> I've been doing labview programming for about 3 years but have little
> experience in other languages. Recently I was on a project where I
> communicated serially with a microcontroller which had firmware written in
> C. Layoffs hit and the person who did the firmwa
re got the sack. Now I'm
> thinking that someone is going to have to do her job and since I'm "the
> software guy" I stand a good chance of being a target so to speak.
Someone
> is bound to ask if I can pick up the slack of writing for firmware. So
> since my C is almost nil, I wondered if firmware could be written in
> labview.
>
>

[Dennis_Knutson]

You can't write a LabVIEW program and then just run it on any micro. LabVIEW RT is for specific LabVIEW RT hardware. You'd probably have to convice the manufacturer of the micro to create a tool to convert LabVIEW to the correct binary but I doubt if you would get very far with that. Once upon a time I had to do firmare development in assembly code so I suppose C is an improvement but I still wouldn't want to do it. Good luck.

[Labviewguru]

Adam,

Upon reading your more detailed description, I would offer the following advice:

Firmware, or embedded software, is an interesting conecpt these days. There are as many compilers as there are chips just about. I worked on a project that used firmware (to which I communicated serially) on a TI DSP. The firmware had a custom compiler designed for the chip (marketing has a LOT more say than engineering or just plain common sense these days, and it seems that TI is not exempt from the whole "let's do like Microsoft and make everything product specific so they have to buy everything from us") So, in order to really answer the question, you have to know what type of firmware host you are dealing with.

Look at the documentation for the chip. Find out what type (if any) operating system is on the chip. The easy answer is if it is embedded Linux. Then, you are set, and don't have to learn C. However, I suspect that the opsys is not generic, and you will be forced to learn C. Take a class at your local community college, or better yet, make the company pay for an advanced training 'crash course' offered by some training organization or college extension.

However; if it is a generic opsys, or one supported by LabVIEW RT or similar, then you are in luck, if you want realtime.

Spend some time looking into the problem. You may like the answer, you may not. Either way, I think you have a golden opportunity. The embedded market in moving quickly.

I am glad you are asking this question. LabVIEW needs to make a definite move into embedded systems. Richard Jennings (Gary Johnson's co-author) gave an astounding presentation on embedded LabVIEW at NIWeek this year. You should order Gary Johnson's latest book (McGraw Hill - Power Programming 3e, Gary Johnson and Richard Jennings), he included a discussion on this very topic, and even included step by step instructions and software needed on a included with the book.

Good luck, and be sure to let us know what you find out.