LabVIEW Strain Gauge Interface

[mcl2000]

Hi,

As part of my 3rd year University project I've been told to produce a LabVIEW interface. The input will be from 2 full Wheatstone bridges of strain gauges, the signal will be amplified with a gain of approximately 1000. The data acquisition will be done using a NI USB 6218. The interface needs to take the two inputs then apply a function which will convert the voltage to a force. From this the force is to be displayed graphically against time, and additionally the data needs to be archived to allow for further analysis. The sampling rate needs to be set to a minimum of 100Hz. I've never had to use LabVIEW before and have been given a very limited time frame to learn and produce the interface. I've spent hours going through tutorials, guides etc but feel no closer to being able to produce an interface capable of meeting the requirements. Essentially I'm looking for any advice/suggestions on how to go about producing the interface. If anyone knows of any useful tutorials etc it would be much appreciated, or indeed if they have any ideas how to best lay out the interface itself. 

Thanks in advance

Michael  

[mikeporter]

When your prof say to "...produce a LabVIEW interface..." is he talking about a complete program for reading the strain gage or just a driver that you can use in other programs to access the SG?

Mike ...

[mikeporter]

Oh yes, one more thing to remember is that all the hardware stuff like bridges and excitation can be handled in MAX so all LV has to do is read a virtual analog input channel.

Mike...