LabVIEW

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Triggering Powerlab via Labview

Hello,

I want to trigger EMG recording in Powerlab (LabChart software) via Labview. My project includes a Sequence Tracking Task which is already programmed in Labview, and I want to synchronise it with some physiological measurements such as EMG, heart rate and respiratory rate in LabChart. I was wondering if it is possible to trigger data recording in LabChart by starting the Sequence Tracking Task in Labview.

 

Thank you,

Bahram

0 Kudos
Message 1 of 18
(1,331 Views)

I would venture a guess that most Readers of this Forum know about LabVIEW, but do not know about (or have never heard of) PowerLab.  Have you asked the makers of PowerLab if you can run their software from LabVIEW?

 

Bob Schor

0 Kudos
Message 2 of 18
(1,282 Views)

Thank you for the reply. I haven't asked the makers of Powerlab, but I'm pretty sure that it is possible to be externally triggered by another software. We have already triggered it by Brainstim, a software used for brain stimulation.

 

Bahram 

0 Kudos
Message 3 of 18
(1,267 Views)

Hi BGG,

 


@BGG1990 wrote:

I'm pretty sure that it is possible to be externally triggered by another software. We have already triggered it by Brainstim, a software used for brain stimulation.


So you know how to trigger your 3rd party software, but you don't want to tell us how!?

Best regards,
GerdW


using LV2016/2019/2021 on Win10/11+cRIO, TestStand2016/2019
0 Kudos
Message 4 of 18
(1,264 Views)

I don't understand what you mean my friend! There is no third party software. I just said that I'm pretty sure Labchart can be triggered by other software. Then, as an example, I said Labchart can be externally triggered by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). (I made a mistake in my previous comment writing "Brainstim"! I meant "Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation")  

 

I don't know how to trigger Labchart via labview though, because I'm not that familiar with Labview and how to program it to send the trigger command.

 

Sorry if my explanation was not clear enough. 

 

Regards,

Bahram

0 Kudos
Message 5 of 18
(1,239 Views)

Hi BGG,

 


@BGG1990 wrote:

There is no third party software. I just said that I'm pretty sure Labchart can be triggered by other software. Then, as an example, I said Labchart can be externally triggered by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). (I made a mistake in my previous comment writing "Brainstim"! I meant "Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation")  

 

I don't know how to trigger Labchart via labview though, because I'm not that familiar with Labview and how to program it to send the trigger command.

 

Sorry if my explanation was not clear enough.


I thought of "Brainstim" as a 3rd party software… (This is what you get when you need to guess from other users text message.)

 

So there is some (unknown to us) "Labchart", where you don't provide information (like links to manuals) about.

And there is some "TMS", which I guess is some external sensors/signals.

And "Labchart" (whatever that might be) is "triggered" by those "TMS signals".

Now you ask how to use LabVIEW to have the same effect on that "Labchart" like your "TMS signals"!?

 

Right now I understand "you need some 'real world' TMS signals to trigger Labchart" and you want to have the same effect using a "pure LabVIEW software approach": this will not work! Software is not hardware…

 

But you could use some DAQ devices, controlled by LabVIEW, to output those "TMS-like signals" you need to trigger that "Labchart".

Is this what you are looking for? If yes: why don't you explain it like that?

 

 

Best regards,
GerdW


using LV2016/2019/2021 on Win10/11+cRIO, TestStand2016/2019
0 Kudos
Message 6 of 18
(1,234 Views)

@GerdW has summarized well the general understanding of what you've shared so far.

 

Please provide all the information related to the keywords you've used and describe your goal in detail and what role LabVIEW plays in it.

Santhosh
Soliton Technologies

New to the forum? Please read community guidelines and how to ask smart questions

Only two ways to appreciate someone who spent their free time to reply/answer your question - give them Kudos or mark their reply as the answer/solution.

Finding it hard to source NI hardware? Try NI Trading Post
0 Kudos
Message 7 of 18
(1,224 Views)

My Google skills ( which are less than perfect) suggest that events can be triggered to run Macros in powerlab.  Also that it can interact with Matlab and we know Matlab has LabVIEW hooks.

 

What code examples can you provide for the decade old software product you want to use?


"Should be" isn't "Is" -Jay
0 Kudos
Message 8 of 18
(1,219 Views)

Hmm.  Now that I know that "Brainstim" means TMS, I can say that I helped a colleague who was trying to do something (I don't know the details) either generating timing/driving pulses for a SQUID system (for humans, I believe) or measuring results from such a device (this was about a year and a half ago, and the details in my mind are fuzzy).  I think he was doing the whole thing in LabVIEW -- I helped with getting some of the high-end DAQ equipment figured out (multiple timed pulse sequences, as I recall).

 

Anyway, LabVIEW and DAQmx (and high-end NI-DAQ hardware) made getting this project started quite easy (but then, we had people with a dozen years of LabVIEW experience working together).  But we were not using PowerLab, know nothing about PowerLab, including how it interfaces with other routines (like LabVIEW) ...

 

Bob Schor

0 Kudos
Message 9 of 18
(1,210 Views)

Thank you for the anwser.

 

I am a PhD student, and I would like to synchronize LabVIEW with another software named Labchart (https://www.adinstruments.com/products/labchart-reader) to facilitate my data collection. I am using a custom program on LabVIEW that includes a tracking task controlled by a joystick. Each trial of this tracking task is 30 sec, and my protocol consists of 10 blocks (5 trial per block). This tracking task is my behavioral task.

Labchart is used to measure the physiological markers of the subjects, including Electromyography (EMG), heart rate, and respiratory rate while doing the tracking task. My goal is to run these two software together to ba able to synch my tracking data recording and the physiological data recording.

I would like to be able to click start in LabVIEW to send out a signal to Labchart in order to start the data collection of my physiological markers such as EMG during each trial of the tracking task and then stop the data collection once the last trial is completed. My LabChart software is supplied with the PowerLab (https://m-cdn.adinstruments.com/product-data-cards/PL3508-DCW-15A.pdf) which is a data recording system from AD Instruments.

 

I wanted to see what kind of DAQ I would need in order to send out this trigger signal?

 

Thank you. Please let me know if there is any question.

 

Best regards,

Bahram

0 Kudos
Message 10 of 18
(1,152 Views)