UAV to run on LABVIEW ? can it ?

[Bharath kumar]

Hello ..

We are planning to build a UAV with surveillance system and weapons system ..we are impressed by the way labview works and would like to reduce time by building it with labview...

However I find some difficulties in exporting code to my processor..These are my questions ..

1.Can I install LABVIEW on  WINDOWS CE and WINDOWS XP embedded ?

2 We are using ETXexpress CPU Boards as processors can we use LabVIEW on those boards with SATA drives ?

3.LabView system onboard has to do image processing ..can it ?

4.The base station will have LabView as well ..can we have two vis communicating with each other ? 

We dont want compact rio on our UAV because it cannot house a imaging system ? SO dont suggest that ... 

 these are some of the basic stuff we need to know to proceed forward ...

Thank you  

Message Edited by Bharath kumar on 09-15-2008 11:27 AM

[tst]

Maybe it's just me, but I find it worrying that someone who doesn't know the answers wants to build a UAV with weapon systems (!) using Windows (!!)  as the OS (not that I have any problems with Windows, but it would not be my OS of choice for this). I would advise getting proper consulting from someone who knows LabVIEW properly. At the very least, you should probably talk to an NI representative over the phone.

I'm not sure about your boards, but LabVIEW has a module called LV embedded which converts the code into C and allows you to compile it to any kind of microcontroller which has the compiler toolchain. I don't know if that will help with the image processing, though.

For the image processing, you might wish to check out NI's Compact Vision System. I haven't used it, so I can't comment on its abilities.

If you have an IP based connection (over Wi-Fi, cellular or any other option), you can communicate pretty easily between any two LabVIEW applications.

As a side issue, you should try searching Google for "Chris Anderson" and "UAV". He's the editor of Wired magazine and last year at an NI convention he told the story of how he built a UAV with his son using Lego Mindstorms (which is itself a modified version of LabVIEW).

[Andrew_E]

Hi Bharath,

To answer your first question, you can run applications on Windows CE, we only support ARM or X86 processors but you cannot install LabVIEW on it. With Windows XP Embedded here is a great link on how to get started installing LabVIEW.

To get you started I want you to go to www.ni.com/vision . This will provide you with information on anything vision related that you would need to get started with our products. But you also have to have answered what kind of vision equipment you are using and is there going to be dedicated hardware just for the vision system? If so what are you going to be using for that.  

For the two vi's communicating to each other, how will they be communicating? What are the devices communicating to each other? These are questions that you have to have answered to figure out what communication protocol you would like to use.

 You also may want to go towards something like blackfin to control your UAV.

I would suggest looking at these links to better define what you would like to use to control your UAV, Communicate to your UAV, and do image processing on your UAV.

Regards,