development system selection

[StevieNewRoad]

I am building a test rig and wish to use LabVIEW as a control and monitoring system. I have budgeted for the Full Development System, but after reading the specs for the Base system I think that I may be able to use this instead. I am hoping that someone with more knowledge of LabVIEW will be able to give me some advice on this matter.

The LabVIEW requirements needed are to:

Log the data from approximately 10 transducers (pressure, thermocouples, load, speed) over many hours (approx. 30).

Up the sampling rate when a certain temperature has been reached.

Control two servos.

Control a motor inverter.

For display purposes, carry out data manipulation using basic mathematics.

If anyone can advise me upon my choice I would be very grateful.

Kind regards

Steve

[GerdW]

Hi Steve,

from oyur specs the base package may be suitable.

But: for a test rig I recommend to build executables so your users cannot change any programming specifications. And the AppBuilder needed to create them isn't included in the Base version…

When it comes to specifications, either software or hardware, you should also contact your local NI sales guy. They are willing to recommend based on your specs!

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

Do you plan on building executables?

Generally not a good idea running in development mode.

[crossrulz]

I'm with the others.  You will want to make this into an executable to put on the test system.  For that reason, you really should go with the Professional.

[Norbert_B · Accepted solution]

Steve,

selecting the right package for you not only depends on the requirements for your current project. It is all about what you are going to use in the future and what tools you need for this.

As example, take the LV Application Builder. It is part of the Professional package, but not Base Development. So when picking the Base one, you will need this toolkit as separate addon if you want to create an EXE out of your application later on. Or, you upgrade your Base to Professional which will create some additional costs.

Depending on the motors, you might be interested in NI Motion or NI Soft Motion. You can learn more about this here. If the motor (or external motor controller) doesn't require you to implement/use defined control circuits (e.g. PID), it is possible that you don't need either of those.

As recommendation: Get a trial (evaluation) version and search for all functions you think you will use in the (near) future. In the help of each function, it is listed which package you require in order to have access to that function. If all are "Base Development", this is the perfect package for you  (except maybe above mentioned Application Builder)!

Norbert

[StevieNewRoad]

Thanks Norbert, and all of the other swift contributers.

I will need to make an EXE at some point, so I will bear this in mind.

I think that I will get the evaluation version and then purchase the correct product when I knpw exactly what is required.

Thanks for your help and I'm sure I will be posting more questions as the project advances.

Cheers

Steve

[Hooovahh]

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@StevieNewRoad wrote:

I think that I will get the evaluation version and then purchase the correct product when I knpw exactly what is required. 

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Not sure if you know this, but the normal evaluation is 7 days.  On startup it will ask you if you want to extend it.  You can get up to 45 days by just providing your NI user information in a form.

Oh and the student version of LabVIEW is free for 6 months.  NI has a very loose definition of a student and generally gives it away to anyone looking to learn and not just people enrolled in a higher level education institute.

https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-30610

The student version cannot build EXEs.

[JÞB]

The App builder will be activated on a trial of LabVIEW Pro, or a download trial.  (Strangely, the question of how to deactvate trials of app builder comes up often on the forums)