Sumathi S., Surekha P. LabVIEW based Advanced Instrumentation Systems

Springer, 2007. — 728 p. (на англ. язык)The book is meant for wide range of readers from College, University Students wishing to learn basic as well as advanced concepts in virtual instrumentation system. It can also be meant for the programmers who may be involved in the programming based on the LabVIEW and virtual instrumentation applications.
Virtual Instrumentation System, at present is a well developed field, among academicians as well as between program developers. The various approaches to data transmission, the common interface buses and standards of instrumentation are given in detail.
The solutions to the problems in instrumentation are programmed using LabVIEW and the results are given. An overview of LabVIEW with examples is provided for easy reference of the students and professionals. This book also provides research projects, LabVIEW tools, and glossary of virtual instrumentation terms in appendix.
The book also presents Application Case Studies on a wide range of connected fields to facilitate the reader for better understanding. This book can be used from Under Graduation to Post-Graduate Level.We hope that the reader will find this book a truly helpful guide and a valuable source of information about the advanced instrumentation principles for their numerous practical applications.
Organization of the Book
The book starts with the introduction to virtual instrumentation and covers in detail on the advanced virtual instrumentation concepts, techniques, and applications.
– Chapter 1 presents an introduction to virtual instrumentation concepts, architecture of a virtual instrumentation system and the role of various components in the architecture. It introduces the concept of distributed virtual instrumentation systems and conventional virtual instrumentationsystems. The advantages of virtual instrumentation is discussed and compared with the conventional virtual instrumentation systems.
– Chapter 2 provides an overview of virtual instruments such as the front panel and the block diagram in virtual instrumentation software, LabVIEW. It discusses the menus used by the virtual instruments, ‘G’ Programming concepts, Data flow model in the block diagram, and the data types and its representation. The VI libraries and creation of a SubVI are also investigated here.
– Chapter 3 describes the structures available in LabVIEW such as For loop, While loop, Case structures and Sequence structure. This chapter also addresses issues related to arrays, clusters and formula node. Besides these aspects, data displaying elements on the front panel such as waveform charts, waveform graphs, XY graphs, and intensity plots are also illustrated with suitable examples.
– Chapter 4 deals with the components of a typical measurement system, origin of signals and the various types of signal acquiring devices such as sensors and transducers. The concepts of signal conditioning and the SCXI, a signal conditioning and front end fore plug in DAQ boards are
also discussed. The output of the sensors are in analog form, hence to process them analog to digital converters are used. Conversions back to analog signals are accomplished using digital-to-analog converters.
– Chapter 5 describes the operation and characteristic feature of serial communication devices such as 4–20, 60mA current loops along with the RS232C standard. The IEEE standard GPIB is also detailed in later part of this chapter. VISA, which is a high level API is capable of controlling
VXI, GPIB, or Serial instruments is also delineated.
– Chapter 6 focusses on the most common and latest PC interface buses such as USB, PCI, PXI, PCMCIA, VXI, and LXI. Modern computer buses can use both parallel and bit-serial connections, and can be wired in either a multidrop or daisy chain topology, or connected by switched hubs.
– Chapter 7 touches the aspects related with signal grounding and digital I/O techniques. The approach of data acquisition in LabVIEW is elaborated with the DAQ components and the Hardware and Software configuration.
– Chapter 8 encompasses the operation and characteristic features of data transmission such as pulse codes, analog and digital modulation, wireless communication, RF analyser, distributed automation, and SCADA. Data transmission plays a very important role in all kind of digital equipments as it is the responsibility of these devices to transmit the data without being lost.
– Chapter 9 elaborates on the current trends in instrumentation such as fiber optic and laser instrumentation. The various types of fiber optic sensors including voltage, pressure, stress, temperature, and laser sensors including velocity, distance, and length are also discussed. The later sections of this chapter presents on the concepts of smart transmitter and CASE.
– Chapter 10 presents the recent approaches of LabVIEW in Virtual instrumentation with application examples in the areas of instrumentation, control systems, power systems, and robotics.
– Chapter 11 illustrates the application examples based on LabVIEW in the areas of communication, networking, artificial intelligence, and biomedical instrumentation.