BusinessWire
October 18, 2005 07:01 AM US Pacific Timezone

NI LabVIEW Reduces Development Time for Hardware-in-the-Loop Systems; NI LabVIEW Simulation Interface Toolkit 3.0 Adds Configuration-Based FPGA and CAN I/O to Simulink Models

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2005--National Instruments (Nasdaq:NATI) today announced the NI LabVIEW Simulation Interface Toolkit 3.0, the latest version of the company's software that gives control system design and test engineers a seamless link between the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment and The MathWorks Inc. Simulink(R) software. With the LabVIEW Simulation Interface Toolkit 3.0, engineers now can reduce development time for hardware-in-the-loop systems with new configuration-based deployment to CAN and FPGA I/O; run-time parameter selection; and thread scheduling for multirate models.

Engineers can use configuration-based functionality in the LabVIEW Simulation Interface Toolkit 3.0 to easily create custom hardware-in-the-loop test systems with the National Instruments I/O of their choice, including CAN, reconfigurable I/O (RIO) and CompactRIO FPGA-based I/O, in addition to existing NI data acquisition I/O support. The software's configuration dialog makes it easy for engineers to generate VIs for real-time implementation by simply mapping I/O channels to model inports and outports.

"Configuration-based I/O helped us to implement complex functionality such as the generation of application-specific signals in a fraction of the time otherwise required," said Orazio Ragonesi, automation and simulation engineer at MicroNova. "NI LabVIEW makes our software development much faster compared to development with C/C++ and VHDL."

With the LabVIEW Simulation Interface Toolkit, engineers can build custom LabVIEW user interfaces to view and control a Simulink model during run time. Engineers working with very large models now can use the LabVIEW Simulation Interface Toolkit to remap controls and indicators to different model parameters and signals during run time. With this ability, they can easily scale user interface size and complexity by reusing controls and indicators.

For engineers with large, complex models, the LabVIEW Simulation Interface Toolkit now automatically imports model subsystems with different rates defined in Simulink and schedules separate threads in the LabVIEW Real-Time Module. For complex systems, engineers can take advantage of the efficiency that rate monotonic thread scheduling offers with a single processor rather than using a multiprocessor system. Also, in a single step, engineers using the LabVIEW Simulation Interface Toolkit 3.0 can simultaneously modify numerous parameter values and seamlessly test multiple conditions during run time.

By combining the LabVIEW Simulation Interface Toolkit 3.0 with the CompactRIO embedded control system, engineers can use built-in FPGA functionality to create real-world implementations of control models for rapid control prototyping. Engineers also can take advantage of the built-in FPGA functionality and powerful PXI processor using NI R Series devices that easily integrate with the new toolkit for creating large-scale hardware-in-the-loop test systems.

Educators also benefit from the LabVIEW graphical interface to intuitively control and view data within their control models. To learn about educational discounts for qualifying academic institutions, readers can visit www.ni.com/academic.

About National Instruments

National Instruments (www.ni.com) is a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation -- a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists in industry, government and academia approach measurement and automation. Leveraging PCs and commercial technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for test, control and design applications through easy-to-integrate software, such as NI LabVIEW, and modular measurement and control hardware for PXI, PCI, USB and Ethernet. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,600 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. In 2004, the company sold products to more than 25,000 companies in 90 countries. For the past six years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America. Readers can obtain investment information from the company's investor relations department by calling 512-683-5090, e-mailing nati@ni.com or visiting www.ni.com/nati.

Pricing and Contact Information

NI LabVIEW Simulation Interface Toolkit 3.0

Priced from $995

Web: www.ni.com/embeddedcontrol/implementation

11500 N. Mopac Expwy., Austin, Texas 78759-3504

Tel: 800-258-7022, Fax: 512-683-9300

E-mail: info@ni.com

CompactRIO, LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Simulink(R) is a registered trademark of The MathWorks Inc. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.