M.

KUMARASAMY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

DEPT OF ELECTRONICS & INSTRUMENTATION ENGG
THALAVAPALAYAM, KARUR.

UNIT II - LABVIEW ENVIRONMENT

TWO MARKS:
1.Define Virtual Instrumentation.
Virtual instrumentation can be defined as:
A layer of software and/or hardware added to a general purpose computer in such
a fashion that users can interact with the computer as though it were their own custom-designed
traditional electronic instrument.

2.What are the three main parts of Virtual Instrumentation?

The three main parts of VI are,
. Front Panel . How the user interacts with the VI.
. Block Diagram . The code that controls the program.
. Icon/Connector . Means of connecting a VI to other VIs.

3.What Is LabVIEW?
LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment used by millions of engineers and
scientists to develop sophisticated measurement, test, and control systems using intuitive
graphical icons and wires that resemble a flowchart.

4.Explain about front panel.

The front panel is the user interface of the VI.

You build the front panel with controls and indicators,
which are the interactive input and output terminals of
the VI, respectively. Controls are knobs, pushbuttons,
dials, and other input devices. Indicators are graphs,
LEDs, and other displays. Controls simulate instrument
input devices and supply data to the block diagram of
the VI. Indicators simulate instrument output devices
and display data the block diagram acquires or generates

5.Explain about Block diagram.

After you build the front panel, you add code using
graphical representations of functions to control the
front panel objects. The block diagram contains this
graphical source code. Front panel objects appear as
terminals on the block diagram. Additionally, the
block diagram contains functions and structures from
built-in LabVIEW VI libraries. Wires connect each of
the nodes on the block diagram, including control and
indicator terminals, functions, and structures.
6.Define control palette.
Use the Controls palette to place controls and indicators on the front panel. The Controls
palette is available only on the front panel. Select Window»Show Controls Palette or right-click
the front panel workspace to display the Controls palette.

7.Define function palette.

Use the Functions palette, to build the block diagram. The Functions palette is available
only on the block diagram. Select Window»Show Functions Palette or right-click the block
diagram workspace to display the Functions palette.

8.What are the tools present in Tool Palette?

9.What is use of Tools palette?

 Use the Operating tool to change the values of a control or select the text within a control.
 Use the Positioning tool to select, move, or resize objects. The Positioning tool
 changes shape when it moves over a corner of a resizable object.
 Use the Wiring tool to wire objects together on the block diagram.

10.Which tool is responsible for Debugging in Tool palette and status bar?
In Tool Palette,
Breaking point tool and Probe tool
In Status bar
Execution highlight, Step over, Step info, and Step out.

11.How to create VI?(May09)

 When you create an object on the Front Panel, a terminal will be created on the Block
Diagram. These terminals give you access to the Front Panel objects from the Block Diagram
code. Each terminal contains useful information about the Front Panel object.

12.Define Icon and Connector?

Every VI has a default icon displayed in the upper-right corner of the Front Panel and
Diagram windows. For VIs, the default is the LabVIEW VI icon and a number indicating how
many new VIs you have opened sincelaunching LabVIEW. You use the Icon Editor to customize
the icon by turning individual pixels on and off. To activate the Icon Editor, pop up on the
default icon in the top right corner of the Panel window and selectEdit Icon.

The connector is the programmatic interface to a VI. If you use the panelcontrols or
indicators to pass data to and from sub VIs, these controls or indicators need terminals on the
connector pane. You define connections by choosing the number of terminals you want for the
VI and assigning a front panel control or indicator to each of those terminals.To define a
connector, select Show Connector from the icon pane pop-up menu on the Panel window.

13.What is a subVI? ( Nov09)

After you build a VI and create its icon and connector pane, you can use it in another VI.
A VI within another VI is called a subVI. A subVI corresponds to a
subroutine in text-based programming languages.

14.What are all the advantages of subVI?

 Modular
 Easier to debug
 Don.t have to recreate code
 Require less memory

15.What are all the steps to create a subVI?
 Create the Icon
 Create the Connector
 Assign Terminals
 Save the VI
 Insert the VI into a Top Level VI

16.Define while loop.

Similar to a Do Loop or a Repeat-Until Loop in text-based programming languages, The
While Loop executes the sub diagram until the conditional terminal, an input terminal, receives a
specific Boolean value. When a conditional terminal is Continue If True, the While Loop
executes its subdiagram until the conditional terminal receives a FALSE value.

17.Define For loop.

A For Loop, shown at left, executes a subdiagram a set number of times. The value in the
count terminal (an input terminal) represented by the N, indicates how many times to repeat the
subdiagram.

18.Explain the different types of data type in Labview?

The different types of data types are
• Numeric data type:
– Integer
– Floating point number
• String
• Boolean
• Waveform type
Numeric Data Type
Integer
• Signed Integer
• 32-bit (I32): from -2147483648 to 2147483647
• 16-bit (I16): from -32768 to 32767
• 8-bit (I8): from -128 to 127
• Unsigned Integer
• 32-bit (U32): from 0 to 4,294,967,295
• 16-bit (U16): from 0 to 65536
• 8-bit (U8): from 0 to 256

Floating-point number:
• Extended precision [EXT]: –1.19e+4932 to 1.19e+4932
• Double precision [DBL]: –1.79e+308 to 1.79e+308
• Single precision [SGL]: –3.40e+38 to 3.40e+38
• Complex floating-point number:
• Complex floating-point number has the equivalent precision representation as floating-
point number. The only difference is that complex number has real and imaginary parts.

• A string is a sequence of displayable or nondisplayable characters (ASCII)

• Many uses – displaying messages, instrument control, file I/O
• LabVIEW has large collection of functions that deal with strings
Boolean data
• Boolean data has two values: TRUE and FALSE.
• Button on front panel is a Boolean control.
• LED on front panel is a Boolean indicator.
Boolean has many operation modes
The waveform data are the values that represent the waveform. An array of any numeric data
type can represent analog waveform data.
• It also contains the start time of the waveform and the time interval of data points in the
waveform.
There are functions for waveform manipulation

19.Define case structure.

 The Case structure allows you to choose a course of action depending on an inputvalue.
 In the Execution Control subpalette of the Functions palette.
 Analogous to an if-then-else statement in other languages.

20.What is the function of formula node?(May09)

Sometimes it is preferable to program mathematical expressions with text-based function
calls, rather than icons. The Formula Node is a resizable box that you can use to enter formulas
directly into a block diagram. You place the Formula Node on the block diagram by selecting it
from Functions»Structures.

21.Give the example for Formula Node.

For example, consider the equation below:
y = x2 + x + 1
If you implement this equation using regular G arithmetic functions, the block diagram looks like
the one in the following illustration.

You can implement the same equation using a Formula Node, as shown in the following
illustration

With the Formula Node, you can directly enter a complicated formula, or formulas, in lieu of
creating block diagram subsections. You enter formulas with the Labeling tool. You create the
input and output terminals of the Formula Node by popping up on the border of the node and
choosing Add Input (Add Output). Type the variable name in the box. Variables are case
sensitive. You enter the formula or formulas inside the box. Each formula statement must end
with a semicolon ( ; ).
21.Define shift register.
A mechanism in FOR and WHILE loops which makes the result of an iteration available
as an input to the next iteration.

BRIEF QUESTIONS

1. Discuss about LABVIEW and its applications in Instrumentation.(see Xerox)

2. Explain about front panel and block diagram with neat sketch. (see Xerox)

3. What are the tools present in status bar with diagram and explain it briefly? (see Xerox)

4. Give an example for Icon and Connector with sub VI. (see Xerox)

5. Explain the tools present in control palette and function palette with neat sketch. (see
Xerox)

6. Descrine the concept of creating, editing, Debugging and saving VI s with example. (see
Xerox)

7. What is sub VI and give example. (see Xerox)

8. Explain the concept of looping with example. (see Xerox)

9. Explain structures and nodes. (see Xerox)

REFERENCE BOOKS

1. Sanjeev Gupta, ‘Virtual Instrumentation using Labview’ Tata McGraw Hill,

2004.

2. Gary Johnson, ‘Lab view graphical programming’, II Ed., McGraw Hill, 1999.

3. Lisa K Wells & Jeffrey Travels, ‘Lab view for everyone’, Prentice Hall, 2003