Software advances in measurement and instrumentation

National Instruments (NI) software architecture combines low-level device drivers for their hardware and high-level application development software. With this combination one has a scalable development system with the flexibility to handle a very wide range of measurement and instrumentation applications. To build virtual instruments, one needs software that easily integrates any or all of the four hardware instrumentation options in a single system. At the lowest level, with standardized driver software packages one can control the four acquisition hardware options. The NI driver packages include function libraries for programming hardware. The NI-488.2 driver is the industry standard for programming GPIB. NI-VXI is the driver software for programming VXI. NI-DAQ is driver software for programming plug-in data acquisition boards. Most computers include RS-232 driver software. With NI's application software, LabVIEW, you can build your own instruments. LabVIEW works with all aspects of an instrumentation system, including data acquisition and control, data analysis, and data presentation. LabVIEW also features modular, reusable, high-level instrument drivers for specific instruments and applications that dramatically reduce your software development task. By using NI's application software packages, you are free to choose the components necessary to m your application cost and performance requirements.