Software development kit to start with LabVIEW using technical teaching equipment
As industrial systems and processes become increasingly complex, it is necessary to develop fast, maintainable and scalable software solutions capable of taking on critical tasks in the control and supervision of these processes. Therefore, it is necessary to use software development environments that facilitate the work and at the same time are powerful to address this type of applications. For this purpose, the ELK (EDIBON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT KIT) has been developed, a programming kit based on the LabVIEW development environment that allows to get started in a practical way using the technical didactic equipment designed by EDIBON. These units reproduce industrial systems and processes based on real hardware elements. This translates into implementing SCADA systems such as those widely used in the industry (Figure 1).
ELK incorporates a set of open and specific libraries, developed for each EDIBON unit, that allow to get started in the field of programming with LabVIEW as well as in the study of areas such as Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Process Control, Renewable Energies, etc. In addition, to facilitate such work and get the most out of the hardware provided. A vital element in the aforementioned developments is the hardware measurement system. To carry out the applications described above, high performance and high speed multifunction devices are used, such as PCIe 6321 or PCIe 6251, in addition to using others from the RIO family, such as myRIO, in those applications that require programmable hardware or code that runs on a real-time operating system. Finally, it is important to implement a specific guide for the development of software solutions, so a set of practical exercises has been developed to help the user get the most out of both the LabVIEW programming environment and the implementation of efficient and simple solutions in the main areas of study: initiation in the LabVIEW development environment and EDIBON technical equipment; study of engineering areas; calculations and mathematical operations on variables and processes; data acquisition, filtering, calibration and processing exercises; measurements with sensors; analysis of different types of control over variables (PID, ON/OFF, PWM, etc. ), monitoring of hardware elements and event logging; and emulation of failures in process subsystems. Additionally, the EDIBON SCADA software application, developed entirely in LabVIEW, is supplied with the units, as it helps to become familiar with the practical possibilities of the units, to study physical concepts and phenomena or as a starting point in the design of a new SCADA application. Experience has shown that combining EDIBON technical training equipment and the LabVIEW development environment reduces learning and understanding times of industrial processes and the software tools that manage them by 40%.
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