The Development of
NI-ELVIS
Paul K. Dixon and Timothy D. Usher
Department of Physics
California State University San Bernardino
Outline
Introduction
I. Past:
Applied Physics Instruction at CSUSB and our
“Integrated” Student Station
II. Present:
The Development and Maturation of NI-ELVIS
Applied Physics Instruction at
CSUSB - An Overview
I. Past

1994: an NSF ILI grant to equip the electronics laboratory using
LabVIEW and fully-interfaced equipment

1995: Physics 150 – Introductory Analog Electronics at the
freshman level (before calculus, before intro physics)
Ohms Law to Lock-in Amplifiers in 10 weeks

1996: Physics 350 – Computer-based Data Acquisition and Control
at the junior level
LabVIEW, GPIB, DAQ, Experiment Interfacing, Control Theory, ITR Filtering, PID,
State Machines

1997: Physics 352 – Advanced Electronics at the senior level
Linear Response Theory, Integral Transforms, Analog and Digital Communication
Theory, Noise Analysis, ORCAD PSPICE
The Student Station Hardware

Instructor station/server with LCD projector
Windows 2000 peer-to-peer network, no outside line

12 Student Stations

• 850 MHz Pent III
• 17” Display
• LabVIEW
• PCI DAQ
Protection
Module
• PCI GPIB
• HP Scope
• HP FG
• HP DMM
• Elenco Trainer
I. Past
The Integrated Software Environment
for Freshman
Electronics


Simple launcher for
tutorials and instruments
LabVIEW 3.1 - 1994
I. Past
Virtual and Amalgam Instruments for
Freshman Electronics

GPIB




DAQ







DMM
Function Generator
Scope
Scope
Arbitrary FG
Voltmeter
Counter
Pulse Generator
Digital I/O
Amalgam

Bode –
GPIB FG & GPIB Scope

Two-point IV Curve –
GPIB DMM & DAQ Arbitrary FG
I. Past
Junior LV Project – A PID Controller
A standard project in
the 7th week


GPIB Instrument Driver,
DAQ Analog IO,
Feedback Control Theory
Control
References,
VI Server,
etc.
The
power
boosting
circuit
The
“Bug”
I. Past
Junior LV Project - A Seismograph
I. Past
Final Project - 2001

Circular Buffered Analog In,
Digital IO, State Machines
Seismometer
- a weighted
speaker
Impulsive
Tester a sprinkler
solenoid
Junior LV Project - Phototrope
Final Project - 2000

Buffered Analog In, Inline IIR Digital
Filtering, Digital IO, State Machines
Angled binocular photoresistive eyes, photogate “OWL neck” sensor,
and a bi-directional two-speed baby-swing motor drive system
I. Past
The Limitations of our Past
Approach

Fixed Breadboard





Wear and Tear
Dedicated circuits – makes concurrent sections impossible
Wiring must be done in lab
Instructor continually building demo circuits!
Standard DAQ


I. Past
Limited power in analog out
GPIB Instruments

Difficult to integrate with DAQ, chunky communication
 The Solution
 Integrate the DAQ interface and the trainer into a single unit with a
removable breadboard and protection module
 Add the functionality of the GPIB Instruments into the integrated
trainer
The Development and Maturation
of NI - ELVIS - An Overview
II. Present

1994 : Designed and built the initial protection modules for our
precious AT-MIO-16 cards

1998 : Designed and tested the Integrated Electronics Design
Station (IEDS) communication module at a student station

1999-2000 : Designed and built IEDS and showed it to NI

Summer 2001: Designed and built the Universal Laboratory
Instructional Station (ULIS) feasibility prototype in collaboration
with NI (Steven Romero, Anne Goshorn, Jeff Hall)

Fall 2001 to the Present : Happily watched NI design and build the
Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrument Suite (ELVIS)
II. Present
IEDS: The Integrated Electronics
Design Station - The Functional Prototype




1998 - 2000
Fully Functional
Major Power –
30 Watts!
All of the capability
through a 68 pin
E-series card and
about 70 chips
II. Present
ULIS: The Universal Laboratory
Interfacing System - The Feasibility Prototype


Summer 2001 – a blur!
The NI Design Team:
Steven Romero,
Anne Goshorn,
Jeff Hall
ULIS Impedance Meter
ULIS Function Generator
NI - ELVIS: The Educational
Laboratory Virtual Instrument Suite

Fall 2001 – present

Any 68-pin E-series
DAQ card

DMM and Scope on
both breadboard
and front panel

External power
block ~ 18 Watts to
breadboard

Finally, a main
power switch!
II. Present
NI - ELVIS: Hardware Features
II. Present
The Breadboard





392 undedicated tie points
Removable – 3 ring binder
BNC, Banana, 9-pin Dsub
Power LEDS
Logic LEDS
The Protection Module




High current lines fused
Low current lines –
sacrificial inline resistors
Power and DAQ interlock
Replaceable in under
a minute
NI - ELVIS: The Current Instrument
Software
II. Present
NI - ELVIS: Capabilities and Future
Instrument Software


II. Present
Green – NI reworked and polished
Blue – My “hacked” examples in the process
of being reworked by NI

Black – capabilities built into the hardware,
on the “to-do” list

Addressable Digital I/O – allows for 16 bytes
of write and 16 bytes of read to plug-in board
@ approximately 250 Hz

ELVIS can read the plug-in board ID (0-255)
allowing for a variety of dedicated boards with
linked software