EE100
Bharath Muthuswamy
Introduction to LabVIEW
1. Introduction
Welcome to the LabVIEW component of EE100! This lab is just a simple
introduction to the graphical circuit simulation software called LabVIEW
I. Introduction to Graphical Circuit Simulation using LabVIEW
(ref: EE1 LabVIEW Experiment, Spring 2004)
Graphical circuit simulation software, such as LabVIEW (we will be using LabVIEW
version 7.1), is popular among engineers working in the industry and researchers in
universities and research labs because it reduces the testing and manufacturing costs. In
the lab 2, you will see the real power of LabVIEW. You will use LabVIEW to sweep the
frequency of a sine wave from 20 Hz to 20 KHz and plot a graph automatically.
Compare this to the tedious process of sweeping the frequency manually using the
function generator, noting down values and then plotting the graph by hand!
LabVIEW is a graphical programming language that shares some aspects with traditional
non-graphical programming languages (C, Pascal etc) and some aspects of hardware
definition languages (VHDL, Verilog). Namely, it combines the generality and power of
traditional programming data structures such as loops, if-then branches, and arithmetic
operators with the ability of hardware definition languages to perform multiple tasks
simultaneously.
Programming in a graphical environment consists of placing functional blocks that
perform specific tasks on a worksheet and wiring them together to send data from one
block to another. These blocks can do anything from simple tasks (add the data on two
input wires together and place the answer on the output wire) to complex tasks (take two
arrays of data as input and display the contents on a log-log graph as x,y pairs). These
functional blocks can also translate data in the graphical program into a form that external
equipment can use.
LabVIEW helps introduce the power of computers in engineering today. Although you
are not an electrical engineering major, you will use computers for simulation and testing
in your major. LabVIEW can be used to control any instrument that complies with the
IEEE 488.2 standard, using GPIB – General Purpose Interface Bus. You may find one of
the devices in your lab can be actually controlled using LabVIEW!
In this lab, you will be introduced to the world of LabVIEW using National Instruments’
(the company that designed LabVIEW) very own training materials. You will understand
LabVIEW terminology like VI (Virtual Instrument) and block diagrams. In this lab, you
will not be designing the functional blocks mentioned earlier. This is to ease your
introduction to LabVIEW.
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EE100
Bharath Muthuswamy
II. The Lab
1. In order to complete National Instruments’ 3-hour tutorial, you need access to the
internet. Although you can do some of the exercises from home, you need to use the
computers in your EE100 lab for access to the DAQ (Data Acquisition Module). If
you want to use the lab, you can find login and password information in the lab –
check with your TA. If you want to work from home, you can connect with the
LabVIEW terminal server:
a. Go to https://iesg.eecs.berkeley.edu/remote
b. Type kramnik.eecs.berkeley.edu as the server. Please note: you may need to
install a Microsoft component for using Windows Terminal Server. Also, I
have tested these instructions on a Windows machine. I don’t know if they
will even work from other OSes – my guess is a no.
c. Click no Connect. A login screen should pop up. LOG IN USING YOUR
EE100 STUDENT ACCOUNT IN THE EECS DOMAIN, NOT THE
KRAMNIK DOMAIN.
2. Visit the LabVIEW homepage (http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~esg/LabVIEW) and
click on References. You should always refer to this homepage first if you have
questions on LabVIEW.
3. Click on Three Hour LabVIEW Introduction for Students
4. Follow the Introduction and complete the LabVIEW exercises.
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