Light level reader with distance measurement

[Nickpe]

I am trying to design a VI that will measure light from a lux meter (http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niepd_web_display.display_epd4?p_guid=B45EACE3DCA356A4E034080020E74861&p_node=DZ52336&p_submitted=&p_rank=&p_answer=&p_source=External) at different levels across a surface. A quadrature counter of some sort is going to have to be used as well to measure the distance at which the light is a certain level etc... Although I haven't looked into that yet. 

My question is, has anyone ever had any experience with a lux meter that is compatible with labview, and how I might begin to start going around this project? This is the first time I will have used labview, so any help is appreciated.

Thanks 

[mikeporter]

One thought off the top of my head is using a camera to image the entrire surface at once, rather than reading some number of discrete locations. Would that give you enough accuracy in your measurement? In addition, if there is any sort of scale visible on the surface you might be able to interpolate distance from the same image.

Mike...

[Nickpe]

The software is going to be used for surveying with a view to install new lighting at various locations, so accuracy is absolute paramount unfortunately (as much as I wish it wasn't!!). More specifically on a train platform, we need to know the lighting levels at 1 metre intervals along the platform edge. So i.e. every 1m the software takes a reading from the lux sensor, records it to excel spreadsheet, travel a further 1m etc etc... Any ideas?

Nick. 

[SheelaS]

Hi Nickpe

I think the way forward with this depends on the sensor you are using to measure lux with, and how you are getting the data into LabVIEW.

If the sensor outputs a voltage, you could use one our Data Acquisition cards, and the NI DAQmx driver to program the acquisition.

Otherwise, if you are using a camera similar to the previous suggestion, you would need some of our vision kit and software.

Example code for both options will be available through the LabVIEW Example Finder when the drivers are installed.  If you let me know how you are aquiring your lux data I will happily help you on your way with your application.

Kind regards,