book recommendation - user interface hardware

[ossoo]

Hi all,

Could you please recommend me a book related to user interface design and hardware related knowlege? That will also be helpful.

Thanks

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Need recommenda​tion for hardware and software

 

Hi all,

I am doing a project related to current control.

The purpose is to keep the current at constant. So I measure the current and get the value; and send a analog signal to tell our machine to discharge or to charge in order to keep the current at constant. I need to write the program to give analog signal to machine based on the current input.

Also, the machine can communicate with user. User can monitor the machine operation statuse and current level, etc.

I want to use LabView to program, since it doesn't cost a lot of time. I saw there is LabView RT LabView FPGA, etc. I am confused whether all of these are just diffrent function for LabView or different software. Which one I should use?

For hardware, I have no idea what is compactible with LabVeiw. What I should use?

I am totally new to this. I'll appreciate a lot if anyone can give suggestions.

Thanks

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[Paul_F-MCP]

Hi,

In terms of books specific to GUI design there was one written by David Ritter, LabVIEW GUI - Essential Techniques but I'm pretty sure it's out of print. A very good book to get started with LabVIEW is 'LabVIEW for Everyone', by Jeffrey Travis and Jim Kring. This is the one that I picked up when I was plunged into the deep end and had to start building applications in LabVIEW. I still use it now because it covers a bit of everything and is usually enough to point me in the correct direction even if it doesn't have all the answers.

In terms of your other questions, LabVIEW RT is a real-time version of LabVIEW normally used for things like CompactRIO or PXI chassis hardware. The FPGA add on is for programming FPGA's such as the backplane in the CompactRIO device. The big advantage of both of these is that they avoid the need to use WIndows, MacOS or Linux which when dealing with critical rig control or aquisition can be a big plus. The bad side is that the hardware is more expensive and there's an additional software cost. For a simple application such as yours these would be serious overkill unless they're highly critical.

For the applications I run I use the LabVIEW Developer suite coupled with National Instruments hardware and compile executables that run under Windows. This does mean that I have to add in code to cope with situations when Windows decides to crash, or do something odd, but reduces the cost significantly. In your case it appears you have a single station controlling a simple process so the world is your oyster. The lowest cost option would be LabVIEW basic version running on a PC using a USB DAQ - cheapest that can output analogue signals is a USB-6008 but these are quite limited in their capabilities. I tried to use the slightly higher spec version (USB-6009) to run a lashed up test rig for a short period and had lots of problems because I was using the digital ins, outs, counter, analogue ins and outs all at the same time - it appears you can use any one quite happily up tot he stated performance but it complains when you try to use all together.

If your budget permits then the USB-6211 is a better choice in my opinion. You can look up the specs and prices for your location at www.ni.com

If you're a student then you can get LabVIEW at a very much reduced cost.

Hope this helps.

Paul

[ossoo]

Hi Paul,

Actually, what I need is like embeded. All the function, like get current signal and then send out corresponding signal to control another unit, will goes to the whole system.

What the user need to do is turn on the circuit breaker, the system will run itself and no computer is needed. The computer is just optional if the user want to monitor.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks

[smercurio_fc]

Please restrict your discussion to one thread. You've already asked this question and have received a response there. Let's not have this discussion in multiple places.