#1 most frequent
United States of America
45.6%4,159 installations of 9,118
What is LabVIEW?
National Instruments headquartered in Austin offers LabVIEW, a systems engineering software platform and toolkit.
Categories & Use Cases
Top Performing Features
Simulation and Analysis
Provides tools for simulating physical properties and behaviors of designs, allowing users to test and optimize their designs before production.
Category average: 5.9
Documentation and Annotation
Allows users to create detailed technical drawings, including the ability to add dimensions, annotations, and symbols.
Category average: 6.8
Customization and Extensions
Provides options for customizing the software interface or to include add-ons which extend the functionality of the software.
Category average: 7.8
Areas for Improvement
Collaboration and Sharing
Provides tools for sharing and collaborating on designs with others in real-time, including the ability to track changes and manage design revisions.
Category average: 6.4
Compatibility with other software and formats
Allows users to import and export designs in various file formats, ensuring compatibility with other software and stakeholder requirements.
Category average: 7.4
Assembly Design
Enables users to create and manage assemblies of multiple components, including the ability to define relationships and constraints between parts.
Category average: 7.2
Who Buys & Uses National Instruments LabVIEW
#2 most frequent
Germany
8.1%740 installations of 9,118
#3 most frequent
India
6.6%599 installations of 9,118
National Instruments LabVIEW from Simulation to Implementation
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
In my organization National Instruments LabVIEW is used to teach about control strategies for industrial equipment and processes to students of engineering and technology programs, combined with data acquisition elements, and microcontroller cards. It performs process control and applications for different strategies of classical and modern control, state space controllers, controllers through neural networks. Another application that is given is as a system for displaying variables graphically as HMI and to integrate PLC systems among others.
Pros
- real-time data visualization
- implementation of modern control strategies
- integration of languages such as python and c++, for various applications
- data acquisition through microcontroller cards
Cons
- improve the management of pc resources to use the minimum amount of resources
- add a utility for zooming in the block diagram window
- Improve management of complementary applications, such as real time module or dsc
Return on Investment
- Due to the use of licenses for software activation, it is excellent for guaranteeing access to students.
- Through the different tools it allows versatility for the application and integration of different control strategies.
- If the minimum system requirements are met, complex and holistic control systems can be implemented for simulation and in real time.
Alternatives Considered
MATLAB, Arduino, Siemens Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) Portal and Virtual Studio
Other Software Used
Arduino, Siemens Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) Portal, Microsoft Visual Studio, MATLAB, Inkscape, Xmind
LabVIEW and automation systems
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We are a start-up developing novel water treatment products. To test the performance of the product, we develop in-house lab-scale automated testing systems and also pilot-scale systems to test the products off-site. For our systems, we used LabVIEW to read and write I/O, control the instruments, analyze and log systems' data.
Pros
- Automation.
- I/O.
- Data Processing.
Cons
- Debug features.
Most Important Features
- Pre-defined function.
- HMI Design.
- Graphical Interface.
- Documentation.
Return on Investment
- Fast development of systems.
- Easy integration with hardware.
- Readily available training course
Other Software Used
Python IDLE
LabView for Engine Test Bench Experiments
Pros
- Graphical programming interface makes it easy and intuitive to set up data acquisition VIs.
- Easy to add new sensors.
- Easy to add/modify calibration specifications to get the desired form for output data.
- Easy to package VIs in easy-to-use form that can be used by technicians and operators.
Cons
- Sometimes have problems with my VIs when the software version is updated.
- Becomes somewhat slow after updates.
- Real-time plots (in my case pressure-time plots) sometimes get stuck or are laggy. Same is true for RPM gauge.
Return on Investment
- We use NI's data acquisition hardware as well which has made it possible to get whatever experimental data we need to get for our studies.
- LabView has made it possible for us to post-process and tailor the raw data to our specific needs.
- With a responsive customer support team, NI allows us to expand our data acquisition and post-processing capabilities to carry out the kind of research projects that we would want.
Other Software Used
Foxit PDF SDK, Syncplicity, Webex Meetings
Fast Engineering Software Development
Pros
- Debugging tools are fantastic.
- Since it is graphical it is easy to quickly understand what a section of code is doing.
- The integration with hardware, especially NI hardware, is very good.
Cons
- UI development is lacking compared to other languages.
- The software requires a bulky run-time engine for EXEs which can be a pain when distributing simple applications.
- Anything to do with websites is a challenge.
Return on Investment
- Any engineer in our organization can quickly develop tools in LabVIEW that are easily shared and usable by other engineers.
- We have found LabVIEW to be a much more adaptable software to quickly change with the needs of our customers.
- Training someone up on LabVIEW seems to be much faster than other languages so we can have engineers making positive contributions to projects much faster and with less investment cost.
Alternatives Considered
MATLAB
Other Software Used
TeamViewer, Notepad++, National Instruments Vision Builder AI
Well built graphical programming
Pros
- Being a graphical programming language, it is a little easier for a layperson to understand than text based programming languages.
- The program has very good debugging features.
- Support is good.
- There are a variety of tutorials which make it easier to do something that you aren't sure about.
Cons
- Sometimes backwards compatibility issues arise.
- Error messages can be confusing.
- Although it is a graphical programming interface, it has a pretty steep learning curve at first.
Return on Investment
- We are able to save money by writing our own programs instead of outsourcing.
- We recently bought a new force test stand and we are able to use LabVIEW to write a program that fits our needs exactly instead of making due with what came with the stand.
- When our customers ask us to do data acquisition, we know that we can always make a solution.