We mainly program in NI LabVIEW. Hence, we are able to deploy systems on Windows, Real-Time Operating system and FPGAs through one unified software paradigm.
For some projects, we will also use other software programs like NI TestStand, NI VeriStand, NI DIAdem, NI LabWindows/CVI, NI Requirements Gateway as well as other programming language like MAtlab/Simulink, C/C++, C#, Java and Python.
On the hardware side, we also mainly use National Instruments hardware with one of the following platforms:
Throughout our projects, we also had to control various instruments from various vendors like Keysight (formaly Agilent), Chroma, Tektronix, Keithley, Rohde&Schwarz, etc.
On the instrumentation side, we have use various sensors and actuators including, but not limited to:
| Physical measurement | Sensor type |
|---|---|
| Temperature | Thermocouple, RTD, Thermistor, Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG), Infra-Red (IR) |
| Stress, Pressure, Force | Strain gage, Piezoelectric, Vibrating wire, Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) |
| Current | Current sensor, Shunt Resistor |
| Displacement | Encoder, proximity sensor, LVDT/RVDT, Synchro/Resolver, Limit switch, Laser, GPS |
| Level | Ultrasound, Potentiometer, Laser |
Since we typically need to integrate multiple systems together, there is typically a protocol that we can use. Some of the protocol we had to use in some of our projects: