LabVIEW for Automotive, Telecommunications, Semiconductor, Biomedical and Other Applications (National Instruments Virtual Instrumentation) [Paperback]

Hall T. Martin (Author), Meg L. Martin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 013019963X | ISBN-13: 978-0130199638 | Publication Date: May 23, 2000

The purpose of this book will be to share solutions and examples in test and measurement applications across a broad range of vertical markets. The mainline vertical markets in test and measurement discussed are Telecommunications, Automotive, Semiconductor, Sound & Vibration, General Test & Measurement, and Automation. The book will consist of contributions from leading LabVIEW implementors from all over the world...With an emphasis on how-to, each contribution will focus on practical applications and problem solving, with little or no theory. The breadth of the applications will position the book as an encyclopedia of test and measurement solutions.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Preface

A cursory glance into a test lab 20 years ago likely revealed a nondescript computer connected by a standard cable to a bulky electronic instrument. The computer helped its owner write and print reports and maybe do some analysis, but traditional instruments, oscilloscopes, and multimeters did the brunt of the measurement work.

In those early years of computer-based measurement and automation, the desktop computer, linked by the General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB), played an auxiliary role; however, the increasingly powerful PC has changed all of that. Today, the PC can acquire, analyze, and present data at increasing frequencies, resolutions, and sampling rates. PCs, which now perform tasks 1,000 times more quickly than their predecessors of just 10 years ago, can perform more specialized and complex work in vastly different industries. Engineers and scientists have capitalized on this increasing ability of modern PCs and the highly productive software and hardware that now runs on these machines to monitor everything from the human heart to computer chips to cell phones.

For more than 20 years, National Instruments? has provided engineers and scientists with the hardware and software that has made the PC at home in the test lab and the manufacturing floor. With National Instruments tools, engineers now can place the computer at the center of complex measurement and automation systems, and by doing so, they have lowered their costs. Growth of standard computer technology, fueled by consumer demand in the 1980s and 1990s, increased productivity in the lab and on the manufacturing floor. Upgrading complex measurement equipment no longer meant purchasing expensive controllers and instruments dedicated to specific tasks. Instead, engineers and scientists could use desktop computers for thousands of dollars less than traditional equipment.

The equipment that National Instruments has offered for more than 20 years has come ready to interface with National Instruments flexible software. Data acquisition and signal conditioning devices, instrument control interfaces, image acquisition, motion control, and industrial communication devices make changing the type of measurement as simple as switching the hardware device connected to your computer.

Now, the National Instruments computer technology that has lowered costs and increased productivity brings the dramatic benefits of the Internet to work for engineers and scientists. They can use computers with minimal effort to easily share data with their peers across the street or across the world. Engineering students in classroom laboratories can use a computer-based instrument to interact with and learn from equipment in labs and manufacturing facilities that lie miles away from the classroom or laboratory.Objective Of This Book

While National Instruments products have a wide range of applications, this book provides a broad outline of the industries that have especially embraced computer-based measurement and automation. In the telecommunications, semiconductor, automotive, and biomedical industries, the use of PC-based measurement and automation tools is a growing trend that meets the demands of these industries.

National Instruments and its customers continue to develop application-specific tools for these fast-changing industries. New solutions that closely match industry needs are constantly being developed. This book includes a small sample of some of the latest work done with National Instruments products. The papers published in this book demonstrate how National Instruments software and hardware can solve many different problems. Perhaps these papers will inspire instructors, scientists, students, and hardware and software developers who work in the fields discussed in these pages to find new ways to solve their own unique problems.Organization of This Book

This book is divided by industry into five main parts: Automotive, Biomedical, Semiconductor, Telecommunications, and General Test. Each section breaks down the general trends in each industry and describes how National Instruments can meet the unique challenges in each area. The book then presents papers written by users of National Instruments tools.

From the Back Cover

The complete LabVIEW solutions reference for every leading vertical market!

• Dozens of practical, detailed LabVIEW applications from the world's leading implementers!
• Broad coverage! Telecom, automotive, semiconductor, biomedical, and general test/measurement
• Start-to-finish explanations: approach, implementation, and results.

National Instruments Virtual Instrumentation Series

Many test and measurement books focus on theory: this one focuses totally on applications. You'll find dozens of the best real-world LabVIEW applications in leading test and measurement markets, with detailed explanations of design, implementation, and results. Every application offers a unique, detailed solution to a common test/measurement challenge, with diagrams, expert advice, and hands-on problem-solving techniques from experienced LabVIEW users.

The applications encompass virtually all key markets for test and measurement, including telecom, semiconductor, automotive, biomedical, and more:

• Automotive: Inverter durability testing, machine vision, exhaust simulations, and in-vehicle data acquisition
• Biomedical: Cardiovascular analysis, PC-based vision systems, and patient monitoring
• Semiconductor: Modeling of quantum atomic state transitions, electron beam physical vapor deposition, X-ray photolithography, and data acquisition
• Telecommunications: Antenna measurement, protocol analysis, remote fiber optics diagnostics, real-time algorithm testing, and more
• General test & measurement: Micromachining, nuclear fusion, and advanced industrial and military research

Whatever your application, whatever your LabVIEW experience, here are the practical insights, techniques and code you need to build world-class virtual instrumentation systems of your own.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR (May 23, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013019963X
• ISBN-13: 978-0130199638
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,058,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What? They charge money for this?, July 18, 2000

By 

C. Dobis "Eggspert Reviewer" (Detroit, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: LabVIEW for Automotive, Telecommunications, Semiconductor, Biomedical and Other Applications (National Instruments Virtual Instrumentation) (Paperback)

This book is nothing but a sales promotion piece that wants you to contact National Instrument Alliance members to do this sort of work for you. They were giving this book away free of charge at a Labview seminar. There is very little useful information here. It may give you some ideas, but there are no examples or instructions on how to do any of the projects mentioned. Sorry, don't waste your money.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Simply a Collection of Brief Case Studies, August 17, 2000

By 

Bob Teskey (Halifax, NS, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LabVIEW for Automotive, Telecommunications, Semiconductor, Biomedical and Other Applications (National Instruments Virtual Instrumentation) (Paperback)

If you are looking for LabVIEW code examples or techniques, then don't bother with this book.

This is simply a collection of case studies, similar to the application notes available on the National Instruments web site. There are cases using DAQ and IMAQ (vision), which are divided into chapters for automotive, biomedical, semiconductor, telecommunications and "general" testing (interestingly, the title wasn't even in the correct order). All cases have equipment lists and contact information for developer of the case. Possibly, these developers might be willing to share more information about their projects than is described in this book. Some cases have photographs of LabVIEW front panels (instrument interfaces), but I did not find any code examples or algorithms.

Overall, I would not bother with this book. Similar information can be found freely on the National Instruments web site. I have several other books in the NI Virtual Instrumentation series and all were much better.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Expensive sales brochure., May 31, 2001

By 

Craig Graham (Lancaster, Lancashire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LabVIEW for Automotive, Telecommunications, Semiconductor, Biomedical and Other Applications (National Instruments Virtual Instrumentation) (Paperback)

To add to the comments above- on the back of this book it states that it includes code. This is blatantly not true- there is no code. There is no CD. There is no pointer to a URL where the code can be obtained...

The back also claims the book contains "detailled" explanations of how the problems in each case study were tackled. Bull. Calling phrases like "An algorythm was designed" detailed is working in a rather odd version of English. A beta perhaps.

Don't buy this book, it's pointless. The paper's too smooth to even employ as emergency bog roll.