Analog Devices and National Instruments have released the NI LabVIEW Embedded Module for ADI Blackfin Processors, which extends the LabVIEW graphical dataflow development environment to directly target high-performance, low-power Blackfin Processors for faster embedded system development.
With a single graphical development platform, ADI and NI say they deliver an out-of-the-box, integrated solution for solving real-world problems, empowering domain experts without embedded programming experience to overcome the traditional challenges of embedded development and deliver sophisticated applications quickly.
"Using NI LabVIEW Embedded technology, we have one tool to take the system model to hardware-in-the-loop for testing and prototyping all the way to the chip," said Erik Goethert, a design engineer at Boston Engineering. "This means we spend less time learning the details and syntax of traditional low-level tools and more time improving our designs."
With this module, domain experts can develop their applications from algorithm design and prototyping, to deployment and test - all using one platform. The graphical software includes more than 140 Blackfin-specific, hand-optimised maths, analysis and signal processing functions; integrated I/O such as audio and video DACs, ADCs and CODECs; and on-chip debugging, as well as easy graphical interconnection via Ethernet. It also includes ADI's VisualDSP++ C development and debugging environment for low-level access and realtime, interactive debugging and deployment directly to Blackfin.
Engineers and scientists can debug code graphically in LabVIEW or simultaneously debug both the graphical code and generated C source code. The new module is shipped with examples for applications including audio, control, power monitoring and communications. It also provides connectivity to the extensive range of NI test and measurement hardware for deploying external simulation and test methodologies early in the development process.
Industry and academic leaders are adopting the LabVIEW Embedded Module for Blackfin Processors to streamline embedded system development.
For instance, engineers at Boston Engineering are using it to develop complex embedded control systems such as digital film printing kiosks. To address rapid time-to-market needs and constantly changing system requirements, they integrated standard design and simulation tools with real-world data in LabVIEW to optimise their designs. They rapidly prototyped the system on NI's CompactRIO platform and then migrated it to a custom Blackfin processor-based system to lower cost and size.
In addition, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell has implemented an undergraduate course in robotics and controls based entirely on the LabVIEW Embedded Module for Blackfin Processors and ADI Blackfin Handy Board, a custom, handheld robotics control board. The combination of intuitive graphical programming and flexible Blackfin processors has helped Dr Fred Martin create a productive learning environment.
"LabVIEW Embedded technology makes robotics programming accessible to people who would not otherwise be able to create embedded systems. It gives users an alternative to programming in C," said Dr Martin. "The LabVIEW graphical programming model is especially powerful for signal flow and signal processing applications and is much better than textual languages, especially for embedded design."
For more information contact National Instruments, 0800 203199, [email protected]
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