What’s new in LabVIEW 8?

latest version of its LabVIEW graphical development software - LabVIEW 8 - provides a suite of new capabilities that allow engineers to design, distribute and synchronise intelligent devices and systems.

A distributed system uses multiple processors. However, the processors can be of mixed architectures, including microprocessors, DSPs, or FPGAs. What’s more, distributed systems can be physically located on a single board, box, or rack, or spatially distributed in separate devices or systems on a network.

Addressing communication needs between often functionally different nodes is challenging. While various standards and protocols exist for communication – such as TCP/IP, Modbus TCP, OPC – one protocol cannot usually meet all of an engineer’s needs, and each protocol has a different API. This forces system integrators to use multiple communication protocols to complete the entire system. In addition, any communication protocol or system an engineer uses also must integrate with existing network communication protocols such as OPC.