“The new software packages come back to a platform-based approach which is at the centre of our DNA,” said Luke Schreier, NI’s vice president of product marketing. “LabView has been around for 32 years, but NI has a different approach to the industry, as our view of software is more about development and empowering people to create, not just consume IP.”
The new products include FlexLogger, a configuration-based data-logging software for validation test with integrated data management. InstrumentStudio software for NI PXI modular instruments includes a chassis that provides power, cooling, and a communication bus for modular instruments or I/O modules, simplifies measurement correlation and aids in the debugging process.
SystemLink is an application for distributed systems management, helping improve operational efficiency and decreasing maintenance costs through a centralised interface for automating tasks such as software deployment, remote device configuration and system health performance monitoring.
Finally, Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite (ELVIS) III is a platform designed to meet the specific needs of university engineering education. It combines instrumentation, embedded FPGA design and web-based access to measurements, and curriculum to create a collaborative learning environment in the laboratory, studio and classroom.
The portfolio works seamlessly with LabView 2018 as well as the previously announced next-generation LabView NXG – which is still aimed at workflows, but uses different toolsets than the traditional LabView product – and is tailored to some specific use-cases.
“We’re developing all these products so that customers can ultimately be more productive with whatever combination that they choose,” Schreier continued. “That’s really exciting and I think paints a picture for the direction that engineering has to evolve in order to keep pace with the megatrends that we’re seeing.”
As well as the product announcements from NI, the show floor and keynote sessions were packed with the company’s customers talking about how their collaborations with NI were helping to provide solutions. These included Sierra Nevada Corporation designing the Dream Chaser, a reusable space shuttle to run supply missions to and from the International Space Station. The Chinese train company CRRC used InsightCM and CompactRIO to build a predictive maintenance solution to increase up time and safety on its high-speed trains, capable of speeds up to 350km/h. Plus, NXP and NI are working on the technology needed to make 5G a global reality.
