NIWeek 2010: 7 control demo-application video clips

Seven NI Week video clips show the ease of graphical programming, parallel computing, control system integration, high-speed data acquisition, and browser-based monitoring, and software compiling as a service in the cloud, in some eye-popping stage-show applications.

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Video sampler: NIWeek is renowned for dueling product managers on stage, intent on outdoing each other during the new and future technology keynote sessions. Seven NI Week video clips below show the ease of graphical programming, parallel computing, control system integration, high-speed data acquisition, and browser-based monitoring, and software compiling as a service in the cloud, in some eye-popping stage-show applications.

Robotic programming with graphical programming software: Four robots (Denso, Epson, Kuka, and Mitsubishi) cooperate in this desktop-sized demo workcell. NI LabVIEW graphical programming software helped with the integration.

The software enabled programming within two days, faster and easier than trying to get four manufacturers’ software packages to work together, which might have otherwise taken weeks, according to National Instruments at NIWeek 2010.

Video clip: On target machine vision, motion control demo makes novice marksman an expert. This NIWeek 2010 NI Vision and motion control demo makes a lousy shot what he’s not – an expert marksman.

Using machine vision, logic, and 2 axis motion control, the target moves rapidly to meet the foam dart every time, even in rapid-fire mode, according to National Instruments at NIWeek 2010.

Video clip: Telsa Coils frequency conversion creates music. Alternative music group ArcAttack, as seen on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, uses Tesla Coils to make music.

The demonstration video here controls the size of the charge to create sound of a certain pitch (frequency) with an NI PXIe-4844 Optical Sensor Interrogator, at a 10 kHz sample rate, and fiber-optic cable , according to National Instruments at NIWeek 2010. Observers were asked to take a giant step backward for this demonstration.

Beer fridge security system, with power and temperature monitoring, incorporates Bluetooth wireless temperature sensing, Compact DAQ, and an Apple iPad or a soon-to-be released Dell Android phone as a thin-client human-machine interface.

See www.ni.com/smartphone for example programs for iPad, iPhone, or Android apps, said Chris Delvizis, product marketing manager, NI R Series, intelligent data acquisition.

Web-based software monitoring: NI Web UI Builder serves as front end, in this example, for natural gas pipeline monitoring. The resulting PlantGard software from Scientific Process Solutions loads from the browser thin-client, without installing a runtime version, allowing monitoring of any system from anywhere with web access. The web services will be among NI’s emerging software as a service (SaaS) offerings, according to Diya Mukherji, National Instruments engineer, at NIWeek 2010.

Wind turbine data in a cloud: Aaron Pena, NI ELP engineer, applications engineering, shows how data from wind turbines can be served up in a cloud (on the web) for access and analysis anywhere that has a web connection.

In another cloud-based initiative, NI is expecting to save time and computing resources by offering code compilation with software as a service (SaaS), so no engineer has to be idle while code is compiling on an in-house computer.

Faster iterations and more of them translate into more bullet-proof designs, according to National Instruments at NIWeek 2010.

Warping a telescope lens to match atmospheric distortion: A new European ground-based telescope uses NI-based parallel computing connected via a high-bandwidth backplane (via PXI System Alliance) to quickly adapt the lens to atmospheric distortions. The demo simulates atmospheric distortion with a flame, collecting 500 high-resolution frames per second through machine vision, into an FPGA into four rack-mounted controllers that instruct more than 1,000 actuators how to change the 42 meter diameter telescope lens, all in less than 2 milliseconds, explained Patrick Webb, NI PXI Systems, product marketing manager. The computational equivalent of 64 interconnected computer nodes could control and balance 320,000 inverted pendulums. Just 5 years ago, balancing one pendulum was an impressive demo, Webb said.

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40 Under 40 – Control Engineering: Know someone working in automation under age 40 in need of some recognition? See the 40 Under 40 awards.

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See other Control Engineering videos at www.controleng.com/videos.

See more video from NI at http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-12568.

See other NIWeek developments.

- Videos snippets and text by Mark T. Hoske; video support by Peter Welander, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com.