What’s New in LabVIEW 8.6?

NI LabVIEW 8.6 offers increased performance with the latest parallel technologies, such as multicore processors, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and Wi-Fi measurements, and includes the features and improvements noted below to boost productivity and offer new measurement capabilities.

Improved Productivity

•         Improve code layout with the Block Diagram Cleanup tool

•         Simplify installation with LabVIEW platform DVDs

•         Quickly find and replace LabVIEW objects using predictive text

•         Call VIs as Web services from any Web-enabled device

•         Simultaneously edit the properties of multiple objects

New Measurements and Signal Processing

•         Connect real-world sensor data to 3D models

•         Perform remote monitoring using Wi-Fi data acquisition

•         Test wireless GPS devices with the NI GPS Toolkit for LabVIEW

•         Interactively develop self-optimizing adaptive filters

Real-Time Updates for Industrial Applications

•         Quickly access I/O on NI CompactRIO hardware from LabVIEW Real-Time

•         Program with configurable industrial function blocks based on the IEC 61131-3 programming language standard

•         Monitor CompactRIO controller memory and processor usage with the NI Distributed System Manager

•         Debug using test panels for CompactRIO module I/O

Increased Multicore Performance

•         Perform parallel processing with multicore-ready analysis functions

•         Execute parallel dynamic system simulation models up to five times faster

•         Perform faster image processing with multicore-optimized algorithms

•         Deploy LabVIEW code to multicore Analog Devices (ADI) Blackfin Processors

Latest FPGA Features

•         Develop field-programmable gate array (FPGA) algorithms using the fixed-point data type

•         Perform fast Fourier transform (FFT) signal processing in silicon

•         Reuse existing VHDL code with the Component-Level Intellectual Property (CLIP) Node

•         Simulate code compilation to validate designs

•         Deploy to reconfigurable single-board hardware

Try LabVIEW in as little as three minutes.

This article first appeared in the Q3 2008 issue of Instrumentation Newsletter.

Reader Comments | Submit a comment »

Is there seriously no zoom function in Labview!! I can hardly see the diagram on my 24" screen... do I have to lower my resolution just to be able to write code?!?!
- Feb 19, 2009

Seriously, a graphics interface without zoom capability - what were they thinking. In a world of itty-bitty icons SVGA is king.
- Jan 7, 2009

Congratulations! A simple but very usefull thing to implement would be a zoom-in function in both the Front Panel and the Block Diagram. Thanks.
- Demetrious Piromalis, TEI Piraeus. piromali@otenet.gr - Aug 7, 2008