National Instruments has launched LabVIEW NXG, a new version of its 30-year-old LabVIEW software. At the same time, the company has introduced LabVIEW 2017 and says it will continue to invest in both product lines.
“As we go forward we are going to be merging these concepts, but for the time being it’s full speed ahead on both,” said National Instruments co-founder Jeff Kodosky. Kodosky said that NI wanted to “start afresh with a new code base that uses modern tools.” Users of the existing LabVIEW software will be able to move their code into the new LabVIEW NXG platform as needed. The company will license both software platforms for a single price.
LabVIEW NXG is designed for engineers who may not be software savvy, but still need to develop algorithms on the fly as their projects and measurement needs evolve. The new platform includes features that are not part of LabVIEW 2017: in-product hardware configuration and documentation as well as NI and third-party hardware auto-discovery and driver install. Kodosky said NI’s embedded hardware is not supported in LabVIEW NXG but that the company is moving quickly towards that goal.
The company said LabVIEW NXG is designed to help engineers take measurements rapidly, and simplify common tasks by visually representing hardware in software. At NI Week 2017, the company demonstrated the software and showed the graphical representation of hardware elements, data and parameters used to measure the data.
The LabVIEW NXG software shows engineers what types of measurements are compatible with their hardware, and has the capability to search for and install drivers that may be needed to perform a given measurement or analysis.
The company said LabVIEW NXG will give engineers the tools needed to capture snapshots from virtually anywhere, along with a common repository for all data sets in a given project. The software also enables users to export data and to multi-task by keeping multiple screen views open simultaneously.
