Introduction to the "Developer Essentials Guide" and software setup

Welcome!

Welcome to the NI Academic RIO Developer Essentials Guide! This resource will assist you to expand your LabVIEW programming experience to the exciting realm of embedded control and monitoring with the National Instruments RIO (reconfigurable I/O) platform. NI RIO has been widely adopted by industry, and the Academic RIO Device offers the same basic platform and architecture at an affordable price for student projects.

The Developer Essentials Guide offers example code, procedures, and guides to help you master the fundamental programming techniques necessary to implement a variety of embedded control and monitoring applications. Each coding technique includes a LabVIEW project that you can run immediately, an “expected results” video that shows the code in action, and a “developer walk-through” video that explains the coding technique in detail.

Intended audience

• Undergraduate students who have decided to use an Academic RIO Device as part of their senior capstone project
• Graduate students using NI RIO products
• Anyone who has basic to intermediate experience with LabVIEW programming for the desktop computer and who wishes to learn how to program NI RIO products

Available resources

• Guide pages summarize and explain a particular concept and link to relevant code examples and LabVIEW procedures. Click the “Home” button to select the guides grouped by the tabs
• Code example pages present a LabVIEW function, programming technique, or design pattern along with a complete downloadable LabVIEW project that you can incorporate into your own system. Each code example page includes a video that shows how to run the LabVIEW project and what results to expect, and a developer walk-through video that explains the underlying principles of the LabVIEW project.
• LabVIEW procedure pages feature video-based step-by-step procedures to accomplish particular tasks such as setting up a wireless network connection, managing the Academic RIO Device software set add-ons, securing your Device with a password, and creating a new LabVIEW project.

Navigation tips

• Homepage groups content into four major types:
  • Quickstart Guide – Introduction to the NI RIO (Reconfigurable I/O) architecture and Academic RIO Device based on a real-time (RT) processor and FPGA
  • Real-Time Programming – LabVIEW programming techniques for the RIO real-time (RT) processor
  • FPGA Programming – LabVIEW programming techniques for the RIO FPGA target
  • Networking – Networking techniques for the RT processor
• Left sidebar menu:
  • The left sidebar menu is always open when viewed on the desktop; on mobile devices click the “hamburger” icon in the upper-left corner to open the sidebar menu
  • The first four sidebar items (“Quickstart Guide”, “Real-Time”, “FPGA”, and “Networking”) link to the same guide pages available in the tabbed sections of the home page.
  • “Site Map” displays available content in several different ways; each view sorts the content into related themes (FPGA, real-time (RT) target, networking, etc.); scroll through the list or use your browser search feature to look for particular text:
    • “Guides,” “Code Examples,” and “Procedures” display all available pages according to category
    • “Tags” lists all content tags (keywords) as an index; click the tag to see all pages that include this tag
    • “LabVIEW block diagram elements” lists all LabVIEW functions, nodes, and structures used in the code examples; click the element to see all code example pages that use this particular element
    • “Targets” lists the RIO system components (real-time (RT) target, FPGA target, PC host, and RIO itself); click a system component to see all related guides, code examples, and procedures
    • “Communications” lists available communication techniques, e.g., FPGA-to-RT, RT-to-PC, between process loops, data streaming, and message passing; click a communication technique to see all related guides, code examples, and procedures
    • “All pages” bundles all of the above-named views into a single page; use your browser’s text search feature to find something of interest
  • “Glossary” lists and defines terminology; content pages that include a glossary item provide a link back to this page
  • “How to use” provides a five-minute video walk-through of the site and offers navigation tips
  • “About” includes information about this resource

Learning objectives

The “RIO Developer Essentials Guide for Academia” helps students to master the fundamental LabVIEW programming techniques necessary to implement a wide variety of embedded control and monitoring applications on the industry-standard NI RIO platform including:

1. System controller architecture:
   • System partitioning among real-time (RT) target, FPGA target, and PC host
   • Inter-process and inter-target communications
   • Parallel process loops
   • Queued state machines and message handlers
2. RT target:
   • File I/O
   • Timed loops
   • Local and global variables, functional global variables (FGVs), and network-published shared variables (NPSVs)
   • Interrupts
   • FPGA front-panel communications
   • Queues, queued state machine (QSM), and queued message handler (QMH)
   • DMA high-speed data streaming
   • Network streams for message passing and data streaming
   • Networking: TCP, UDP, HTTP, and web services (calling and hosting)
3. FPGA target:
   • Simulation, testbenching, and compiling to bitstream file
   • Local and global variables
   • RT and PC programmatic front-panel communication
   • DMA high-speed data streaming,
   • Derived clock domains
   • VHDL and IP blocks
   • Augmented Academic RIO Device default FPGA personality
4. Desktop PC host:
   • Event-driven producer-consumer state machine
   • Human-machine interface (HMI) for remote command and control of the RT target
   • High-speed data streaming with RT and FPGA targets

Software requirements and setup

Software requirements will depend on the Academic RIO Device hardware that you’re using. Each page of this guide will outline the software required to complete the activity. Here’s some recommendations on how to initially configure your system:

myRIO

1. Download and run the myRIO Software Bundle Web-Based Installer here. The following software is included in the bundle (note that the bolded software is used in this Guide):
   • LabVIEW
   • LabVIEW Real-Time Module
   • LabVIEW myRIO Toolkit
   • LabVIEW FPGA Module
   • Compilation Tools for Vivado
   • Vision Development Module
   • Vision Acquisition Software
   • LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation Module
     • Control Design Assistant
     • System Identification Assistant
   • LabVIEW MathScript RT Module
   • LabVIEW Robotics Module for myRIO and roboRIO
2. Note that the software listed above does require serial numbers to activate. Check with your professor or your school IT department to determine if your school has licensing available. If not, contact NI to purchase a license.
3. After the software is installed, plug in myRIO. Note that the myRIO USB Monitor will appear.
4. Select “Launch the Getting Started Wizard” and follow the instructions to install software onto myRIO.

NI ELVIS RIO Control Module

1. Download and run the NI ELVIS RIO Control Module Software Bundle Web-Based Installer here. The following software is included in the bundle (note that the bolded software is used in this Guide):
   • LabVIEW
   • LabVIEW Real-Time Module
   • LabVIEW ELVIS RIO Control Toolkit
   • LabVIEW FPGA Module
   • Compilation Tools for Vivado
   • Vision Development Module
   • Vision Acquisition Software
   • LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation Module
     • Control Design Assistant
     • System Identification Assistant
   • LabVIEW MathScript RT Module
   • LabVIEW Robotics Module for LabRIO
2. Note that the software listed above does require serial numbers to activate. Check with your professor or your school IT department to determine if your school has licensing available. If not, contact NI to purchase a license.
3. After the software is installed, plug in the NI ELVIS RIO Control Module. Note that the USB Monitor will appear.
4. Select “Launch the Getting Started Wizard” and follow the instructions to install software.

NI ELVIS III Project Based Solution

1. Download and run the NI ELVIS III Software Bundle Web-Based Installer here. Expand the NI ELVIS III Software Bundle catagory to locate the installer. The following software is included in the bundle (note that the bolded software is used in this Guide):
   • LabVIEW
   • LabVIEW Real-Time Module
   • LabVIEW NI ELVIS III Toolkit
   • LabVIEW FPGA Module
   • Compilation Tools for Vivado
   • Vision Development Module
   • Vision Acquisition Software
   • LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation Module
     • Control Design Assistant
     • System Identification Assistant
   • LabVIEW MathScript RT Module
   • LabVIEW Robotics Module for LabRIO
   • NI Circuit Design Suite
2. Note that the software listed above does require serial numbers to activate. Check with your professor or your school IT department to determine if your school has licensing available. If not, contact NI to purchase a license.
3. After the software is installed, plug in the NI ELVIS III. Note that the USB Monitor will appear.
4. Select “Launch the Getting Started Wizard” and follow the instructions to install software.

These additional links may be helpful, too:

• Getting Started with myRIO
• Required Software for myRIO
• Getting Started with LabVIEW Real-Time Module
• Setting Up Your CompactRIO System
• myRIO software installer
• NI ELVIS
• NI ELVIS RIO Control Module

Additional resources

1. NI myRIO Project Essentials Guide (http://www.ni.com/tutorial/14621/en/)
   Learn how to interface a wide range of sensors, actuators, and indicators.
   
2. NI myRIO Vision Essentials Guide (http://www.ni.com/white-paper/52475/en/)
   Learn how to create machine vision applications.