Instrument drivers
LabVIEW™
LabVIEW™ instrument driver packages instrument capabilities as a set of standard VIs. Each VI corresponds to a programmatic operation, such as configuring, reading from, writing to, and triggering the instrument.
LabVIEW™ instrument drivers reduce test program development time and simplify instrument control by eliminating the need to learn the complex, low-level programming protocol for each instrument.
The drivers are written in G, the graphical programming language of LabVIEW™, so the block diagram source code can be examined and modified.
The source code is included with all drivers. The drivers are easy-to-use icons to combine into higher level test programs.
The VXIplug&play Systems Alliance has endorsed LabVIEW™ instrument drivers as a core technology and the basis for industry standardization. LabVIEW™ can automatically detect and load any VXIplug&play driver that is installed on the system.
ELCOM, a.s., Division of Virtual Instrumentation is one of the major suppliers of instrument drivers for world leading instrument manufacturers. LabVIEW™ instrument drivers developed by ELCOM, a.s., Division of Virtual Instrumentation are available at National Instruments driver library – www.ni.com/idnet.
A LabWindows/CVI™
A LabWindows/CVI™ instrument driver is a set of high-level, intuitive functions for controlling a GPIB, VXI, serial, or other instrument.
Instrument drivers not only save programming time and effort but also apply an important modular coding structure to test programs. By isolating instrument I/O operations within driver functions, the user can easily interchange instruments without being forced to rewrite large portions of programs.
The VXIplug&play Systems Alliance has endorsed LabWindows/CVI™ instrument drivers as a core technology and the basis for industry standardization. ELCOM, a.s., Division of Virtual Instrumentation is one of the major suppliers of instrument drivers for world leading instrument manufacturers.
The LabWindows/CVI™ instrument drivers developed in ELCOM, a.s., Division of Virtual Instrumentation are available at National Instruments driver library – www.ni.com/idnet.
IVI (Interchangeable Virtual Instruments)
www.ni.com/ivi , www.ivifoundation.org
IVI (Interchangeable Virtual Instruments) IVI is a new architecture for building advanced instrument drivers. IVI instrument drivers are designed to handle the more rigorous requirements of production test systems for speed, flexibility, and long-term reusability.
With IVI, hardware and protocol (GPIB, VXI, and RS-232) independent test programs can be built, to preserve investment in test software, instruments and instrumentation platforms change. In addition to interchangeability, IVI drivers provide instrument simulation and high-speed state caching.
ELCOM, a.s., Division of Virtual Instrumentation has a team of developers working on IVI instrument drivers in close collaboration with National Instruments. The IVI instrument drivers developed in ELCOM, a.s., Division of Virtual Instrumentation are available at National Instruments driver library – www.ni.com/idnet.
VXIplug&play Instrument Driver Distribution Kit
VXIplug&play is a term indicating conformance to a new set of system-level standards, produced by the VXIplug& play Systems Alliance. The goal of the Alliance is to achieve interoperability of mainframes, computers, instruments, and software through open, multivendor standards and practices.
The Alliance consists of vendors actively involved with end-users to produce instrumentation systems that meet this goal. VXIplug&play drivers are distributed as a dynamically loaded library (DLL) and can be used in any software environment that supports DLLs, such as Visual Basic, HP-VEE™, LabWindows/CVI™, LabVIEW™, etc.
VXIplug&play drivers are easy installed by means of a installation routine into a standard folders on the target system so that they can be accessed by the software standard way. VXIplug&play drivers are well documented (HLP files) and allow simple integration into a measurement and test system.
ELCOM, a.s., Division of Virtual Instrumentation has wide experience in development of VXIplug&play installation kits for range of instrument manufactures.