NI LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit

[ Tutorial ]
NI LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit
Tutorial

Welcome to the LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit tutorial. This document

contains step-by-step instructions for experiencing embedded design using
the NI LabVIEW system design software with the standard NI
reconfigurable I/O (RIO) hardware architecture. Specifically in this
evaluation the LabVIEW Real-Time and LabVIEW FPGA development
modules and the NI Single-Board RIO hardware platform will be used to
create an embedded control and monitoring system. The entire LabVIEW
RIO Architecture, beyond the tools covered in this evaluation kit, includes a
wide range of hardware and software products with a similar embedded
system programming experience; visit ni.com/embeddedsystems for more
information.

Note: It may be easier to complete the step-by-step exercises if you print this
document before proceeding. Otherwise, the Table of Contents contains links to
the exercises for more convenient navigation of this document.

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Table of Contents
Tutorial Overview ........................................................................................................................ 4
Navigating Exercises ................................................................................................................... 9
Using the Solutions ..................................................................................................................... 9
Troubleshooting ........................................................................................................................ 10
Activating LabVIEW .................................................................................................................. 10
Getting Started LabVIEW Programming Basics ...................................................................... 11
Initial System Configuration ...................................................................................................... 12
Exercise 1 Open and Run LCD Application ............................................................................. 15
Explore the Application .......................................................................................................... 15
Deploy and Run Your First LabVIEW RIO Application ............................................................ 18
Exercise 2 Create a Monitoring and Control FPGA Application ............................................... 20
Acquire Button Presses ......................................................................................................... 22
Monitor the Battery Cell Temperature ................................................................................... 29
Acquire the Motor Encoder PWM and Convert to RPMs ....................................................... 31
Monitor the Battery Cell Voltage and Control Power Distribution .......................................... 34
Exercise 3 Develop a Real-Time Application .......................................................................... 38
Communicate with the FPGA ................................................................................................ 42
Forward Data onto the Windows Target ................................................................................ 47
Implement Decision Logic for LCD Screen ............................................................................ 50
(Optional) Test the Real-Time and FPGA Applications ............................................................ 57
Exercise 4 Create a Windows User Interface ......................................................................... 62
Explore the Windows-Based Application User Interface ........................................................ 66
Finish Development of the Windows-Based Application User Interface ................................ 69
Run and Verify the Completed System .................................................................................. 72
Exercise 5 Application Deployment and Replication ............................................................... 74
Create and Deploy a Startup Real-Time Executable ............................................................... 75
Save a System Software Image and Deploy to Formatted Hardware .................................... 78
Appendix A LabVIEW RIO Training Path ................................................................................. 85
Appendix B - Changing the IP Address in the LabVIEW Project ............................................... 90

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Tutorial Overview
In this tutorial, you will complete five exercises that demonstrate how to develop an embedded
system using LabVIEW system design software and NI reconfigurable I/O (RIO) hardware
which includes a real-time processor, FPGA, and I/O. Using the LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit,
your challenge will be to prototype an embedded control and monitoring system for an electric
vehicle battery management system. Here is a system diagram of the battery management
system that you will build up in these exercises:

Battery Management System Specifications

Monitoring Tasks

1. Battery cell temperature

2. Battery cell voltage
3. Motor encoder signal
4. HMI push buttons

Control Tasks

1. Power distribution mode (i.e. charging, drawing, or overvoltage)

2. LCD screen

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The LabVIEW RIO Architecture includes a standard hardware architecture that includes a
floating point processor running a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS), an FPGA target, and I/O
which can be programmed using a single development tool chain, LabVIEW. The system you
are developing in this tutorial will include both a RIO board-level device and your Windows PC.
Since LabVIEW includes a cross-compiler, it can be used to develop applications that will run on
a floating point processor, an FPGA target, and a Windows PC.

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Using the flexibility of the three different target types, the requirements of the electric vehicle
battery management system outlined in the previous pages has been mapped to tasks on each
of the targets of the system (Windows UI, Real-Time microprocessor, and FPGA):

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Finally, since you do not have an actual electric car battery system to control and monitor here
is how you will simulate it using the on-board I/O of the NI-RIO Evaluation Device:

Note: If you would like to open and modify the system diagram shown above you can
download the free editor at http://www.yworks.com/yed and load the diagram files from
.\Tutorials\Additional Resources\LabVIEW RIO Eval Kit SysDiagram.

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To build up the control and monitoring system outlined, you will design the components of the
system through each of the tutorial exercises:

Exercise 1: Open and Run LCD Application

Open and run a precompiled embedded system to control the LCD screen and review the
documentation of the source code to understand how the application works.

Exercise 2: Create a Monitoring and Control FPGA Application

Create an FPGA application on your own to acquire data from and control your I/O for the
battery management system. While this application is compiling, complete Exercise 3.

Exercise 3: Develop Real-Time Application

Design a real-time application running on a processor which communicates with the FPGA
controlling the LCD screen and coordinates network communication back to your Windows
user interface.

Exercise 4: Create a Windows User Interface

Extend the embedded system to include a user interface running on a Windows computer to
display the current status of your battery management system.

Exercise 5: Application Deployment and Replication

Now that your battery management system is complete, learn how to deploy and replicate the
system.

After completing these exercises, explore a variety of LabVIEW Real-Time and LabVIEW FPGA
applications, getting started resources, more tutorials built for the kit, and the RIO platform
products on an online Community for LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit owners at
ni.com/rioeval/nextstep.

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Navigating the Exercises
The LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit installs several helpful exercises on your development
machine that you can explore to learn more about LabVIEW Real-Time and LabVIEW FPGA
software. By default, these exercises install on your computers C: drive at

Windows 7
C:\Users\Public\Documents\National Instruments\LabVIEW RIO Evaluation
Kit\Tutorials

Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\National Instruments\LabVIEW
RIO Evaluation Kit\Tutorials

Alternatively, you may locate these files from the Start menu at All Programs National
Instruments LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit Tutorial Folder. The original files are also located
on the DVD included in the evaluation kit.

Using the Solutions

In addition, each exercise has a _Solution folder within it so if for any reason you are not able to
complete an exercise successfully feel free to open the solution and/or use it to continue on to
the next exercise. You will need to modify the solutions in the following ways to work with
your specific evaluation hardware:

1. Update the LabVIEW project with your devices IP address. Reference Appendix B for
more details on this process.

2. For Exercise 4 and 5 the solution requires that you update the IP address on the
Windows UI.vi front panel to match the IP address of your LabVIEW RIO Evaluation
device. Reference Step 1-4 of Exercise 4 on Page 66 for more details on how to do this.

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Troubleshooting
If you have any questions or run into any configuration issues while exploring this evaluation kit,
please review the LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit Frequently Asked Questions online at
ni.com/rioeval/faq. This document contains information on how to change your IP address or
reconnect to your device, and includes answers to basic FPGA compilation questions.

Activating LabVIEW
The evaluation kit installs a 90-day full evaluation version of LabVIEW; you will be prompted to
activate LabVIEW when you open the environment. To continue in evaluation mode, click the
Launch LabVIEW button.

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Getting Started LabVIEW Programming Basics
If you are new to LabVIEW, this section will help you learn more about the LabVIEW
development environment and graphical programming language. You can also use the web
links in your Additional Resources folder to view Getting Started with LabVIEW videos and
online demonstrations.

This tutorial assumes you ran the LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Setup utility upon reboot. If you
have not done so, run it now. You can access the utility from your Windows Start menu, select
All Programs National Instruments LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit Setup Utility.

The hardware device included in your kit is based on the NI Single-Board RIO (reconfigurable
I/O) platform and presents a hardware architecture found on other NI RIO devices which
consist of two processing devices: a real-time processor that you can program with the
LabVIEW Real-Time Module and an FPGA that you can program with the LabVIEW FPGA
Module. These devices are connected by a PCI bus and the LabVIEW development
environment includes built-in interfaces for communicating between them. The hardware
device in your kit will be referred to as your NI-RIO Evaluation HW in this tutorial.

A LabVIEW application is called a VI, or virtual instrument, and is composed of two primary
elements: a front panel and a block diagram, which you can program using the LabVIEW
Functions Palette.

Front panel The front panel is what you use to create a LabVIEW user interface (UI).
For embedded applications, such as FPGA applications, you either create subfunctions,
or subVIs, where controls and indicators are used to pass data within the target
application or you use the front panel to define sockets/registers that are exposed to
other elements of your system (such as the real-time processor) with read/write access.

Note: If you close the front panel, it will also close the block diagram, so be sure to
minimize it instead if you wish to use the block diagram.

Block diagram The block diagram is where you program LabVIEW applications using a
combination of graphical and textual notations. To program the block diagram, right-click
anywhere on the diagram (blank white window) to bring up the Functions palette.
Objects on the front panel window appear as terminals on the block diagram. Terminals
are entry and exit ports that exchange information between the front panel and block
diagram. Terminals are analogous to parameters and constants in text-based
programming languages.

Functions palette The Functions palette contains components for creating FPGA, RT,
and host interface applications. To do this, place the components on the block diagram
and wire them together by left-clicking on a terminal and dragging the wire to your
destination, completing this wire segment with another left-click.

Using the functions palette In this tutorial, bold text denotes an item to select from the
Functions palette. To access the Function palette, right-click anywhere on the LabVIEW block

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diagram. You can also pin the functions palette (in the upper left corner of its window) so
that it is always present on the block diagram.

More on Using LabVIEW - To learn more about the LabVIEW graphical programming
environment including syntax, deployment, debugging, and more, reference
http://www.ni.com/gettingstarted/labviewbasics/.

Initial System Configuration

NI-RIO Evaluation Hardware

1. If you havent already, complete the Setup Wizard located at StartAll

ProgramsNational InstrumentsLabVIEW RIO Evaluation KitSetup Utility

2. Use the included NI screw driver and wire to connect the Signal Generator OUT and
AGND terminals to the AI0 and AGND terminals as shown below.

3. In preparation for application development verify that the function generator is set to 0-
1KHz and Square Wave generation.

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LabVIEW Environment

1. Launch LabVIEW and navigate to the ToolsOptions menu. Click on the Block
Diagram category and uncheck the Place front panel terminals as icons check box. Click
OK. This will conserve space on the block diagram.

2. Create a new application (called a VI) by selecting FileNew VI. Click on the Block
Diagram window to bring it to the front and right-click it to make the Functions Palette
appear. Pin down the Functions Palette (upper left corner of its window) and click on
CustomizeChange Visible Palettes

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 3. Click Deselect All and then check the following palettes that you will use in this tutorial.
Once you are done click OK.

Palettes Needed
Programming
Connectivity
Real-Time
FPGA Interface

4. Close the Untitled 1.vi without saving it.

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Exercise 1 | Open and Run LCD Application
Summary
In this exercise you are going to open and run a preconfigured application that communicates
between the Real-Time Microprocessor and FPGA to scroll text across the hardwares LCD
screen. To deploy the application, you will complete the following tasks:

1. Explore the Application

2. Deploy and Run Your First LabVIEW RIO Application

Explore the Application

1. Open up the Exercise 1 LabVIEW project file by navigating to .\1- OpenRun LCD
Screen\Exercise 1-Open Run LCD Screen.lvproj.

2. Change the IP address of the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target in the Project Explorer
window to match the IP address of your evaluation board.
a. Right-click the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target in the Project Explorer window and
select Properties from the menu to display the General properties page.
b. In the IP Address / DNS Name box, enter the IP address you wrote down from
the National Instruments LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit Setup utility and click OK.

Note: If you forgot to write down the IP address from the setup utility and need to determine
the IP address of your RIO device, see Appendix B - Changing the IP Address in the LabVIEW
Project at the end of this tutorial for further instructions.

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 3. In the project, expand out the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target, Chassis, and then the FPGA
Target. Note there are separate VIs for the Real-Time Microprocessor and the FPGA.
Double-click on the FPGA.vi.

4. Note that the front panel of an FPGA application is simple as it is not intended to be
used as a User Interface (UI) but instead the controls/indicators represent the FPGA
registers that are accessible for communication between the FPGA and the real-time
processor.

5. Open the block diagram by pressing CTRL+E or navigating to WindowShow Block

Diagram and observe that the FPGA VI uses a low-level LCD driver API to interface
directly with the digital I/O lines that drive the LCD screen. Press CTRL+H to open the
Context Help window, which gives details about the code your cursor interacts with.

6. Close the FPGA VI.

7. In the project, navigate to and double-click on the RT Microprocessor.vi that will execute
on the Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) running on the processor.

8. Note that this front panel is also very simple because the real-time operating system is
headless, without graphics support. As a result, the front panel of a real-time application
is useful for development and debugging but should not be used for final deployment.

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 9. Open the block diagram by pressing CTRL+E.

10. Observe on the left side of your block diagram that the real-time application opens a
reference to a pre-compiled bitfile that will run on your FPGA Target with the resource
name RIO0 from your project. Then commands are sent to the FPGA to drive the LCD
screen based on those commands through digital I/O lines.

You will be writing text to the LCD screen and then scrolling it across the display moving right
or left.

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Deploy and Run Your First LabVIEW RIO Application

1. Deploy and run the real-time application by pressing the Run button on the toolbar
for the RT Microprocessor.vi. Select Save if it prompts you.

Once you kick off the deployment, a dialog box will appear showing the current
compilation process and then will deploy the application down to the microprocessor on
the NI-RIO Evaluation Device. In this case, the FPGA VI is deployed through the real-
time VI so it is not required to deploy it separately.

Note: When the following conflict dialog appears click OK as you want to overwrite the
initial application that was loaded on the real-time processor during the wizard
configuration.

2. Keep the real-time application running. View the LCD screen on your target and the
scrolling text. Click on the direction horizontal toggle switch on the front panel of your VI
to scroll the text in the opposite direction. Click on the STOP button.

3. Modify the text string control with a word or short phrase of your choosing to display on
the LCD screen. Press the Run button and select Save if it prompts you.

4. View your text scroll on the LCD screen. When finished, click on the STOP button.

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Note: If you are unable to see your text make sure the LCD Contrast is set appropriately (left of
the LCD screen). Otherwise consult the Troubleshooting section on page 10.

5. When you are finished exploring the project, right-click on the NI-RIO Evaluation HW
target in the LabVIEW project and select Disconnect. Note the bright green Boolean
turns off, indicating the target is disconnected. Finally, close out all the LabVIEW files
and save the files if prompted.

Tip: If you do not disconnect your current LabVIEW project from the target, then any
subsequent LabVIEW projects that you attempt to deploy files from will present an error. To
release this reservation, press the reset button to reboot the device.

Congratulations, you have deployed and run your first LabVIEW built
embedded application on RIO hardware!

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Exercise 2 | Create a Monitoring and Control FPGA Application
Summary
To start the development of your embedded system you are going to create the LabVIEW
FPGA application which acquires data from and controls your I/O for the Battery Management
System. In this exercise you will implement these four tasks:

1. Acquire Button Presses

2. Monitor the Battery Cell Temperature
3. Acquire the Motor Encoder PWM and Convert to RPMs
4. Monitor the Battery Cell Voltage and Control Power Distribution

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What am I going to accomplish in this exercise?

In this exercise you will develop the FPGA application which has direct access to the
hardwares I/O, to acquire samples on inputs and drive control through outputs. You will
implement monitoring logic for the battery cell voltage, battery cell temperature, motor
encoder, and on-board push buttons. Based on the current voltage and temperature your
FPGA logic will then control digital outputs to the system in this case controlling on-board
LEDs.

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Acquire Button Presses
In this section you will develop logic to acquire the push button presses on the NI-RIO
Evaluation Device and communicate them to other parts of the FPGA application and to the
real-time application.

1. In LabVIEW select FileOpen Project and open up the Exercise 2-FPGA project file in
the Exercise 2 folder at .\2- Create FPGA Application\.

2. Change the IP address of the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target in the Project Explorer
window to match the IP Address of your evaluation board.
a. Right-click the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target in the Project Explorer window and
select Properties from the menu to display the General properties page.
b. In the IP Address / DNS Name box, enter the IP address you wrote down from
the National Instruments LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit Setup utility and click OK
c. Right-click on the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target in the Project Explorer window
and select Connect to verify connection to the device.
d. Click OK if a dialog appears requesting to overwrite the files that are still running
on the device from Exercise 1.

Note: If you forgot to write down the IP address from the setup utility and need to determine
the IP address of your RIO device, see Appendix B - Changing the IP Address in the LabVIEW
Project at the end of this tutorial for further instructions.

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 3. Expand out the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target and Chassis in the Project Explorer to
expose the FPGA target.

4. Double-click on FPGA.vi to open up the existing LabVIEW FPGA application.

5. Select the block diagram by pressing CTRL+E or navigating to WindowShow Block

Diagram.

6. Observe that the LCD Display from FPGA/RT while loop has already been inserted from
the Functions palette (ConnectivityLCDHitachi HD44780Command Handling Loop)
as well as a while loop for each of the tasks that will be programmed.

Note: Each of the while loops on a LabVIEW FPGA VI executes in true parallelism since each
task is mapped to dedicated logic on the FPGA. Also because the loops are implemented in
dedicated hardware logic the stop conditions are wired to false constants.

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 7. To re-use Intellectual Property (IP) already built for LabVIEW FPGA button selection
navigate back to the Exercise 2-FPGA project window, expand out the FPGA SubVIs
folder, and drag the State Selector VI into the FPGA VI.

8. Once the subVI is inserted into the FPGA Button Press while loop, double-click on it to
bring up its front panel and press CTRL+E to view the block diagram code.

Note: As shown in the figure below, the block diagram of the State Selector VI reads in the
digital input lines from the four outer onboard push-buttons and uses a case structure to select
the appropriate display state. DIO12 corresponds to Push Button 1 (PB1 on the board), DIO13
corresponds to PB2, and so on.

9. Close out the State Selector front panel and block diagram to return back to the FPGA.vi

Note: Save the VI if prompted when closing it.

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 10. To control and keep track of the state of the LCD Screen, an enumerated type control
(enum) constant has been created. An enumerated type control lets you create a
numbered list of named items from which to select.

To insert the enum, back in the Project Explorer, expand out the FPGA Custom Controls
folder and drag the Display State.ctl to the left of the FPGA Button Press while loop as
shown.

11. Wire the enum constant through the edge of the while loop and into the Display State In
input of the State Selector subVI. Wire the Display State Out output of the State
Selector subVI to the right side of the while loop, creating a tunnel on the loop border.

Tip: Reference the Getting Started LabVIEW Programming Basics section on page 11 for
more information about how to wire and other LabVIEW environment fundamentals.

12. Right-click on the left-hand tunnel created on the while loop and select Replace with
Shift Register from the drop down menu. LabVIEW replaces the tunnel you right-clicked
with a shift register terminal, and the cursor becomes a shift register icon ( ). Hover
over the tunnel on the opposite side of the loop until it flashes, then click the tunnel to
replace it with a shift register. A shift register enables the passing of data from one loop
iteration to the next.

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 13. To communicate with the real-time application, switch to the front panel of the FPGA VI
and drag in the following controls and indicators from the directed location and rename
with the exact spelling, capitalization, and spacing as shown in the table below:

Control/Indicator Type Palette Location Name

Boolean Indicator ModernBooleanRound LED Temp Warning
Numeric Indicator ModernNumericNumeric Temp
Indicator
Numeric Indicator ModernNumericNumeric RPM
Indicator
Numeric Indicator ModernNumericNumeric Voltage
Indicator
Numeric Control ModernNumericNumeric Max Temp
Control
Custom Indicator From Project ExplorerFPGA Battery State
Custom ControlsBatteryState.ctl
Custom Indicator From Project ExplorerFPGA FPGA Display Command
Custom ControlsDisplayState.ctl
Note: For the custom indicators navigate to the Project Explorer window, expand the NI-
RIO Evaluation HWChassisFPGA TargetFPGA Custom Controls folder and drag in
the specified items.

14. By default the custom controls are dropped down as controls on the front panel. Right-
click on Battery State and select Change to Indicator. Repeat this for the FPGA Display
Command control.

15. Right-click on the Temp indicator, select Properties, and click on the Data Type tab. Click
on the Representation icon that shows I16, and in the menu that appears select FXP.

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Note: The FPGA will be acquiring data in decimal format, however in contrast to
microprocessors, FPGAs do not inherently have floating point processing units on-chip, so
instead the fixed point data type is commonly used to represent non-integer values. To learn
more about fixed-point numbers search Fixed Point Numbers on ni.com.

16. Enter the following values to define the Encoding value, Integer word length and the
Word length which communicates to LabVIEW the maximum size of the integer portion
of the data and the maximum overall integer plus decimal representation required.

Encoding: Signed
Word length: 32 bits
Integer word length: 13 bits

17. Repeat steps 15 and 16 for the two remaining numeric indicators and one numeric
control with the following Encoding values, Word lengths, and Integer word lengths:

Control/Indicator Name Encoding Word length (bits) Integer word length (bits)
RPM Unsigned 32 16
Voltage Signed 24 5
Max Temp Signed 32 13

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 18. Toggle back to the block diagram and arrange the controls and indicators as shown in
the figure below.

19. Branch the Display State Out output wire of the State Selector subVI and connect it to
the FPGA Display Command indicator.

The FPGA Button Press handling loop is now complete and should look as follows:

20. Save the FPGA VI by selecting FileSave or pressing CTRL+S.

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Monitor the Battery Cell Temperature
The next while loop will acquire the battery cell temperature voltage, scale it to degrees Celsius
and compare it against a maximum temperature for alarming purposes.

1. In the Project Explorer window under the FPGA Target expand out Connector0 which
exposes the I/O channels available from that connector. Locate the Temp
(Connector0/AI7) channel and drag it into the left-hand side of the Convert Voltage to
Temp while loop.

2. Still in the Project Explorer window, expand out Connector1 and locate the LEDWarning
(Connector1/DIO9) digital channel. Drag and insert it on the right-hand side of the while
loop.

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 3. Right-click on the center of the LEDWarning I/O node and change it to write mode by
selecting Change to Write from the menu that appears.

4. To re-use IP already generated to scale the temperature units, expand the FPGA SubVIs
folder under the FPGA Target in the Project Explorer, and select the Convert to Temp.vi.

5. Drag the Convert to Temp.vi into the middle of the Convert Voltage to Temp while loop.

6. Insert a Greater? logic comparison (FunctionsProgrammingComparison) into the while

loop and wire up all the components in the loop as shown below.

7. Save the FPGA VI by selecting FileSave or pressing CTRL+S.

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Acquire the Motor Encoder PWM and Convert to RPMs
Next the motor encoder PWM signal (simulated by a square wave signal generator) will be
captured on an input channel then converted to number of periods using a built-in Analog
Period Measurement VI. To convert the simulated signal to RPMs, the acquisition rate is then
divided by the number of periods calculated to get an RPM value.

1. In the Project Explorer window under the FPGA Target expand out Connector0 and drag
EnginePWM (Connector0/AI0) into the left-hand side of the Getting PWM while loop.

2. Locate the Analog Period Measurement VI from the FunctionsProgrammingFPGA

Math & Analysis palette and place it to the right of the EnginePWM I/O node.

After insertion, the Analog Period Measurement VI configuration dialog box will appear,
click Cancel. Wire the EnginePWM output to the input data input terminal on the Analog
Period Measurement VI.

3. Now double-click on the Analog Period Measurement VI to again bring up the

configuration dialog box. Configure it with these settings:

Level: 1
Hysteresis: 0.5
Interpolate crossings: Checked
Direction: Rising
Number of periods: 1

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 4. Drop down a Loop Timer VI (FunctionsProgrammingTiming), and in the dialog box that
appears, specify a Counter Unit of usec. Leave the size of internal counter at its default

5. Right-click on the Count (usec) input of the Loop Timer and select CreateConstant.
Enter a value of 100, so that the acquisition loop for the EnginePWM will run at 100
microseconds (10kHz rate).

6. Insert the High Throughput Divide VI (FunctionsProgrammingFPGA Math & Analysis

High Throughput Math) on the right-hand side of the Getting PWM while loop. This will
divide the 10 kHz acquisition rate by the number of PWM periods that occurred during
that timeframe, in order to get the RPM frequency.

7. Double-click on the High Throughput Divide VI to bring up the functions configuration

and set the Fixed-Point Configuration of the x/y output to Word length: 32 bits and
Integer word length: 16 bits.

8. Drop down a Numeric Constant (FunctionsProgrammingNumeric) next to the x input

of the High Throughput Divide VI and set its value to be 10000.

9. To change the default numeric to fixed-point:

Right-click on the constant, select Properties from the shortcut menu, and then
select the Data Type tab.
Click on the icon underneath the Representation heading, select FXP, and
uncheck the Adapt to entered data checkbox.
Enter 32 bits as the Word length and 32 bits as the Integer word length (in this
case there will not be any decimal represented). Set the Encoding to be
Unsigned. Click OK to exit the properties dialog.

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 10. Drag a Case Structure around the constant, High Throughput Divide and RPM indicator.

11. Wire the output valid Boolean output of the Analog Period Measurement VI to the case
selector of the case structure (input terminal with a question mark on it), so that the
division and RPM value update occurs only when the period measurement calculation is
valid. Ensure there is nothing in the false case of the Case Structure by left-clicking on
the Case Selector label that currently says True.

12. Wire the rest of the components in the loop as highlighted in red below.

13. Save the FPGA VI by selecting FileSave or pressing CTRL+S.

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Monitor the Battery Cell Voltage and Control Power Distribution
The last FPGA-based task is to acquire the current battery cell voltage, and based on its
level assert digital output lines in order to control power distribution to charge the cell,
draw off the cell, or throw an error if it has reached the voltage limit.

1. In the Project Explorer window under the FPGA Target expand out Connector0 and drag
BattVolt (Connector0/AI6) into the left-hand side of the Get Battery State while loop.

2. To assert the digital lines, expand out Connector1 in the Project Explorer and drag over
the following digital lines into the right-hand side of the same loop.

Digital Lines
Connector1Charged (Connector1/DIO6)
Connector1Running (Connector1/DIO5)
Connector1LowBatt (Connector1/DIO4)

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 3. Hover over the Charged digital I/O node that was inserted in the last step until the
cursor changes to a hand. Then right-click on the node and select Change to Write.

4. Repeat step 3 for the remaining two digital I/O nodes.

5. In the Project Explorer window, under the FPGA Target expand out the FPGA SubVIs
folder and drag the Determine Battery State.vi into the middle of the Get Battery State
while loop.

6. Wire up the components in the Get Battery State while loop as highlighted in red below,
with the Fully Charged, Running, and Low Battery subVI outputs wired to the
appropriate I/O node.

7. Save the FPGA VI by selecting FileSave or pressing CTRL+S.

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Start LabVIEW FPGA Compilation Process
1. Save the FPGA VI and click the Run button to start the compilation process.

Note: In contrast to LabVIEW applications running on a Windows OS, an FPGA-based VI is

compiled down to a bitfile, which is loaded onto the FPGA chip configuring its logic cells and
I/O blocks to implement the requested logic. This is a two-step process. First LabVIEW
generates intermediate files and then it transfers them to the Xilinx compilation tools for the
final compile stage.

2. In this case, select Use the local compile server option. The FPGA compilation process
can also be offloaded onto a remote machine, farm servers, or to the cloud.

3. The intermediate file generation process will then start, and once complete, will kick off
the Xilinx compilation. In total, the process should take about 20 minutes to finish
compilation.

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Note: If a communication error occurs when the Compile Server starts, manually start the
Compile Worker by navigating in the Windows start menu to All ProgramsNational
InstrumentsFPGAFPGA Compile Worker. Then, once it starts up, click the Run button on
your LabVIEW FPGA VI again to re-establish communication.

You have now finished development of a LabVIEW FPGA application to

monitor and control the prototype battery cell, motor, and attached display!

Learn more about FPGA Fundamentals at ni.com/fpga

Next Step
While you are waiting for your FPGA application to compile, continue on to
the development of your real-time application in Exercise 3.

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Exercise 3 | Develop Real-Time Application
Summary
In this exercise you are going create a real-time application running on a processor which
communicates with the FPGA controlling the LCD screen. It will also acquire data captured by
the FPGA from the I/O and coordinate network communication back to your Windows user
interface.

1. Communicate with the FPGA

2. Forward Data onto the Windows Target
3. Implement Decision Logic for LCD Screen
4. (Optional) Test the Real-Time and FPGA Applications

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What am I going to accomplish in this exercise?

In this exercise you will complete two processes running on the real-time microprocessor. The
first one will transfer the values from the FPGA and then forward them on to the Windows user
interface through network communication. The second process, LCD Control, will decide what
to write down to the LCD screen based on push button presses.

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Project Setup

1. With your Exercise 2 project still open in the Project Explorer Window, select FileSave
As to copy the project files into the Exercise 3 folder.

2. In the Save As dialog box that appears select Duplicate .lvproj file and contents
Select contents to copy and click Continue

3. Uncheck the Dependencies category for the FPGA target hierarchy and select OK.
These LabVIEW dependency files are not necessary since you will still be saving the
files on the development machine.

4. Navigate to the .\3- Create Real-Time Application\ folder and rename your project as
Exercise 3- RT.lvproj. Click OK to save the project and supporting files.

Note: Click OK if asked to save over existing files

5. Leave the Exercise 2 project open so that the FPGA VI can compile and open the
Exercise 3- RT.lvproj from .\3- Create Real-Time Application\ that was just created.

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 6. In the Project Explorer window, right-click on NI-RIO Evaluation HW and select
AddFile to add the RT application starting template, Navigate to the .\3- Create Real-
Time Application\VIs folder and select the RT Microprocessor.vi.

7. To include the network published shared variables used to communicate with the
Windows UI, right-click on NI-RIO Evaluation HW and select AddFile Navigate to the
.\3- Create Real-Time Application\ folder and select RT-Host Shared Variables.lvlib.

8. Right-click again on NI-RIO Evaluation HW and select AddFolder (Snapshot) Navigate

into the .\3- Create Real-Time Application\Custom Controls folder and select Current
Folder.

9. Select the Custom Controls folder that was just added to the project, press F2, and
rename it RT Custom Controls.

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Communicate with the FPGA
In this section you will open a reference to the FPGA target, implement communication with
the target across the backplane bus and close the reference.

1. Open up the RT Microprocessor VI from the project and toggle to the block diagram
(press CTRL+E).

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 2. Navigate to the FPGA Interface palette and pin it to the block diagram. From this palette
insert an Open FPGA VI Reference (FunctionsFPGA InterfaceOpen FPGA VI
Reference) on the block diagram as shown below.

3. From the project find the FPGA VI under ChassisFPGA Target. Drag it into the
unconfigured Open FPGA VI Reference to the left of the top while loop.

Note: The Run Arrow will be broken because the FPGA VI that you copied over to the project is
not yet compiled. In testing you will reference the compiled bitfile from Exercise 2.

4. Insert two Invoke Method nodes (FunctionsFPGA Interface) on the block diagram
between the Open FPGA VI Reference and the while loop to reset and load the FPGA
application.

5. Wire the FPGA Target reference out of the Open FPGA VI Reference to the first Invoke
Method, and then click on the white section titled Method and select Reset.

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 6. Wire the FPGA VI reference output of the first Invoke Method into the input of the
second Invoke Method and select Run as the method for the second Invoke Method.

7. Next wire the FPGA reference output of the Run Invoke Method to the border of the
FPGA Variable Output while loop

8. Right-click on the Wait Until Done input of the Run Invoke Method and select
CreateConstant. This should be a False constant by default.

9. Complete the error and FPGA reference wires as shown below.

10. Now insert a Read/Write Control (FunctionsFPGA InterfaceRead/Write Control) inside

the FPGA Variable Output while loop. This will define the data communicated between
the FPGA and real-time application.

11. Wire the FPGA reference from the loops tunnel to the Read/Write Control input along
with the error wire.

12. Expand the Read/Write Control to include six terminals by clicking on the lower border
and dragging it down as shown below.

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 13. To configure the unselected terminals, left-click on each of them and select the control
or indicator name from the FPGA front panel that should be polled. Configure the
terminals as shown below to include Max Temp, RPM, Voltage, Temp, Temp Warning,
and Battery State.

14. Without setting timing in the while loop it will execute as fast as it can, potentially
starving resources allocated to the other loop. To avoid this insert a Wait Until Next ms
Multiple (FunctionsProgrammingTiming) function inside the loop. Right-click on its
millisecond multiple input and select CreateConstant.

Enter a value of 100 in the constant to execute the loop every 100 milliseconds.

15. By default the Read/Write Control terminals should all be inputs. Right-click on terminals
2-6 and select Change to Read to change them to outputs.

16. Wire the terminals on the Read/Write Control to the matching front panel control and
indicators on the real-time application VI.

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 17. Finally, to close out the reference to the FPGA target, insert a Close FPGA VI Reference
function (FunctionsFPGA Interface) to the right of the FPGA Variable Output while loop
and wire up the FPGA VI reference as shown.

18. Save the Real-Time VI by selecting FileSave or pressing CTRL+S.

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Forward Data onto the Windows Target
Next you will send the data collected from the FPGA and publish it across the Ethernet connect
so that it will be accessible to the Windows user interface that you will develop in the next
exercise.

1. Inside the project under the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target, locate the RT-Host Shared
Variables.lvlib. This library contains the Network Published Shared Variables that have
been created for communication.

2. Expand the library (.lvlib) to show the Network Published Shared Variables. Drag an
instance of each variable, excluding Display State and Stop, into the block diagram.

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 3. By default the shared variable static nodes are in read mode; change the variables to
write by selecting one of them, right-clicking, and going to Access ModeWrite. Change
all the shared variables to be write access mode.

4. Create a wire branch from the FPGA Read/Write control outputs and wire to their
respective shared variables as shown in the next screenshot.

5. In order to enforce dataflow and ensure correct error propagation, wire the error out
from the FPGA Read/Write Control through each of the Shared Variable static nodes, in
any order.

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 6. Inside the project under the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target, locate the Stop shared
variable inside the RT-Host Shared Variables.lvlib. Drag this variable onto the block
diagram and insert it to the right of the existing shared variables, as shown below.

7. Insert an Or logic function (FunctionsProgrammingBoolean) to the right of the Stop

shared variable. Wire the Error line and Boolean output of the Stop shared variable into
the Or input terminals and the Boolean output of the Or terminal into the red Conditional
Terminal as highlighted in red below. This will stop the loop if either the Stop shared
variable is true or there is an error.

8. Save the Real-Time VI by selecting FileSave or pressing CTRL+S.

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Implement Decision Logic for LCD Screen
The second process, LCD Control, will decide what to write to the LCD screen based on push
button presses. You will implement the logic in the next section to control this behavior.

1. To begin, navigate on the Functions palette to the Hitachi HD44780 LCD screen API
(FunctionsConnectivityLCD Hitachi HD44780) and insert the following functions:

Initialize HD44780.vi
Clear Display.vi (in the Advanced palette)
Two Output.vi
Close.vi

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 2. Now insert a Read/Write Control (FunctionsFPGA Interface) inside the LCD Display
Update Characters while loop. This will be used to receive the push button display
command from the FPGA to decide which string to write to the LCD screen.

3. Branch the FPGA VI Reference wire from after the Run Method next to the top while
loop and wire it to the Read/Write Control inserted in the previous step. Also wire it to
the FPGA VI Reference in input of the Initialize HD44780 VI.

4. To configure the unselected terminal of the Read/Write Control, left-click on it and

select the name of the control or indicator from the FPGA front panel that should be
polled. In this case select the FPGA Display Command.

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 5. By default the terminal should be an input. Right-click on the FPGA Display Command
terminal and select Change to Read to change it to an output.

6. Wire the FPGA Display Command output to the case selector of the nearby case
structure to select the appropriate text to display on the LCD screen. The logic in the
case structure polls the chosen shared variable for the most recent value and generates
the value and name string to write to the LCD screen.

7. To propagate any errors through both loops appropriately, wire the Error line through the
Initialize HD44780 VI and through both while loops as shown below.

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 8. Now focusing on the LCD screen write execution, locate the Initialize HD44780 VI to
the left of the bottom while loop on the block diagram.

Right-click on its Device Index input and select CreateConstant.

Repeat for the Screen Size and Font Configuration inputs.
Set these constants to the following values:

Device Index: 0
Screen Size: 8x2
Font Configuration: 5x8 & 2 lines

9. Wire the LCD out reference of the Initialize HD44780 VI to the LCD in of the Clear
Display VI. Wire the LCD out of the Clear Display to the LCD in of the Output VI.
Continue this wiring to carry the reference through to the Close VI.

10. Next add network published shared variables to the LCD Display Update Characters
while loop to communicate the current LCD display state to the Windows User
Interface.

Inside the LabVIEW project under the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target, locate the Display
State and Stop shared variables inside the RT-Host Shared Variables.lvlib. Drag these
variables into the LCD Display Update Characters while loop and insert them to the right
of the case structure.

11. By default the shared variable static nodes are in read mode; change the Display State
variable to write by selecting it, right-clicking, and choosing Access ModeWrite.

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 12. To control what is written to the LCD screen, wire the pink string values from the edge
of the case structure to the text input terminals on each respective Output VI as shown
below.

13. Right-click on the position input terminal on each Output VI and select CreateConstant.
This is a cluster constant with two elements, row and column. Leave the first constant
as default [0,0] and change the second Output VI cluster constant to [1,0] as shown
below.

14. Create a branch off the FPGA Display Command output and wire to the Display State
shared variable along with the error line from the second Output VI as shown below.

15. Insert an Or logic function (FunctionsProgrammingBoolean) to the right of the Stop

shared variable. Wire the Error lines and output of the Stop shared variable as
highlighted in red below, similar to what you did in the FPGA Variable Output loop.

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 16. Without setting timing in the while loop it will execute as fast as it can, potentially
starving resources allocated to the other loop. To avoid this insert a Wait Until Next ms
Multiple (FunctionsProgrammingTiming) function. Right-click on its millisecond
multiple input and select CreateConstant.

Enter a value of 100 in the constant to execute the loop every 100 milliseconds.

17. Inside the project under the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target, locate the Stop shared
variable inside the RT-Host Shared Variables.lvlib. Drag an instance of this variable into
the block diagram to the left of the Open FPGA VI Reference VI and one to the left of
the Close FPGA VI Reference VI.

18. Change the Stop variables to write mode by selecting them, right-clicking, and going to
Access ModeWrite.

19. Right-click on the Stop input terminal of both shared variables and select
CreateConstant. Leave the constant as the default False value.

20. Wire the error line from the error out terminal of both Stop shared variables to the error
in terminal of the Open FPGA VI Reference VI and Close FPGA VI Reference VI to
enforce dataflow and ensure that initializing the Stop shared variable to False executes
before those VIs every time you run the program.

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 21. To finish the error propagation to the right of both while loops, wire the error lines as
shown below into a Merge Error VI (FunctionsProgrammingDialog and User Interface)
before wiring to the error in terminal on the Stop shared variable.

22. Right-click on the left-hand error tunnel on the while loop and select Replace with Shift
Register from the drop down menu. LabVIEW replaces the tunnel you right-clicked with
a shift register terminal, and the cursor becomes a shift register icon ( ). Hover over
the error tunnel on the opposite side of the loop until it flashes, then click the tunnel to
replace it with a shift register. A shift register enables the passing of data from one loop
iteration to the next.

23. Repeat this step to turn the LCD Driver Reference loop tunnels to shift registers.

24. Right-click on the error out terminal of the Close FPGA VI Reference VI and select
CreateIndicator to display any errors to the user on the front panel.

25. Save the Real-Time VI by selecting FileSave or pressing CTRL+S.

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(Optional) Test the Real-Time and FPGA Applications
At this point the FPGA VI should have completed its compilation process and now you can run
the following tests on the FPGA and Real-Time target applications.

(Optional) FPGA Application Test

1. Bring up the Exercise 2-FPGA project that should still be open in the background and
double click on the FPGA.vi if it is not already open.

Note: If you did not complete the Exercise 2 FPGA application, reference the solution at . \2-
Create FPGA Application\_Solution and open the Exercise 2-FPGA.lvproj. The solution VI will
need to be compiled for your specific target. Reference the Using the Solutions section on
Page 9 for more details on using the solution.

2. Click the run button if it is not already running and complete the following tests:

Turn the potentiometer in the lower right-hand corner of the board and verify
that on the FPGA front panel that the battery cell voltage indicator, called
Voltage, increases and the Battery State indicator also changes. Also note the
changes in the board LEDs representing the different digital signals that would
be sent to the power distribution circuit based on the battery state (Low Batt,
Running, and Charged).

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 Turn the potentiometer pictured below to vary the Motor PWM signal frequency
and verify that the RPM signal responds accordingly on the FPGA front panel.

Put your finger on the temp sensor shown below and verify that the Temp signal
responds accordingly on the FPGA front panel. Reduce or increase the Max
Temp so that you can test the Temp Warning and ensure that if the temp is
above the maximum that the Temp Warning front panel alarm LED is on. Also
verify that the on board LED turns on providing notice to the operator of an
alarm.

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 The final FPGA test is to verify the push button inputs. Assert each of the four
outer push buttons (PB1, PB2, PB4, and PB5) and verify that the FPGA Display
Commands update with a new menu item.

Note: Since the real-time application creates and controls the LCD screen, it will
not yet work. The next testing section for the real-time application will exercise
this functionality.

3. When you are finished testing the FPGA VI, click the Abort button .

4. Right-click on the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target in the LabVIEW project and select
Disconnect. Note the bright green Boolean turns off, indicating the target is
disconnected. Finally, close out all of the Exercise 2 LabVIEW files and save the files if
prompted.

Congratulations, you have completed your FPGA application testing!

As you can see, the FPGA VI front panel is very helpful for debugging
purposes.

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(Optional) Real-Time Application Test
Initial Setup

1. Transition back to the Exercise 3-RT project to test the real-time application. Open up
the RT Microprocessor VI if it is not already in memory.

2. Since the FPGA VI was compiled in a different project, the static FPGA compiled
application, or bitfile, needs to be referenced in the current project. Toggle to the block
diagram (CTRL+E), right-click on the FPGA Open VI Reference VI and select Configure
FPGA Open VI Reference

3. In the dialog that appears click the radio button next to Bitfile and browse to .\2- Create
FPGA Application\FPGA Bitfiles\ and select the file inside. Click OK on the dialog to exit.

Note: This is the bitfile that is a result of your Exercise 2 LabVIEW FPGA code compilation.

4. To finish the FPGA setup, right-click on the resource name input terminal on the FPGA
Open VI Reference and select CreateConstant. From the constant drop down select
RIO0. This is the name of your FPGA target resource from the LabVIEW Project.

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Application Testing

1. Click the Run button to compile and deploy the real-time application to the NI-RIO
Evaluation Device, which also includes the FPGA application since the VI references the
FPGA bitfile you just selected. Save the VI if prompted.

Note: If a Conflict Resolution dialog box appears on deployment click Apply to overwrite the
current real-time application that is still running on the device.

2. For the real-time application testing, run the same tests as you did for the FPGA except
now look to the Real-Time application front panel for verification of values.

3. Also note that the LCD screen now displays the different menus that the real-time
application generates and transfers to the FPGA.

4. When you are finished testing the real-time VI, click the Abort button.

5. Right-click on the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target in the LabVIEW project and select
Disconnect.

6. Save all of the Exercise 3 files by selecting FileSave All in the Project Explorer window.

You have now created a real-time application running on a microprocessor

which acquires data from the FPGA, controls the LCD screen, and
coordinates network communication with the Windows user interface!

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Exercise 4 | Create Windows User Interface
Summary
In this exercise you will complete your battery monitoring application using the FPGA VI that
you created in Exercise 2 and the Real-Time VI you created in Exercise 3. You will modify the
Windows User Interface VI to read data from the network published shared variables that you
wrote data to in the Real-Time application in Exercise 3. Then you will finish by wiring this data
to the User Interface components to display the current battery management system data. In
this exercise, you will complete the following tasks:

1. Explore the Windows-Based Application User Interface

2. Finish Development of the Windows-Based Application User Interface
3. Run and Verify the Completed System

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What am I going to accomplish in this exercise?

In this exercise you will finish the overall embedded system by completing a user interface
running on your Windows development machine. The user interface components have already
been placed for you, but the backend communication architecture needs to be completed so
that you can update the user interface with current values and the state of the battery and
motor.

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Project Setup

1. With your Exercise 3 project still open in the Project Explorer Window, select FileSave
As to copy the project files into the Exercise 4 folder.

2. In the Save As dialog box that appears select Duplicate .lvproj file and contents
Select contents to copy and click Continue

3. Uncheck the Dependencies category for the Real-time and FPGA target hierarchies and
select OK. These LabVIEW dependency files are not necessary since you will still be
saving the files on the development machine.

4. Navigate to the \4- Create Windows UI\ folder and rename your project as Exercise 4-
Windows UI.lvproj.

5. Click OK to save the project and supporting files. If a Load Warning occurs click Ignore
as it is confirming the new file locations.

6. Close the Exercise 3 project and open the Exercise 4- Windows UI.lvproj from
.\4- Create Windows UI\ that was just created. If prompted save the Exercise 3 project.

7. To add the skeleton Windows UI application already created, in the Project Explorer
window right-click on My Computer and select AddFile Navigate to the
.\4- Create Windows UI\VIs folder and select Windows UI.vi.

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 8. Right-click on My Computer and select AddFolder (Snapshot) Navigate to the .\4-
Create Windows UI\ VIs\Windows SubVIs folder and select Current Folder.

9. Right-click on My Computer and select AddFolder (Snapshot) Navigate to the .\4-

Create Windows UI\ Custom Controls folder and select Current Folder. Select the
Custom Controls folder that was just added to the project, press F2, and rename it
Windows Custom Controls.

The My Computer section of your project should now look as follows:

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Explore the Windows-Based Application User Interface
In this section you will explore the Windows PC User Interface application and its interaction
with real-time processor application.

1. In the Exercise 4- Windows UI Project Explorer window, double click to open Windows
UI.vi to view the User Interface. Note there are indicators for each of the values youve
been monitoring on the Real-Time front panel thus far:

Current Voltage, Temperature, and RPM, as well a variable history of these three
values.
Temperature Warning alarm Boolean indicator
Along the bottom are LCD indicators to display the current LCD screen state

2. On the user interface, update the IP Address string control value to the IP address of
your NI-RIO Evaluation Device.

3. To set this IP address as the default on start up, select EditMake Current Values
Default after entering the IP address.

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 4. Save the VI by going to FileSave or pressing CTRL+S.

5. Press CTRL+E to view the block diagram logic. To the left of the while loop the IP
address of the NI-RIO Evaluation Device is collected with the IP Address string control
on the front panel and a connection to its shared variable engine, hosted on the
microprocessor, is established with the Initialize Shared Variables Host.vi. This VI takes
an IP address and builds references to all the shared variables used on the host, in this
case, your NI-RIO Evaluation Device. Those references are bundled in a cluster to easily
transmit the data in one wire.

6. Inside the UI Update and Event Handler while loop, observe the Timeout case of the
event structure. The LabVIEW Event Structure executes when a defined event is
detected, in this case, if no event is detected within 10 ms, the timeout case is
executed. This timeout case:

Reads the network published shared variables that were written to in the real-
time application with the Read Shared Variables Host.vi.
Contains all of the mapping to connect the user interface components to data
from the shared variables so that those components update with the most
recent values. You will complete this wiring in the next section.

7. Now toggle the event structure to the Stop Button: Value Change case by clicking the
arrow next to the Timeout case text.

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 8. Note that the user interface Stop Button Boolean control is located inside this event
case, and the case will execute when the user interface detects a value change (push)
of the Stop Button. In the next section you will add the Stop network published shared
variable to communicate the stop condition to the real-time processor target.

9. Finally, to the right of the while loop the shared variable connections are closed before
errors are checked the application exits.

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Finish Development of the Windows-Based Application User Interface
In the last section you will complete the Windows User Interface application by connecting the
block diagram logic to front panel controls/indicators and insert the Stop shared variable for
communication of the stop condition to the NI-RIO Evaluation Device.

1. In the UI Update and Event Handler loop the shared variables that are read need to be
unbundled for connection to their respective front panel indicators.

In the Timeout event case, insert an Unbundle By Name function

(FunctionsProgrammingCluster, Class, & Variant) to the right of the Read
Shared Variables Host VI.
Wire the Current Values output of the Read Shared Variables Host VI to the input
of the Unbundle By Name function. This unbundles each of the six shared
variable values that were contained in the cluster.
Expand the values to unbundle by left-clicking to select the Unbundle By Name
function and drag out the blue lower boundary until six terminals are exposed.

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 Left-click on each terminal and select the shared variable name that matches the
order in the screenshot below.
Wire the output terminals to the matching front panel indicators.

2. Add a Bundle function and wire it up as shown to group Voltage, RPM, and
Temperature values for input into the Variable History chart.

Insert the Bundle function (FunctionsProgrammingCluster, Class, & Variant)

Expand the terminals to three by selecting the Bundle and extending the lower
border.
Create a branch from the existing wires and connect Voltage to the top terminal,
Temperature to the middle terminal, and RPM to the lower terminal.
Wire the output of the Bundle function into the input of the Variable History
Waveform Chart indicator.

3. Switch the event structure to the Stop Button: Value Change case by clicking the
arrow next to the Timeout case text.

4. Inside the project under the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target, locate the Stop shared
variable inside the RT-Host Shared Variables.lvlib. Drag this variable into the block
diagram and insert it into the current event case to communicate the stop condition to
the NI-RIO Evaluation Device.

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 5. Change the Stop shared variable to write by selecting it, right-clicking, and going to
Access ModeWrite.

6. Branch the wire from the Stop Button terminal and connect it to the Stop input of the
Stop shared variable. Wire the error line from the left tunnel to the shared variable error
in terminal and wire the error out to the right-hand tunnel.

7. Save the Windows UI VI by going to FileSave or pressing CTRL+S.

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Run and Verify the Completed System
Now that you have completed the development of your system, run through these steps to
verify its behavior.

1. Open and run the RT Microprocessor VI from the Exercise 4- Windows UI project. If you
have a broken Run arrow refer to the note below.

Note: If you did not complete the optional real-time application testing at the end of Exercise 3,
go to page 60 and complete the Initial Setup section of the real-time application to link to the
FPGA application bitfile.

Note: If a Conflict Resolution dialog box appears on deployment click Apply to overwrite the
current real-time application that is still running on the device.

2. Open and run the Windows UI VI from the Exercise 4- Windows UI project.

Note: If the Windows application throws an error or does not respond, verify that the correct IP
address for your NI-RIO Evaluation Device is entered on the user interface. If it is not, re-enter
it, select EditMake Current Values Default, and click the Run button to restart the Windows
application.

3. On the daughter card push PB4 to display the voltage on the LCD screen and turn the
potentiometer.
Verify that the battery voltage changes on the Windows User Interface and on
the LCD screen accordingly.
Note the battery state as you change it from Low Batt, to Running, to Charged
and the corresponding LEDs that turn on like a gauge.

4. On the daughter card push PB2 to display the motor RPM on the LCD screen.
Turn the frequency potentiometer for the function generator and verify that the
RPM value changes on the Windows User Interface and on the LCD screen
accordingly.

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 5. Once you are done testing, click Stop on the Windows UI to stop both applications.

6. When you are finished testing the system, right-click on the NI-RIO Evaluation HW
target in the LabVIEW project and select Disconnect. Note the bright green Boolean
turns off, indicating the target is disconnected.

Congratulations, you have finished the development of your LabVIEW RIO-

based embedded system!

Next Step
Deploy and Replicate Your Embedded System

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Exercise 5 | Application Deployment and Replication
Summary
Now that you have completed the development of your embedded system, you need to deploy
and replicate the application. In this exercise you will complete these two tasks:

1. Create and Deploy a Startup Real-Time Executable

2. Save a System Software Image and Deploy to Formatted Hardware

Project Setup
1. With your Exercise 4 project still open in the Project Explorer Window, select FileSave
As to copy the project files into the Exercise 5 folder.

2. In the Save As dialog box that appears select Duplicate .lvproj file and contents
Select contents to copy and click Continue

3. Uncheck the Dependencies category for each of the My Computer, Real-Time

Processor, and FPGA target hierarchies and select OK. These LabVIEW dependency
files are not necessary since you will still be saving the files on the development
machine.

4. Navigate to the \5- DeployReplicate System folder and rename your project as
Exercise 5- Deploy Replicate.lvproj. Click OK to save the project and supporting files.

5. Close the Exercise 4 project and open the Exercise 5- Deploy Replicate.lvproj from
.\5- DeployReplicate System\ that was just created. Save Exercise 4 files if prompted.

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Create and Deploy a Startup Real-Time Executable
Create an executable for your Windows User Interface application

1. In the LabVIEW Project Explorer window expand out the My Computer target, right-click
on the Build Specification, and select NewApplication (EXE).

2. An Application Builder Information dialog window may open upon building an application
for the first time. Check the Do not prompt again for this operation box and click OK.

3. Once the My Application Properties dialog window appears, enter the Build
Specification name and Target filename as Exercise 5 Windows Application and the
Destination directory as .\5- DeployReplicate System\builds\ Windows Application.

4. In the Category list on the left-hand side of the window, click on Source Files and select
Windows UI.vi from the Project Files section. Add the VI as the Startup VI by clicking
the right arrow. This designates the VI to build into an executable and its User Interface
that will appear when running the executable.

5. Leave the remainder of the categories as defaults and click Build. Once the build is
successful click Done.

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Create an executable for your real-time application

6. In the LabVIEW Project Explorer window expand out the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target,
right-click on the bottom Build Specification, and select NewReal-Time Application.

7. In the dialog window, enter the Build specification name as Exercise 5 RT Application.

8. Set the Local destination directory as .\5- DeployReplicate System\builds\ RT

Application.

9. In the Category list on the left-hand side of the window, click on Source Files and select
RT Microprocessor.vi from the Project Files section and add the VI as the Startup VI by
clicking the right arrow.

10. Leave the remainder of the categories as defaults and click Build. Once the build is
successful click Done.

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Set the real-time executable as a startup application so you do not need to manually
deploy it to the target every time you reboot the system.

11. In the LabVIEW Project Explorer window, right-click on the Exercise 5 RT Application
build specification that you created and select Run as startup.

Note: If a Conflict Resolution dialog box appears on deployment click Apply to overwrite the
current real-time application that is still running on the device.

12. LabVIEW will deploy the application to the target hard drive and then will prompt you to
reboot the target to start executing the startup application. Click Yes to continue with
the reboot.

Note: Allow for a few minutes for the Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) to boot up after
reboot. Once it does successfully reboot the LCD screen will start updating.

13. Navigate to and run on the Windows executable that you built, located at .\5-
DeployReplicate System\builds\Windows Application\Exercise 5 Windows
Application.exe

Verify that the initial deployment of the system works by running through the system
tests from the Run and Verify the Completed System section of Exercise 4 on page 72.
It should now execute, communicate with the headless real-time application, and
update the LCD screen.

14. Close all LabVIEW files and save if prompted.

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Save a System Software Image and Deploy to Formatted Hardware
Warning
This section re-formats the hard drive on your NI-RIO Evaluation Device. If for some
unexpected reason after 5 minutes or more the device does not respond, you can reset the
device to a known state by re-running the LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Setup Wizard (Windows
Start MenuAll ProgramsNational InstrumentsLabVIEW RIO Evaluation KitSetup Utility).

1. National Instruments provides a utility to rapidly create and deploy hardware images of
your application. The utility is called the Replication and Deployment (RAD) Utility and
can be downloaded and installed from the following location on ni.com:

Replication and Deployment (RAD) Utility

and download rad_3002_installer.zip

2. Once you have downloaded the RAD Utility from the above location run the installer.

3. Navigate to and open the NI Replication and Deployment (RAD) Utility from Windows
Start MenuAll ProgramsNI Replication And DeploymentRAD Utility.

4. When the RAD utility opens, it will scan for systems on the network and will populate
your target in the left-hand table. If you are connected to a router and there are other
targets on the network, they will appear as well. Select the NI-sbRIO9636-<Your Device
serial number and IP address> target and click Retrieve to retrieve an image.

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 5. A Select Image Type dialog box will appear. Select New Application Image, enter the
name LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Image, and click OK.

6. Choose the image storage directory by browsing to the folder .\5- DeployReplicate
System\images. Click Retrieve Image from NI-sbRIO-<Your Device serial number and IP
address> to start saving the targets image.

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 7. The retrieval and image processing will take about 5 minutes. When you receive the
dialog box that the application image retrieval was successful, click OK.

8. Once the image has been successfully copied to your development computer, you will
now format the NI-RIO Evaluation Device to simulate how you would go about
deploying this image to a new system.

To format the target, launch the Measurement & Automation Explorer (NI MAX), located
on your Windows Desktop or at (StartAll ProgramsNational InstrumentsNI MAX).

9. Expand Remote Systems in the left-hand navigation window to expose your target.
Right-click on your target (it may be named NI-sbRIO-<Your Device serial number and IP
address>) and select Format Disk.

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 10. Check the boxes to Force safe mode and to Keep network settings, then click Format.

Note: If after clicking Format Measurement & Automation Explorer displays the following
warning dialog:

Then navigate to the Controller Settings tab for the NI-RIO Evaluation Device (shown below),
check the box next to Safe Mode to force the device into safe mode and click Save. When
prompted to restart, click Yes and wait for the device to reboot before retrying steps 8-10.

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 11. Once you have successfully formatted the device the following dialog window will
appear.

Note: The reboot will take about a minute to complete.

12. Click OK and then go back into the RAD Utility.

13. In the utility click Refresh to force the application to rescan the network and update the
target information.

14. Since you have not specified your exercise folder as the default place to scan for images
there are no image files showing up in the Application Images table. To change the
location where the RAD scans:

Click on Settings in the upper left corner above the Application Images table
Browse to .\5- DeployReplicate System\images and select Use Current Folder
Click OK

15. Select your target on the left and the image on the right and then click Deploy. Verify in
the dialog window that appears that the target is listed and then click Deploy Application
Image to Listed Targets to start the replication process.

Note: The imaging process will take about 5 minutes.

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 16. After the replication is complete, the LCD screen will start updating again with your I/O,
signaling the startup application is running. At this point close the dialog window.

Note: If you put the device into Safe Mode before, follow these steps to disable it now:

Navigate to the Controller Settings tab for the NI-RIO Evaluation Device (shown
below) in Measurement & Automation Explorer (NI MAX).
Uncheck the box next to Safe Mode to reboot the target out of safe mode and click
Save.
When prompted to restart click Yes.
Wait for the device to reboot and then move on to the next step.

17. To verify that the target has successfully been replicated, re-run your Windows
application (.\5- DeployReplicate System\builds\Windows Application\Exercise 5
Windows Application.exe) and you should receive updates from the embedded system.

Congratulations! Using NIs graphical system design approach, you have now
completed the development, deployment, and replication of a LabVIEW RIO-based
embedded system with three targets (Desktop PC running Windows OS, Processor
running a Real-Time OS, and an FPGA).

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Next Steps
This evaluation tutorial was an introduction to the LabVIEW RIO Architecture. Before
you purchase NI LabVIEW and a RIO hardware device to start programming for your
application, please review the following:

1. LabVIEW RIO Architecture Training Path

Since this was a brief introduction to the LabVIEW Real-Time and LabVIEW
FPGA modules it is highly recommended that you better understand what
further knowledge you need to gain before you start creating your own system.
Appendix A has a guide to help you identify a training path to gain the
appropriate skill level for the task you are trying to complete using LabVIEW.

2. RIO Hardware Form Factors

In this evaluation kit you used a board-level form factor of the RIO hardware
platform. This however is just one form factor of many different families of RIO
hardware products that can all be similarly programmed with the LabVIEW FPGA
and LabVIEW Real-Time modules.

Learn more about the other families by visiting ni.com/embeddedsystems.

3. Online Community with Further Exercises and Resources

To find getting started resources, more advanced tutorials specifically for the
LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit, user applications, discussion forums, and to learn
more about LabVIEW RIO Architecture products, visit ni.com/rioeval/nextstep.

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Appendix A | LabVIEW RIO Training Path
Maximize Your RIO Investment
Develop Faster and Reduce Maintenance Costs

For developing embedded control and monitoring systems, the combination of NI LabVIEW
software and NI CompactRIO or NI Single-Board RIO hardware offers powerful benefits
including the following:

Precision and accuracy - Precise, high-speed timing and control combined with accurate
measurements
Flexibility Hundreds of I/O modules for sensors, actuators and networks that with
LabVIEW can connect quickly to control and processing algorithms and system models
Productivity LabVIEW system design software for programming processors, FPGAs,
I/O and communications
Quality & ruggedness High-quality hardware and software for deploying reliable
embedded systems that last

However, there is still a learning curve to effectively take advantage of these benefits, and
your application or job in part determines the size of that curve. Every project is different. To be
successful, you should determine up front what you need to learn to deliver a system that
meets or exceeds requirements while also minimizing development time. If the requirements
for your next project differ significantly from your current one, assess what additional concepts
you should learn to successfully complete it. For example, you may be currently developing a
functional prototype and just want a system that works, but if the design is approved you will
likely want something that is built to last and minimizes long-term maintenance costs. Consider
the different capabilities needed for each stage of developing an application based on
CompactRIO or NI Single-Board RIO, and take advantage of resources that can help you
efficiently learn those necessary skills.

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Core Capabilities Required for all CompactRIO and NI Single-Board RIO Users

To begin with, everyone who uses LabVIEW and CompactRIO or NI Single-Board RIO should
have the ability to

Install and configure CompactRIO hardware and LabVIEW software

Create a diagram or architecture for your system
Navigate the LabVIEW environment
Apply key LabVIEW structures (While Loops, clusters, arrays, and so on)
Develop basic, functional applications in LabVIEW
Apply common design patterns (state machine, producer/consumer, and so on)
Understand the difference between Windows and real-time operating systems
Implement communication between processes
Deploy an application

To help you learn these abilities, National Instruments recommends the following resources:

Getting Started With NI Products (ni.com/gettingstarted)

LabVIEW Core 1, LabVIEW Core 2, and LabVIEW Real-Time 1 training courses
(ni.com/training)
LabVIEW for CompactRIO Developers Guide (ni.com/compactriodevguide)

From there, attributes of your application or job determine whether you need additional
capabilities.

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Identifying Additional Capabilities Required by Your Application

To determine the level of skills you need, ask the following four questions (circle one answer
for each). For each of your answers, look at the following table to identify the capabilities you
need and learning resources you can use.

1. How will the system I am developing be used?

a. Ongoing use or deployment over multiple months or years
b. Functional prototype or short-term use system

2. What I/O rates does my application require?

a. One or more I/O channels sampled or updated at >500 Hz
b. All I/O channels sampled or updated at rates <500 Hz

3. Who is developing the LabVIEW code for this system?

a. Multiple developers with each responsible for a portion of the codebase
b. A single person is developing the entire codebase

4. Will this system be used in the medical device industry to automate a manufacturing
process or test products?
a. Yes
b. No

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 Questions You Need to Be Able To Recommended Resources
and Answers
1 a No additional capabilities required
b Follow software engineering best practices to create NI training courses:
scalable, maintainable applications in LabVIEW LabVIEW Real-Time 2
Identify performance, reliability, and communication LabVIEW Core 3
requirements for your system
Optimize your code to meet those requirements ni.com content:
Design for reliability: Build in system health LabVIEW for CompactRIO
monitoring and comprehensive error handling Developers Guide
2 a Compile and deploy your VIs to hardware targets NI training courses:
based on reconfigurable I/O (RIO) LabVIEW FPGA
Use an FPGA to acquire and output analog and digital
signals ni.com content:
Understand and control timing of operations on the LabVIEW for CompactRIO
FPGA target Developers Guide
b Acquire I/O using the NI Scan Engine ni.com content:
LabVIEW for CompactRIO
Developers Guide
3 a No additional capabilities required
b Adapt the software engineering process to your NI training courses:
project Managing Software
Select and use appropriate tools to help you manage Engineering in LabVIEW
application development
Conduct an effective LabVIEW code review
Develop a test and validation strategy
4 b No additional capabilities required
a Understand regulatory requirements in the industry NI training courses:
Follow best practices for using standards and Using LabVIEW for Test
application life cycle processes and Automation in
Use the GAMP 5 risk-based approach for developing Regulated Markets
test applications
Take advantage of NI tools and techniques to
simplify testing and documentation requirements

Table 1. Identify the capabilities you need for your project and the learning resources you can
use.

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CompactRIO/Single-Board RIO Recommended Resources Summary

Need More Help?

Contact a National Instruments Training & Certification Specialist at ni.com/contact for
additional guidance on the level of skill you need for your application.

No Time to Learn?
Many National Instruments Alliance Partners have already invested in the level of proficiency
required for your application. If you have a CompactRIO or NI Single-Board RIO project that
requires a greater skill level than you currently have and you are unable to gain the required
level in the time allotted for your project, NI can temporarily augment your expertise by
connecting you with an Alliance Partner that can provide consulting services while you get up
to speed. Find an Alliance Partner in your area at ni.com/alliance.

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Appendix B | Changing the IP Address in the LabVIEW Project
Your RIO device is identified by its IP address. For each exercise, confirm that the IP address in
the project matches the IP address of your RIO device. The National Instruments LabVIEW RIO
Evaluation Setup utility should have prompted you to write down the NI-RIO Evaluation Device
IP address, but you also can locate the device through the following steps.

If you already know your IP address, skip to Step 4.

1. Determine the IP address of your NI-RIO Evaluation Device by opening the

Measurement & Automation Explorer with the icon on your desktop or by selecting
StartAll ProgramsNational InstrumentsNI MAX.

2. Click the triangle next to Remote Systems.

3. Click on your NI-RIO Evaluation Device in the Remote Systems tree and on the right
hand side note the IP address that appears in the System Settings tab.

4. Change the IP address of the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target in the LabVIEW Project
Explorer window to match the IP address of your evaluation board.
a. Right-click the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target in the LabVIEW Project Explorer
window and select Properties from the menu to display the General properties
page.
b. In the IP Address / DNS Name box, enter the IP address you wrote down from
the National Instruments LabVIEW RIO Evaluation Kit Setup utility or just now
from Measurement & Automation Explorer and click OK.
c. Right-click on the NI-RIO Evaluation HW target in the Project Explorer window
and select Connect to verify connection to the evaluation device.

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