California State University, Fullerton College of Engineering and Computer Science EGGN 100 Introduction to Engineering Fall 2015 LabVIEW Assignment Demo Due Today (in class) Report Due at the beginning of class on September 10, 2015 (Thursday) In this assignment, you need to do the following: 1. Using LabVIEW, generate and display a square wave 2. Modify the program from step 1 and add a ‘knob’ to control the amplitude of the square wave that you generated in step 1 above. Verify that the amplitude of the square wave changes when you turn the ‘knob’. Save two copies your program with filenames as Square.vi and HiSquare.vi 3. Now, modify the program in HiSquare.vi to scale (i.e. multiply) the amplitude of the square wave by 10 using a ‘Formula’ VI. Verify the results and save the program file. (You must complete steps 1, 2 and 3 in 30 minutes) 4. Demonstrate the results corresponding to part 2 (Square.vi ) and part 3 (HiSquare.vi) to the instructor before the end of class today 5. Turn in a 1-page hard-copy report at the beginning of class on September 10, 2015 (Thursday). Use Times New Roman font; size 11; 1.5 line spacing to type your report. Your report should include descriptions for the following: • The goal(s) of the assignment • The procedure that you followed in order to complete the assignment • Challenges/difficulties faced (if any) and how you overcame them • What you were able to accomplish at the end? • Conclusion P.S. Nair EGGN 100: Introduction to Engineering LabVIEW Tutorial Dr. Pradeep Nair Associate Professor, Computer Engineering Objectives of the Tutorial: To generate, display and modify a desired signal shape using LabVIEW graphical programming LabVIEW Description: • LabVIEW is the abbreviation for Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench • LabVIEW is a product from National Instruments Corporation (NI) • LabVIEW is a system design platform that makes use of Visual Programming/Graphical Programming • In visual programming, we make use of visual programming elements known as Virtual Instruments, or VIs, instead of writing programs/code using traditional text-based instructions P.S. Nair • In other words, we can say that a LabVIEW program is a collection of VIs • Visual/Graphical Programming makes the programming task easier because it allows you to drag- and-drop icons that represent programming constructs • Some of the things that LabVIEW can do (it is a powerful design platform!):  Generate inputs (also known as input signals)  Create a virtual system that meets a set of required specifications  Analyze the behavior of the system (outputs/output signals) for a set of inputs  Record/store behavior-related data of the system  Acquire data from external hardware instruments  Communicate with external hardware instruments Components of a LabVIEW Program: • User Interface bui ...

1. California State University, Fullerton
College of Engineering and Computer Science
EGGN 100 Introduction to Engineering Fall 2015
LabVIEW Assignment
Demo Due Today (in class)
Report Due at the beginning of class on September 10, 2015
(Thursday)
In this assignment, you need to do the following:
1. Using LabVIEW, generate and display a square wave
2. Modify the program from step 1 and add a ‘knob’ to control
the amplitude of the square wave that
you generated in step 1 above. Verify that the amplitude of the
square wave changes when you
turn the ‘knob’. Save two copies your program with filenames
as Square.vi and HiSquare.vi
3. Now, modify the program in HiSquare.vi to scale (i.e.
multiply) the amplitude of the square
wave by 10 using a ‘Formula’ VI. Verify the results and save

2. the program file.
(You must complete steps 1, 2 and 3 in 30 minutes)
4. Demonstrate the results corresponding to part 2 (Square.vi )
and part 3 (HiSquare.vi) to the
instructor before the end of class today
5. Turn in a 1-page hard-copy report at the beginning of class
on September 10, 2015 (Thursday).
Use Times New Roman font; size 11; 1.5 line spacing to type
your report. Your report should
include descriptions for the following:
• The goal(s) of the assignment
• The procedure that you followed in order to complete the
assignment
• Challenges/difficulties faced (if any) and how you overcame
them
• What you were able to accomplish at the end?
• Conclusion
P.S. Nair
EGGN 100: Introduction to Engineering
LabVIEW Tutorial

3. Dr. Pradeep Nair
Associate Professor, Computer Engineering
Objectives of the Tutorial:
To generate, display and modify a desired signal shape using
LabVIEW graphical programming
LabVIEW Description:
• LabVIEW is the abbreviation for Laboratory Virtual
Instrumentation Engineering Workbench
• LabVIEW is a product from National Instruments
Corporation (NI)
• LabVIEW is a system design platform that makes use of
Visual Programming/Graphical Programming
• In visual programming, we make use of visual
programming elements known as Virtual Instruments,
or VIs, instead of writing programs/code using
traditional text-based instructions
P.S. Nair

4. • In other words, we can say that a LabVIEW program is
a collection of VIs
• Visual/Graphical Programming makes the
programming task easier because it allows you to drag-
and-drop icons that represent programming constructs
• Some of the things that LabVIEW can do (it is a
powerful design platform!):
specifications
tput
signals) for a set of inputs
-related data of the system
Components of a LabVIEW Program:
• User Interface built by the user (you); this interface is
known as the Front Panel
• A window that contains the VIs that make up the
program, known as the Block Diagram window
• The front panel is built using Controls and Indicators
P.S. Nair

5. • Controls are the various input mechanisms that are
available. Examples: Virtual dials, virtual knobs,
virtual push-buttons etc.
• Indicators are the output mechanisms. Examples are
Graphs, Virtual output displays, virtual LEDs etc.
LabVIEW Programming Sequence:
Buil
System/Process-
P.S. Nair
Using LabVIEW to Generate, Display and Modify Signals
1. Open LabVIEW
Template’. After this, select ‘Tutorial (Getting

6. Click OK.
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3. This will open up two new windows: Front Panel and
Block Diagram. The front panel is where the controls
and indicators are placed.
In this part of the tutorial, the process required to
generate a sine wave has already been added to the
block diagram and the required controls and indicators
have already been added to the front panel. We will
now learn how to run this program and observe the sine
wave output.
4. The front panel and the block diagram look like this:
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5. The block diagram is the core of the graphical program.
It contains structures and VIs that interact with the
front-panel objects. It looks like this:

7. 6. Click on the ‘Run’ button in the front panel to run the
program. It looks like this:
You should now see a sine wave being displayed on the
front-panel indicator. When the program is running,
the ‘Run’ button changes in appearance and color, like
this:
7. Stop the execution of the program by clicking on the
control named ‘STOP’ in the front panel:
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8. Next, we will add a ‘Knob’ control (shown below) to the
‘Num Ctrls’. Then click on ‘Knob’ and then, drag the
‘Knob’ control and drop it inside the front panel.
9. Save t
panel. Choose the file name as ‘SignalGeneration.vi’.
Save in Desktop.
10. Next, we will change the signal display type from Sine
wave to a ‘Sawtooth’ wave. For this, first click on the
block diagram window. Then double click on the VI
block that is named as ‘Simulate Signal’.

8. P.S. Nair
11. You will now see that a new window pops up, as shown
below. Change the ‘Signal type’ to ‘Sawtooth’. Click
OK.
12. If you run the program in the front panel now, you will
see the new Sawtooth signal in the front panel
13. Highlight the ‘Simulate Signal’ block by clicking over it
once in the block diagram window and keep the cursor
over the lower part of the ‘Simulate Signal’ block. A
double-sided arrow will appear. Click and pull
downwards till you can see an input called ‘Amplitude’
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being displayed. An input is denoted by an arrow
feeding into the ‘Simulate Signal’ block and an output is
denoted by an arrow feeding leaving the ‘Simulate
Signal’ block
14. In the block diagram, move the ‘Knob’ VI to the left of
the ‘Simulate Signal’ block. Click on the output of the
‘Knob’ VI and draw out a wire (click and pull till the
termination point). Terminate the wire at the input of
‘Amplitude’ in the ‘Simulate Signal’ VI. The amplitude
of the Sawtooth wave generated can now be controlled

9. from the front panel using the knob. Run the program
to verify this and then stop execution using ‘STOP’.
15. Next, we will scale the amplitude of the signal according
to a formula. For this, first click on the wire connecting
the ‘Simulate Signal’ VI with the ‘Waveform Graph’
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and delete the wire using the Delete button on your
keyboard.
16. In the block diagram window, click on
‘Formula’. Drag the ‘Formula’ VI to the block diagram
window, as shown below:
17. Double-click on the ‘Formula’ VI and change the label
in the first label field (in this example, it is X1) to the
name of the output wave generated by the ‘Simulate
Signal’ VI (in this example it is ‘Sawtooth’). The display
field in the ‘Formula’ VI will now read as ‘Sawtooth’.
Replace it by ‘Sawtooth * 2’. Click OK. This VI will
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now multiply the incoming sawtooth signal amplitude
by 2.

10. 18. Connect the ‘Sawtooth’ output of the Simulate Signal’
VI to the ‘Sawtooth’ input of the ‘Formula’ VI using a
wire.
19. Connect the ‘Result’ output of the Simulate Signal’ VI
to the input of the ‘Waveform Graph’ VI using another
wire.
20. Run your program in the front panel and verify that the
signal amplitude of the original sawtooth waveform is
now scaled by 2. Also verify that the amplitude is still
sensitive to the input from the knob.