Open-source LabVIEW client for streaming test data to Nominal

[JP1]

Hi all - sharing an open-source LabVIEW client we’ve been developing at Nominal.

The idea is simple: keep LabVIEW doing what it does well on the test stand, while streaming the resulting data to Nominal for analysis, visualization, and collaboration.

Instead of test data living on individual machines or desktop TDMS files, engineers can stream data directly from LabVIEW into a shared workspace, where it can be time-aligned with logs, video, and other data for analysis. Nominal's LabVIEW client supports real-time streaming, TDMS upload, and NI Linux RT.

Install via VIPM
LabVIEW client source on GitHub

We're also building Instro, an open-source Python library for instrument control and test automation. For anyone running a mixed LabVIEW/Python test environment, we'd especially love feedback on where you draw that boundary today and what instruments you'd like to see supported.

Instro source on GitHub

Would love feedback from the LAVA community - on either project.

[Neil Pate]

Hi @JP1

Its probably a good idea to post this also on the LabVIEW Discord, as there is quite a bit more traffic there these days

http://discord.gg/labview

 

[Mads]

7 hours ago, Neil Pate said:

Hi @JP1

Its probably a good idea to post this also on the LabVIEW Discord, as there is quite a bit more traffic there these days

http://discord.gg/labview

 

Going a bit off topic (ironically), but wading through those endless topic-shifting conversations on Discord feels like a step backwards....It is a nice tool for a public chat, but it makes things harder to find and follow 😞

[smithd]

Tom McQuillan also presented this at gdevcon-na in chicago and those videos just recently went live. The whole video is worth a watch if you're curious about Nominal's business, but if you start at 14:03-17:24 I think its actually a solid tl;dr for why Nominal might be useful to you and how to grab the library.

I'll also add here that around this core library I've created add-ins for other NI ecosystem products:

• A plugin for streaming from FlexLogger, drop-in plugin for existing projects
• A TestStand steps library which wraps the LabVIEW api in a more test-step-friendly way
• A TestStand model (report) plugin, which allows drop-in logging of existing test results to Nominal
• A VeriStand custom device which works very much like the standard "embedded data logger" custom device and can serve as a drop-in replacement or additional logging destination

These are still early in their release cycle so if any of this does interest you and you want to try things out, please don't hesitate to reach out so I can make sure to rapidly resolve any issues you might encounter. I mean, obviously my code is perfect and would never have bugs but...just in case.🙃