Is this project idea possible?

[jmccoy04]

Hello I have just recently started using LabVIEW, and I am at my final year of college.

We have to come up with a project, and I was hoping for some input on if my idea were possible or not.

The project will consist of a camera that will record on a 5 minute loop. There will be an accelerometer in the system that measures the forces that are acting on the project, when the forces exceed a specified limit, the recorded data will then cease to loop, and save what has been recorded.

I was hoping to use LabVIEW on a single board computer (SBC) to read the data from the accelerometer and then, when the time is right, save to recording to the storage device on the SBC.

Some concerns I have from this are:

1. I am not sure what SBC to get so that LabVIEW will run on it? Does the SBC have to have an OS for LabVIEW to run?

2. For the SBC will I need some sort of video capture card to connect the camera to, or are there cable adapters to change the camera connections?

3.Will it be possible to create some sort of code that will do the things that I want it to do, such as looping the video recording until the accelerometer has measured past the specified limit?

Any advice at all will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Neville D]

QUOTE (jmccoy04 @ Sep 22 2008, 09:29 AM)

The project will consist of a camera that will record on a 5 minute loop. There will be an accelerometer in the system that measures the forces that are acting on the project, when the forces exceed a specified limit, the recorded data will then cease to loop, and save what has been recorded.

I was hoping to use LabVIEW on a single board computer (SBC) to read the data from the accelerometer and then, when the time is right, save to recording to the storage device on the SBC.

Yes, all of the above is possible with LabVIEW.

QUOTE (jmccoy04 @ Sep 22 2008, 09:29 AM)

1. I am not sure what SBC to get so that LabVIEW will run on it? Does the SBC have to have an OS for LabVIEW to run?

LabVIEW needs an OS to run. You can use LabVIEW RT which runs on the Pharlap OS, and is supplied by NI. But to run RT you have to match the hardware requirements for the SBC very carefully.

You are better off loading Windows XP or VISTA onto a SBC and then running LabVIEW off it. It will make your life much easier in the sense that setting up the hardware platform will be simple and running in Windows is trouble-free.

QUOTE (jmccoy04 @ Sep 22 2008, 09:29 AM)

2. For the SBC will I need some sort of video capture card to connect the camera to, or are there cable adapters to change the camera connections?

Depends what sort of camera you are using. If you go with a Firewire or Gigabit Ethernet camera, they should be able to connect up to a PC fairly simply. You will need a PCI Firewire card and ideally an additional Gig-E port on your PC or you could share with a hub.

You will need additonal NI Vision software and vision acquisition drivers from NI.

If you are building an executable with NI Vision, then you will need an additional Vision Runtime licence as well.

QUOTE (jmccoy04 @ Sep 22 2008, 09:29 AM)

3.Will it be possible to create some sort of code that will do the things that I want it to do, such as looping the video recording until the accelerometer has measured past the specified limit?

Yes, when it comes to the code, you are only limited by your imagination as to what is possible.

Neville.

[Aristos Queue]

QUOTE (Neville D @ Sep 22 2008, 11:48 AM)

LabVIEW needs an OS to run.

An OS or an FPGA. LV code can be compiled and executed directly on an FPGA card if you have the LV FPGA module.

[Aristos Queue]

Just to follow up... A lot of the questions you're asking are "system design" type of questions. NI has an army of folks trained in answering those sorts of questions over on ni.com. If you prefer to actually talk to someone, call 888-280-7645. They can route you to someone who can help you choose hardware that will server your project and help identify any issues so you can judge the possibility/impossibility of the idea.