Real–time instrument control via internet by using labVIEW graphical development platform

Abstract

In this work, a Remotely Accessible and Configurable Electronics Laboratory (RACEL) system is designed in LabVIEW graphical development platform. This LabVIEW application performs several tasks as follows: user interface design, publishing and sharing measured data, instrument control, and remote access to system in the campus lab. This paper describes how to control an instrument existing in the laboratory via a PC on-lab or on-line by using instrument drivers in LabVIEW. Readers can also find the information about where to find and how to download instrument drivers provided by NI or other vendors. In addition, how to turn any LabVIEW application into a remote application accessed via a Web browser without any additional development time is explained in detail. The instruments used in the work are a dc power supply and a data acquisition/ switch unit (multimeter) which are remotely controllable ones having a GPIB interface. Ensuring instrument control and publishing the front panel on the web, students are allowed to access and control the system variables such as adjusting dc power supply’s output to a desired value by clicking the knob or dragging the slider position up/down on the user interface seen on client PC’s monitor.