VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTATION

VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTATION

ABSTRACT:

Every parameter in the industry or laboratory needs measurement. For measuring those quantities dedicated instruments are more often used. These instruments provide very accurate measurement and are reliable. But they cannot be customized. They are very much useful in industries but they cannot meet the requirements of scientists and research workers. A virtual instrument overcomes the drawbacks of traditional instruments.

Virtual instruments are fueled by the rapid advancement of the chip technology and in PC. Virtual instruments represent a fundamental shift from traditional hardware-centered instrumentation system to software-centered systems that exploit the computing power, productivity, display and connectivity capabilities of popular desktop computers and workstations. Virtual instruments are real instruments, real world data is collected, recorded and displayed, it just uses the data acquisition capabilities, processing, storage and other capabilities of a computer.

This paper explains the main concept of virtual instrumentation and its application in power engineering lab.

INTRODUCTION:

In industries we find many parameters to be controlled, and many electronic instruments are used to control these parameters. All these instruments are dedicated to measure or control those parameters only. They entirely differ from one another but they have one thing in common, they all are box shaped and has some controls and knobs on them. the Stand-alone electronic instruments are very powerful, expensive and designed to perform one or more specific tasks defined by the vendor. The user cannot extend or customize them. The knobs and buttons, built-in circuitry and the functions available to the user, all of these are specific to the nature of the instrument. In addition, special technology and costly components must be developed to build these instruments.

Widespread adoption of the PC over the past twenty years has given rise to a new way for scientists and engineers to measure and automate the world around them. One major development resulting from the advancement of the PC is the concept of virtual instrumentation. A virtual instrument consists of an industry-standard computer or workstation equipped with off-the-shelf application software, cost effective hardware, which together performs the function of traditional instruments. Today virtual instrumentation is used by engineers and scientists for faster application development, higher quality products at lower costs.

Virtual instruments represent a fundamental shift from traditional hardware-centered instrumentation systems towards software-centered systems that exploit the computing power, productivity, display and connectivity capabilities of popular desktop computers and workstations. Even if PC and IC technologies experienced a good growth, it is the software that makes a reality of building virtual instruments.


for more info visit.
http://www.enjineer.com/forum