LabVIEW drivers for wireless sensor networks

LabVIEW users can now fully integrate their ZigBee, IEEE 802.15.4 or proprietary wireless sensors into the National Instruments LabVIEW graphical development environment

National Instruments has announced LabVIEW drivers for wireless sensor networks, giving engineers and scientists working with these devices the ability to fully integrate their ZigBee, IEEE 802.15.4 or proprietary wireless sensors into the National Instruments LabVIEW graphical development environment.

The free driver software works with sensors from three wireless-sensing leaders - Accsense, Accutech and Crossbow Technology - and includes communication functions and example programmes compatible with sensors from each vendor.

Wireless sensor vendors typically offer fixed-functionality application software for wireless sensor network configuration, communication and monitoring.

Now with NI LabVIEW, developers using wireless sensors have an open and flexible development environment to easily customise an application or integrate data from the wireless network with other data acquisition, analysis or reporting functionality.

LabVIEW also includes more than 600 graphical and text-based math and analysis functions that developers can use to process data acquired from wireless sensor networks.

With the drivers, developers can start reading from their sensors within a matter of minutes, saving them time and resources because they do not have to write custom interfaces themselves.

Additionally, the software includes a fully documented template to quickly build a LabVIEW interface for wireless sensors not natively supported by the driver software.

"These new LabVIEW drivers for wireless sensor networks extend the LabVIEW platform to the growing number of wireless interfaces such as ZigBee and IEEE 802.15.4,"said John Hanks, NI Director of Measurement and Control Hardware.

"Connectivity to these wireless sensors opens up a whole new level of functionality for environmental monitoring, research, industrial monitoring and test applications for engineers and scientists".

With these LabVIEW drivers, which can be downloaded from the website, engineers and scientists now have an open and flexible alternative to software solutions for new wireless-enabled applications.

The Instrument Driver Network is the industry's largest source for LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI instrument drivers.

Engineers and scientists can visit the NI website to access more than 5,000 instrument drivers from more than 225 vendors supporting wireless, GPIB, Ethernet/LAN, USB and serial I/O communication buses.

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