National Instruments Corporation: NI LabVIEW

National Instruments (www.ni.com) transforms the way engineers and scientists around the world design, prototype, and deploy systems for test, control, and embedded design applications. Using NI open graphical programming software and modular hardware, customers at more than 30,000 companies annually simplify development, increase productivity, and dramatically reduce time-to-market. From testing and monitoring electronic devices and industrial systems to designing more efficient machines, NI customers continuously develop innovative technologies that impact millions of people. The NI graphical system design platform for test, control, and embedded design spans the entire product design cycle, dramatically increasing efficiency and improving the bottom line.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 5,200 employees and direct operations in 40 countries. In 2008, the company sold products to more than 30,000 companies in 90 countries with a revenue of $821 million. NI has been named to Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for 10 consecutive years.

Please click http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/9566 to learn more about NI LabVIEW SoftMotion for SolidWorks®.

For more than 20 years, National Instruments LabVIEW graphical programming has revolutionized the development of test, measurement, and control applications. Regardless of experience, engineers and scientists can rapidly and cost-effectively interface with measurement and control hardware, analyze data, share results, and distribute systems. NI motion control software simplifies the development of motion control applications by adding PLCopen-based function block programming. NI LabVIEW and NI Motion Software empower machine builders and OEMs to create custom motion controllers for better machine performance and implement advanced motion control design algorithms using National Instruments CompactRIO. An easy-to-use programming API offers fast development.

The integration with SolidWorks allows customers to develop their motion control algorithms and use the 3D CAD model created within SolidWorks to evaluate the system behavior and performance. By applying realistic motion control, it is possible to simulate real-world operating conditions for the design, check for colliding parts, output numerical and graphic data of the results, and use the CAD model for 3D visualization. Finally, the control algorithms developed can easily be deployed to embedded motion control platforms such as NI CompactRIO or a third-party motion control system of your choice.