Department of EIE

Pondicherry Engineering College

Components of Virtual Instrumentation

The concept of virtual instrumentation is, an engineer can use software running on a
computer combined with instrumentation hardware to define a custom, built-to-order test
and measurement solution.
The following block diagram shows the integral components of VI.

Software

PC

Modular I/O

1.Software
The heart of any virtual instrument is flexible software. Every virtual instrument is built
on this flexible and powerful software.
Innovative engineer or scientist will apply his domain expertise to customize the
measurement and control application as per the requirement.
The result is a user-defined instrument, specific to the application needs.
With such software, engineers and scientists can interface with real-world signals;
analyze data for meaningful information, and share results and applications.
NI LabVIEW, is an example software component of the virtual Instrumentation
architecture, with the graphical development platform for test, design and control
applications

www.sundaramurthy.in

sundar@pec.edu

Department of EIE

Pondicherry Engineering College

2.Modular I/O
The second virtual instrumentation component is the modular I/O for measurements that
require higher performance, resolution, or speeds.
Advanced Modular Instrument hardware use the latest I/O and data processing
technologies, including Analog to Digital Converters (ADC), Digital to Analog
Converters, Filed Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and PC busses to provide high
resolution and throughput for measurements .
In combination with powerful software, engineers can create custom-defined
measurements and sophisticated analysis routines.
3.Computing Platform
The third virtual instrumentation element is - popular and commercially available
computing platform (PC or Server) to run the software and connect to I/O module
This element delivers virtual instrumentation on a long-term technology base that scales
with the high investments made in processors, buses, and more.
Together, these components empower engineers and scientists world over to create
their own solutions with virtual instrumentation.
Virtual instrumentation has gradually increased addressable applications through
continuous software innovation and hundreds of measurement hardware devices.
Having influenced millions of test and automation professionals, today it is winning over
experts in the control and design domains.
Virtual Instrumentation is rapidly revolutionizing the functions of control design,
distributed control, data logging, design verification, prototyping, simulation and more.

www.sundaramurthy.in

sundar@pec.edu