National Instruments, the provider of solutions that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, today announced a compact solution for high-speed vision applications. The NI CVS-1459RT is a small, rugged vision system with a quad-core Intel Atom processor and two dedicated USB 3.0 ports for USB3 Vision cameras.

“The NI Compact Vision System is my go-to solution for vision applications where reliability and uptime are key,” said Robert Eastlund, vice president of sales for Graftek Imaging Inc. “Now I can leverage the easy connectivity and high throughput of USB3 while taking advantage of new features for high-performance processing and HMI integration. The NI CVS-1459RT enables high-resolution, high-speed industrial vision solutions.”

The NI CVS-1459RT is programmed with either LabVIEW system design software or Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI). Engineers have the option of using LabVIEW FPGA to further customize the FPGA-enabled I/O and tightly synchronize vision inspection results with other parts of industrial systems, such as encoders and proximity sensors.

The NI CVS-1459RT is based on the LabVIEW reconfigurable I/O (RIO) architecture, an integral part of the NI graphical system design platform. A modern approach to designing, prototyping and deploying embedded monitoring and control systems, graphical system design combines the open LabVIEW programming environment with commercial off-the-shelf hardware to dramatically simplify development so engineers can combine powerful vision tools, I/O, industrial communication, data logging and human machine interfaces (HMIs) into a single environment.

Key Benefits:

• The rugged form factor is ideal for industrial applications up to 55 ºC

• Synchronization with automation devices for camera and lighting triggering via onboard industrial I/O

• High-bandwidth camera interface with dual USB 3.0 ports for compatibility with the latest low-cost USB3 Vision cameras; ability to use ports with peripherals such as external storage for logging data

• Processing power with quad-core Intel Atom processor and 64-bit NI Linux Real-Time OS

• Board-level versions available for OEM applications

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A biopharmaceuticals company needed an accurate and repeatable level measurement of caustic soda solution, which was used to control the biopharmaceutical process of continuous fermentation.

The application had been originally equipped with a competitor’s float system, and due to the typical “lift-off” issues that accompany those systems, it only had a measurable level of 5" (13 cm) above the bottom of the storage tank.

Because the storage tank was only 27.5" (70 cm) high, and any leftover solution had to be discarded, it resulted in both wasted process media and loss of yield during fermentation.

The product temperature was about +77° F (+25° C), with a pressure of 18.9 psi (1.3 bar). The container was periodically sterilized at +249.8° F (+ 121° C) for 60 min.

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Yokogawa Meters & Instruments Corporation announces that it has developed the AQ7280 series of optical time domain reflectometers (OTDRs) for the installation and maintenance of fiber-optic cables, and will release a total of nine models for this product series on September 29.

The AQ7280 is a high-performance instrument that is used to measure fiber-optic cable distances and losses and to identify failure locations. The AQ7280 succeeds the high-end AQ7275 OTDR, which has been used for the installation and maintenance of a wide range of network systems, including core, metro, and access networks. For improved efficiency and measurement quality, the AQ7280 has a capacitive touchscreen with the same easy-to-use multi-touch functionality that can be found in smartphones and other handheld devices.

Driven by factors such as the widespread use of smartphones and the increase in video-related Internet traffic, there is a rising need around the world for the installation of fiber-optic cable that is capable of the high-speed transmission of large volumes of data. An ever increasing amount of fiber-optic cable is being installed for core network systems between cities, metro network systems within cities, and access network systems that connect central offices to subscribers. As OTDRs are used to evaluate installation and maintenance work, it is important to make these devices easy and intuitive to operate so that even operators who are less familiar with fiber optic cable measurement techniques can produce high quality measurements in less time. In addition, there is an increasing need particularly in emerging countries for the ability to measure the very long cable lengths that are typical with core network systems. Also, due to the variety of fiber-optic cables that are in use and the existence of multiple network communications standards, there is a need for OTDR units that are capable of measuring different wavelengths. To meet such needs, Yokogawa has developed the AQ7280.

NI, the provider of solutions that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, today announced the CompactRIO performance controller. This software-designed controller integrates the latest embedded technologies from Intel and Xilinx to deliver unparalleled performance and flexibility, and is fully supported by LabVIEW 2014 and NI Linux Real-Time. It is ideal for advanced control and applications in harsh, industrial environments and provides high-performance processing, custom timing and triggering, and data transfer from modular C Series I/O.

“The LabVIEW RIO architecture breaks the barriers of traditional embedded system design and provides the best off-the-shelf platform to solve any demanding control and monitoring task,” said Jamie Smith, director of embedded systems at NI. “Our platform-based approach gives small design teams the confidence to build innovative embedded systems without wasting development time and cost.”

LabVIEW 2014 with NI Linux Real-Time support lets engineers and scientists use a single, familiar development environment to continue developing their system while taking immediate advantage of increased CompactRIO hardware performance.

“The Intel and NI collaboration allows industrial customers to benefit from the latest processing technologies while meeting their rugged performance requirements,” said Shahram Mehraban, global head of energy and industrial segments at the Intel Internet of Things Group. “By working closely with NI during early phases of product development, we are able to rapidly bring the latest Intel® Atom™ processor to this segment.”

Key Features:

Intel® Atom™ Processor: Close the loop faster, tackle more tasks with the same controller, and process data with more precision, accuracy and speed with this dual-core processor.

Kintex-7 FPGA: Process more channels and implement more complex filtering and control algorithms.

NI Linux Real-Time: Get access to an extensive community of applications and IP with a robust Linux -based real-time OS.

Embedded UI: Implement a local HMI device and use the control system to handle HMI tasks, cutting component costs as well as development and integration time.

Improved Vision Integration: Add USB3 or GigE Vision cameras using NI Linux Real-Time, integrate vision acquisition directly into an application, and use new Vision IP to turn the FPGA into a high-performance vision coprocessor.