Extending Control Design Assistant Projects with LabVIEW

LabVIEW Control Design Assistant

Extending Control Design Assistant Projects with LabVIEW

In this help file, you learned how to complete the following procedures:

Not only can you use LabVIEW SignalExpress projects with the Control Design Assistant, but you also can extend the projects to interact with the LabVIEW environment.

Converting to Block Diagrams

Without prior knowledge about programming in LabVIEW, you can use the Control Design Assistant to analyze models that describe a physical system and synthesize controllers to achieve desired dynamic characteristics. The LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation Module also provides LabVIEW VIs that you can use to complete the entire control design process.

You can use LabVIEW to convert Control Design Assistant projects to LabVIEW block diagrams to continue developing an application. You first can use the interactive tools in the Control Design Assistant to analyze models and design controllers. You then can convert the sequence into a LabVIEW block diagram to enhance the capabilities of the application.

The Control Design Assistant converts projects into block diagrams using the VIs that ship with the Control Design and Simulation Module. The Control Design steps in the Add Step menu do not convert into Express VIs.

Unlike creating a project with the Control Design Assistant, creating a LabVIEW application using the Control Design VIs requires basic knowledge about programming in LabVIEW. Refer to the LabVIEW Fundamentals manual and the Getting Started with LabVIEW manual for more information about the LabVIEW programming environment. In LabVIEW, access these manuals by clicking the corresponding links in the Getting Started window. Refer to the LabVIEW Help for more information about LabVIEW VIs and functions. In LabVIEW, access this help file by selecting HelpĀ»Search the LabVIEW Help.

Sweeping

The Sweep step repeatedly performs measurements with different parameter values. The Control Design Assistant converts the Sweep step into a For Loop in a LabVIEW block diagram. The Control Design steps in the Add Step menu can exist within a sweep, but they do not provide parameters that you can use within a sweep.

Using User-Defined Steps

You can build a user-defined VI to use in a Run LabVIEW VI step. The Run LabVIEW VI step runs a VI in the LabVIEW SignalExpress environment. When you import a LabVIEW VI, the Control Design Assistant maps the inputs of the VI as parameters and the outputs of the VI as outputs by default.

Further Examples

The Control Design Assistant provides several other example projects that demonstrate more capabilities of the Control Design Assistant. These projects are located in the National Instruments\Control Design Assistant\Examples directory. You can modify an example project to fit an application, or you can copy and paste from one or more examples into a project that you create.

You can find the solution project, My Sample Project Solution.seproj, to the exercises in this help file, as well as an example of the closed-loop model you created, closedloopmodel.lti, in the National Instruments\Control Design Assistant\Examples directory.

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