For more than 20 years, NI LabVIEW has helped engineers and scientists incorporate the latest cutting-edge technologies into their projects with an intuitive graphical programming approach. The evolution began with virtual instrumentation, using software to automate the control of box instruments. Advancements in graphical programming have led to capabilities such as creating custom hardware on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and accessing the full potential of multicore processors with inherent parallel execution and real-time virtualization. Today, NI is pushing the boundaries of LabVIEW, so developers can acquire, analyze, and present data on a global scale.
The ability to distribute intelligent, low-power wireless sensors over great distances for long-term deployment exists today. Wireless sensor network (WSN) platforms offer measurement hardware that is capable of running on standard battery technology for up to three years. These sensors form wireless mesh networks by relaying data back to a central gateway that aggregates the data and provides connectivity to the wired world. With these systems, engineers can take measurements in locations never previously possible or economically feasible.
Every LabVIEW programmer has this technology in his or her toolbox through native support for NI WSN hardware and drivers for a variety of third-party WSN platforms. The NI WSN platform offers the flexibility to choose a PC-based host controller or an embedded real-time controller, such as NI CompactRIO, for each WSN system, helping engineers create deployed solutions that incorporate the advantages of wired and wireless measurements. Using the LabVIEW WSN Module Pioneer, it is also possible to create and wirelessly deploy applications that run directly on NI WSN nodes. The resulting application running on the node can perform embedded decision making; extend battery life; and add custom analysis, such as interfacing, to sensors.
All the data in the world is meaningless unless it can be collected, analyzed, and accessed for informed decision making. The NI 9792 programmable WSN gateway is an embedded controller that acts as a data aggregator for NI WSN measurement nodes and is programmable with the LabVIEW Real-Time Module for creating systems that perform logging, alarming, and analysis on acquired data, even in the absence of a PC.
Support for LabVIEW Web services on the NI 9792 gateway provides connectivity to any Web-enabled device, ranging from IT-grade server machines to smartphones, so users can build systems with globally accessible data.
To demonstrate the concept of globally accessible distributed measurements, NI engineers built a WSN system to monitor a pond at the NI headquarters in Austin, Texas, as shown in Figure 2. The NI facilities team manages an extended detention storm water pond that protects the local water basin from road and parking runoff. To function properly, a minimum water level and pH must be maintained in the pond. Before National Instruments introduced its WSN technology, installing a wired system to automate measurements at the pond would have required running wires under the entrance of the NI headquarters, which would have disrupted thousands of employees and been cost prohibitive. The ability to connect to measurements wirelessly helped avoid running power and communication cables. Using LabVIEW and the NI WSN platform, members of the facilities team began cost-effectively monitoring the pond from their desks and could now log and trend data over time.
In this pond monitoring application, LabVIEW WSN code running on the measurement nodes manages sensor power to conserve battery life, performs embedded analysis to convert the raw sensor voltages to pH value, and averages the water level readings to minimize noise from disturbance and reduce the amount of data transferred. The measurement data is sent wirelessly to the WSN gateway on the roof of the Truchard Design Center R&D building, which is more than 200 m away. Using standard Web services in the LabVIEW Real-Time Module, the data is sent to a server on the internal network supported by the IT department. The server archives the data and makes it publicly available on the Web.
With this system, any Web-enabled device or application can access the data acquired at the NI pond. National Instruments is also investing in new tools for developing browser-based, thin-client applications that act as interfaces to distributed measurement systems.
To take the idea one step further, an NI engineer used the iPhone software development kit to build an application that communicates to a Web service hosted on an NI 9792 WSN gateway, so he could view current measurement values and node health information from anywhere on the NI campus. LabVIEW does not run on the phone, but engineers use it to embed intelligence on the NI WSN measurement nodes, acquire and analyze data on the real-time gateway, and serve it up via a standard Web service.
Rane is pleased to announce our collaboration with Native Instruments to bring you Traktor certification for the new Rane MP2015 rotary mixer. This incredible mixer is generating a lot of excitement on its own, but now with Traktor Scratch certification people are freaking out, as this is the first Rane mixer to have Traktor Scratch certification! Now, Traktor Scratch users can control of two or more virtual decks with Traktor control vinyl or control CDs. It is also the first Traktor Scratch certified mixer with dual USB ports; allowing easy back-to-back DJing and quick changeovers.
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Analytical solutions that assess electrodes, separators, binder, electrolytes, and other components can help improve battery integrity and reduce the risk of battery failure. In the lab, in the field, or on the production line, the proper analytical instrumentation can help ensure high-purity lithium and other metals for battery development and manufacturing.
Whether you are producing current or improved lithium-ion batteries or designing and testing next-generation battery technologies, Thermo Scientific instruments and software will help you understand their chemistry and maximize their performance and efficiency.
Sample preparation for scanning/transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) analysis is one of the most critical and time-consuming tasks. It becomes even more challenging if the sample material is air- or moisture-sensitive. The Thermo Scientific Inert Gas Sample Transfer (IGST) Workflow uses tools like the Thermo Scientific CleanConnect Sample Transfer System to protect your sample throughout preparation and imaging, helping you stay focused on your research.
In battery research, development, and manufacturing, imaging techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), DualBeam (also called focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy or FIB-SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are used primarily to study the structure and chemistry of battery materials and cells in 2D and 3D.
Thermo Scientific electron microscopy solutions can capture and analyze battery images ranging from the mesoscale or macroscale down to the atomic scale, which enables battery researchers and engineers to develop safer, more efficient, more durable, and more environmentally friendly batteries.
XPS is essential for understanding the interface between electrolytes and electrodes. Cathode and anode materials of Li-ion cells can be studied to confirm post-cycling changes in composition, to understand the changes in the chemistry of the electrode components, and to determine how the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer varies in depth as it develops. XPS has proved useful in studying surface pre-treatment of graphite electrode materials to significantly slow the irreversible consumption of material during battery charging.
Raman spectroscopy uses the interactions of light and molecular vibrations to produce spectra that are used to identify materials, characterize molecular structure, evaluate morphology, and monitor dynamic processes. Thermo Scientific Raman instruments are invaluable tools across a range of battery applications, such as identifying phases and structures in electrodes and differentiating specific carbon allotropes. Raman technology is fast, non-destructive, requires minimal sample preparation, and can be used in situ or ex situ.
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy provides molecular information about a sample that is complementary in nature to Raman. With advantages in compactness, multiplexing, throughput, and precision, Thermo Scientific Nicolet Summit FTIR spectrometers have numerous applications in battery research, development, and production, such as characterizing lithium and other reactive salts.
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy provides qualitative and quantitative elemental composition from B-Am from sub-ppm to 100%. XRF analyses the bulk composition of powder, solid and liquid samples, with typical probing depth ranging from m to mmm.
XRF is used during production to control the correct chemical composition of the cathode material, which impacts the performance of the final battery. As a fast, stable and reliable analytical technique, XRF is also ideal for quality and process control (QC) of raw materials and components entering the manufacturing stream to ensure compliance and detect impurities.
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