1. The Development of NI-ELVIS
Paul K. Dixon and Timothy D. Usher
Department of Physics
California State University San Bernardino 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

2. Outline I. Past: II. Present:
Introduction
I. Past:
Applied Physics Instruction at CSUSB and our “Integrated” Student Station
II. Present:
The Development and Maturation of NI-ELVIS 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

3. Applied Physics Instruction at CSUSB - An Overview
I. Past
1994: an NSF ILI grant to equip the electronics laboratory using LabVIEW and fully-interfaced equipment
1995: Physics 150 – Introductory Analog Electronics at the freshman level (before calculus, before intro physics)
Ohms Law to Lock-in Amplifiers in 10 weeks
1996: Physics 350 – Computer-based Data Acquisition and Control at the junior level
LabVIEW, GPIB, DAQ, Experiment Interfacing, Control Theory, ITR Filtering, PID, State Machines
1997: Physics 352 – Advanced Electronics at the senior level
Linear Response Theory, Integral Transforms, Analog and Digital Communication Theory, Noise Analysis, ORCAD PSPICE 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

4. The Student Station Hardware
I. Past
Instructor station/server with LCD projector
Windows 2000 peer-to-peer network, no outside line
12 Student Stations
850 MHz Pent III
17” Display
LabVIEW
PCI DAQ
Protection
Module
PCI GPIB
HP Scope
HP FG
HP DMM
Elenco Trainer 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5. The Integrated Software Environment for Freshman Electronics
I. Past
Simple launcher for tutorials and instruments
LabVIEW 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

6. Virtual and Amalgam Instruments for Freshman Electronics
I. Past
GPIB
DMM
Function Generator
Scope
DAQ
Arbitrary FG
Voltmeter
Counter
Pulse Generator
Digital I/O
Amalgam
Bode –
GPIB FG & GPIB Scope
Two-point IV Curve –
GPIB DMM & DAQ Arbitrary FG 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

7. Junior LV Project – A PID Controller
I. Past
A standard project in the 7th week
GPIB Instrument Driver, DAQ Analog IO, Feedback Control Theory
The
“Bug”
The power boosting circuit
Control References, VI Server, etc. 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

8. Junior LV Project - A Seismograph
I. Past
Final Project
Circular Buffered Analog In, Digital IO, State Machines
Impulsive Tester -
a sprinkler solenoid
Seismometer - a weighted speaker 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

9. Junior LV Project - Phototrope
I. Past
Final Project
Buffered Analog In, Inline IIR Digital Filtering, Digital IO, State Machines
Angled binocular photoresistive eyes, photogate “OWL neck” sensor, and a bi-directional two-speed baby-swing motor drive system 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

10. The Limitations of our Past Approach
I. Past
Fixed Breadboard
Wear and Tear
Dedicated circuits – makes concurrent sections impossible
Wiring must be done in lab
Instructor continually building demo circuits!
Standard DAQ
Limited power in analog out
GPIB Instruments
Difficult to integrate with DAQ, chunky communication
The Solution
Integrate the DAQ interface and the trainer into a single unit with a removable breadboard and protection module
Add the functionality of the GPIB Instruments into the integrated trainer 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

11. The Development and Maturation of NI - ELVIS - An Overview
II. Present
1994 : Designed and built the initial protection modules for our precious AT-MIO-16 cards
1998 : Designed and tested the Integrated Electronics Design Station (IEDS) communication module at a student station
: Designed and built IEDS and showed it to NI
Summer 2001: Designed and built the Universal Laboratory Instructional Station (ULIS) feasibility prototype in collaboration with NI (Steven Romero, Anne Goshorn, Jeff Hall)
Fall 2001 to the Present : Happily watched NI design and build the Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrument Suite (ELVIS) 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

12. IEDS: The Integrated Electronics Design Station - The Functional Prototype
II. Present
Fully Functional
Major Power –
30 Watts!
All of the capability through a 68 pin E-series card and about 70 chips 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

13. ULIS: The Universal Laboratory Interfacing System - The Feasibility Prototype
II. Present
Summer 2001 – a blur!
The NI Design Team:
Steven Romero,
Anne Goshorn,
Jeff Hall
ULIS Impedance Meter
ULIS Function Generator 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

14. NI - ELVIS: The Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrument Suite
II. Present
Fall 2001 – present
Any 68-pin E-series DAQ card
DMM and Scope on both breadboard and front panel
External power block ~ 18 Watts to breadboard
Finally, a main power switch! 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

15. NI - ELVIS: Hardware Features
II. Present
The Breadboard
392 undedicated tie points
Removable – 3 ring binder
BNC, Banana, 9-pin Dsub
Power LEDS
Logic LEDS
The Protection Module
High current lines fused
Low current lines – sacrificial inline resistors
Power and DAQ interlock
Replaceable in under
a minute 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

16. NI - ELVIS: The Current Instrument Software
II. Present 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

17. NI - ELVIS: Capabilities and Future Instrument Software
II. Present
Green – NI reworked and polished
Blue – My “hacked” examples in the process of being reworked by NI
Black – capabilities built into the hardware, on the “to-do” list
Addressable Digital I/O – allows for 16 bytes of write and 16 bytes of read to plug-in approximately 250 Hz
ELVIS can read the plug-in board ID (0-255) allowing for a variety of dedicated boards with linked software 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4