NI honours innovation with Engineering Impact Awards

2014 Customer Application of the Year

Winner (Japan): Weather Radar: Design-to-Deployment Using the NI Platform: sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16012

Advanced Research

Examples in this category include how research institutions and laboratories investigate and validate the viability of conceptual technologies using graphical system design techniques. Winner (United States): Building the World's Largest Range High-Speed Atomic Force Microscope: sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16254; Finalist (UK): Using CompactRIO and LabVIEW to Monitor and Control a Compact Spherical Tokamak for Plasma Research sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-15630

Energy

Applications in this category discuss how engineers effectively integrate dynamic measurements and advanced analysis as well as embedded control and monitoring systems into their energy applications to ensure safe, optimised operation. Winner (United States): Developing a High-Speed Electrical Analysis for Facility-Wide Energy Research, also Intel Internet of Things Award recipient sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16018; Finalist (United States): Controlling a Hardware-in-the-Loop Grid Simulator for the World's Most Powerful Renewable Energy Test Facility sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16086

Functional Test

Applications in this category exhibit innovation in test system design with software-defined instrumentation and address challenges such as increasing efficiency, maximising throughput, and/or ensuring production or verification quality. Winner (Germany): Testing eCall Emergency Call Systems With the NI Platform sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16150; Finalist (Italy): Developing the Elektra Test System, a New End-of-Line Test Bench for Hybrid Inverters sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-15539

Machine Control

Applications in this category discuss how engineers effectively integrate dynamic measurements and advanced analysis into their machines and facilities to ensure safe, optimised operation; industrial robotics manipulation; unmanned systems design; and other applications taking advantage of advanced control tactics. Winner (United States): Developing a Portable 3D Vision-Guided Medical Robot for Autonomous Venipuncture, also Humanitarian Award and NI Community's Choice Award recipient sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16255; Finalist (UK): Controlling a Robotic Manipulator for Nuclear Decommissioning With CompactRIO and the LabVIEW Robotics Module sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-15678

Physical Test and Monitoring

Examples in this category demonstrate how engineers are using NI hardware and software to quickly develop and custom systems to perform any test on any structure. Winner (Netherlands): Characterizing Sound Profiles for a New Airbus Aircraft Using NI PXI sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-15428; Finalist (Korea): Hyundai Uses a Portable Sound Camera for Buzz, Squeak, and Rattle Studies Based on LabVIEW and FPGA sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-15675

RF and Communications

Examples in this category highlight how engineers are testing the RF/wireless capabilities of their products or developing next-generation algorithms for deployed wireless systems using a software-defined platform. Winner (Japan): Weather Radar: Design-to-Deployment Using the NI Platform, also Application of the Year Award recipient sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16012; Finalist (France): Building a Satellite Navigation Test Platform Using the NI Vector Signal Transceiver sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16256

Transportation

Applications in this category use NI hardware and software for design, test, and control for planes, trains, and automobiles. Some of these applications include rapid engine control unit (ECU) prototyping, machine condition monitoring of vehicle components, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation, and in-vehicle logging. Winner (Japan): Advancing Subaru Hybrid Vehicle Testing Through Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation, Engineering Grand Challenges Award recipient sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-15982; Finalist (UK): Remote Condition Monitoring of London Underground Track Circuits, also Xilinx All Programmable Innovation Award recipient sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16209

Student Design Showcase

Examples in this category feature student projects that use LabVIEW and graphical system design tools. Topics include student senior design and capstone design projects. Winner (Switzerland): Sepios: The Omnidirectional Cuttlefish Robot decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-37214; Finalist (Korea): EureCar: KAIST Self-Driving Car decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-37101; Finalist (United States): NASA Student Launch Project decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-37090

Rahman Jamal, Technical and Marketing Director, NI Europe, says: "I'm proud to see three groundbreaking applications from Europe - covering the areas of functional test, physical test and monitoring as well as student senior design - win the Engineering Impact Award."

For further information about the Engineering Impact Awards please visit www.ni.com.