NI says LabView now supports Freescale ColdFire processors, and allows users to manually assign portions of code to specific processor cores. This is said to deliver faster test throughput, more efficient processor-intensive analysis, and more reliable real-time systems.


LABView 8.5 has new graphical capabilities
For high-channel-count systems, says NI, a new multivariable editor makes it easy to configure or edit hundreds of I/O tags using a spreadsheet interface. The new version also adds flexible pipe display tools, plus a drag-and-drop approach tying I/O tags directly to Windows CE-based user interfaces.

Additional LabVIEW 8.5 features are said to include:

• Project file management tools and graphical code merging for team-based development
  
• Low-level memory management tools for performance optimization
  
• New optimized BLAS linear algebra libraries
  
• Improved edge detection for image processing and optimized algorithms for various demodulators and channel coding schemes
  
• Control design and simulation enhancements including Model Predictive Control (MPC) and analytical PID controller design
  
• Improved support of. m file scripts

LabView runs on various Windows operating systems, including Windows XP Embedded, and provides a PDA module that supports Windows Mobile Pocket PCs. In addition, both Ardence and TenaSys have released real-time support for LabView running on Windows XP and Windows XP Embedded.

An evaluation version of LabVIEW 8.5 can be downloaded here, while existing users can obtain an upgrade here.

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