From LabVIEW to DAQ, the Technology That Has Shaped My Career

Toward the end of college at the University of Texas at Austin, I attended a campus information session where an NI developer demonstrated the LabVIEW graphical programming language. I was impressed with LabVIEW to begin with but got even more excited when he mentioned that NI was researching how to run LabVIEW code on reconfigurable hardware chips called FPGAs (field programmable gate array).  

Typically, FPGAs were hard to program and required digital engineers with specialized skills and knowledge of hardware description languages such as Verilog or VHDL. So, I immediately realized that using LabVIEW’s natural graphical dataflow-based programming language could allow a much wider range of engineers to unlock the power of FPGAs.  

The innovation on display at that event put NI at the top of my list of companies to work for after college. I was compelled by their products and technology, but especially how they made it easier for engineers to do amazing things.  

When I spotted the NI booth at the next career fair, I handed my resume to the first person I saw. That person happened to be Dr. T (James Truchard, NI founder and CEO). I chatted with him a bit and was hooked. It’s been almost 27 years since I started at NI, and over the years I’ve had the incredible opportunity to be part of the design team for multiple NI products. 

Evolving with NI Products – the Early Years 

A lot has changed over the years. When I started at NI I was programming in LabVIEW 5.0 (the first version to have the much requested “Undo” feature) as I was working on one of my first projects, the DAQCard-6036. About the size of a credit card, it plugged into a PCMCIA slot in a laptop. These slots don’t exist anymore, but when it was released, it was state-of-the art. Even though PCMCIA slots and my DAQCard-6036 are obsolete, the power of LabVIEW and NI-DAQmx allows applications developed to run on that old hardware to be easily ported to today’s latest generation of NI DAQ product.  

From there, I worked on NI’s first product that supported LabVIEW FPGA, an R Series board called the PXI-7831R. The LabVIEW FPGA technology was what initially attracted me to NI, so I was thrilled to play a direct role in bringing that product to market. 

Making Unexpected Impacts 

An unforgettable moment in my career was a presentation at NIWeek 2006. OptiMedica Corporation presented its cutting-edge PASCAL photocoagulator machine, which is used to save the eyesight of diabetes patients.  

They explained how traditional treatments required multiple sessions over three to four weeks. These treatments were excruciating for the patients, and patients would sometimes choose to discontinue the treatments even though the alternative was to lose their eyesight. 

OptiMedica demonstrated how their PASCAL machine used LabVIEW FPGA and R-series boards to revolutionize this laser eye procedure. With the help of the NI products I had worked on, PASCAL reduced treatment time to one session of five minutes and almost completely eliminated patient discomfort.  

Next Stop - CompactRIO 

After R Series, I worked as part of the team bringing CompactRIO to market. This product was exciting to work on because we all knew it was groundbreaking technology with lots of functionality in a small, rugged package. One of my favorite memories is when we dropped a CompactRIO from the top of an eight-story building to demonstrate how rugged it was. The good news is that it took measurements all the way down and kept running after it hit the ground! 

DAQ is Back - Developing mioDAQ 

The development and launch of mioDAQ has been reminiscent of my CompactRIO days. mioDAQ is a culmination of decades of experience and dozens of user focus groups, considering all the different ways customers might use the device.  

Of course, modernizing the design with the latest USB Type-C technology, delivering high performance, and integrating software were important. But we also concentrated on features that would enhance ease of use for test engineers, allowing them to bring the focus back to their products. 

To do this, the cables, accessories, and mounting configurations were designed to support various deployments and environments. The getting started experience was streamlined with a QR code on the device that links to guided setup and software. The mechanical design of the enclosure was optimized to ensure clear and intuitive wiring. Flexlogger Lite support was added to allow easy no-code data acquisition. And of course, it still supports NI-DAQmx for developing custom DAQ applications. 

After all of the work and care our team has put into this product, it’s been rewarding to see the enthusiasm from customers who are immediately attracted to the modern design and value the ease-of-use features. 

Flashbacks to Malaysia 

In 2011, my wife and I packed up our three small kids, between the ages of three and seven, for my two-year assignment in Malaysia to help start up the new NI production and R&D facility. My role was to recruit and train digital engineers for the site.

Living and working overseas was a fantastic experience. I truly appreciated how my Malaysian colleagues placed great value on personal relationships. There were numerous team-building events, and these helped foster incredible friendships. We enjoyed our time in Malaysia so much that we stayed for two additional years. 

One of my favorite aspects of the mioDAQ project was working with our Malaysian R&D team. During development, I got to travel to Malaysia to work with the team there, which included some folks I remembered from my time there and some new people I had the pleasure of working with as well. 

A Global Team Effort 

Every major design project has challenges that aren’t necessarily “fun,” but the teamwork element makes overcoming these obstacles much more enjoyable. The strong bonds built between the Austin and Malaysia teams have helped enable smooth and productive global collaboration.  

When we faced issues on the mioDAQ project, the Austin and Malaysia teams worked together in a “follow the sun debugging” approach, tackling problems around the clock.  

In the morning in Austin, we would start the day with a conference call with the Malaysia team for updates on what they had worked on during their day. We would discuss issues they ran into and determine the next steps. Then, the Austin team continued working on the problem while the Malaysia team slept.  

Whether we made significant progress or not, it was a relief to have a call with Malaysia in the evening to debrief and gain their insights. We would tell them what we tried, what worked, what didn’t, and pass the baton so they could take over during their working hours. This approach accelerated the development with continuous coverage and fresh perspectives every 12 hours. Plus, it allowed us to produce an even better product for our customers.  

Looking Back 

My R&D journey at NI has been a natural extension of that first LabVIEW demo I saw at the campus event 27 years ago. I was drawn to how NI’s technology and products made it easier for engineers to innovate, and the products I have worked on continue to follow that same philosophy.  

Seeing our general-purpose data acquisition devices, combined with our customer's innovative ideas, solve major global challenges and transform lives has been deeply rewarding. The experiences I have gained are beyond what I could have imagined, and I can’t wait to see the remarkable breakthroughs engineers will develop with mioDAQ and future NI products.