Help with choosing the right hardware

Hello,
I would like to know what hardware sollutions from NI are best suited for my Master's degree project, which is a motorized crane for a video camera (basically a robotic arm with 5 axes). What I need is something to control my 5 motors (DC/stepper) - both in position and velocity and also need some Digital inputs available for different sensors. In my previous project, I have succesfully built a motorized slider for camera (only 3 axes - 2 rcservo for pan/tilt and a DC motor for translation which was controlled in position) and I used Arduino development board to control it, encountering difficulties for controlling my entire system. In this upgraded version of the crane, I thought that NI hardware are more reliable, and I want to find something to match my application requirements. I just need something to control my motors using Labview, as I will make my own drivers for them (also something affordable for a student as the motion control modules are way out my bugdet).
On the other hand, I would also like to control my system from a smartphone and I was wondering why Labview has implemented applications for Android and Apple, but not Windows Phone? Are there policy issues or just not yet implemented? If not, I would gladly develop an application for WindowsPhone8, as it would help me remotly control my crane.
Thank you in advance,
Catalin Ionita
"Politehnica" University of Bucharest

Hello Catalin,
There are a few options that are available for this application, I'll start with the simplest hardware with the most difficult software and then progress from there.
The simplest implementation that I can think of would be a high channel count digital I/O device, where you power a custom H-Bridge or similar motor driving circuit. Based on a 6 or 4 pole stepper motor this would translate to 20-30 digital channels. Something as small as a NI USB-6504 (24-ch, 8.5mA) would work with very low performance. This implementation would only have software timed digital output with a significant amount of jitter and variability, as well as the 8.5mA max current drive per channel which would require extremely high input impedance on the drive circuit.
The next step up in implementation would be a digital I/O device with Hardware timing such as a NI PCIe-6321 or a NI PCIe-6323. These cards will allow a buffered digital output which will significantly reduce jitter and increase the performance of this control.
Both of the above methods would require you to program the motion control for the stepper motors, and would also require an external drive for providing the power to the stepper. This could be something as simple as a custom built H-Bridge, a simple stepper motor driver such as this one available from sparkfun.com: Big Easy Driver.
The next option would be using the motion modules such as a NI 9501 or a system built by following the NI Stepper Motion System Selection Guide. This would be the most complicated hardware, however this would enable you to use the National Instruments SoftMotion Module for programming instead of writing all the code from scratch.
In regards to the implementation for LabVIEW implementation for Windows Phone, I am unsure of whether this will or will not be implemented. Please feel free to post your ideas on implementation on the NI Idea Exchange, and thanks for the feedback!
Cheers,
Joel
Motion PSE
National Instruments

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LOL...you ol fartin' son-of-a-gun!!!! We gotta be supportive to all here - no favorites. But if I had to make choices, you're the first one I'd help build one!!!! Feel better now ....you 'ol Salty Dog?
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30GB Quantum IDE
TEAC DV-W50E DVD/CD-R/W
BTC DVD-ROM Drive
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I plug in all my equipment values, but some of this can be a little tricky. For example, since I often run the CPU like an XP 3000, I choose the 3000 as my processor; it’s the same chip run at the faster rate. I also choose the ATI Radeon video card, and I select the RAM wattage for 2 sticks of DDR. I also choose every card I have, like my video capture card, but I also select the boxes for the separate cards that correspond to the functions that my ILSR provides as well (and that I use), like sound, USB, Firewire, NIC, etc. Although I use the onboard SATA controller, I don’t select the SCSI PCI card, because, in truth, I’ve probably made up for it by selecting all the other corresponding devices, including cards that the motherboard replaces. I check the boxes for the fans and drives I use, and I’m done, right?
Not yet.
I just remembered that I plan to upgrade soon, so I go back and change the values to reflect my impending changes. I mean, I want to make sure that I have enough power to begin with so that I don’t have to replace the power supply again, right?
Ok. Done. I look at the bottom and see that it tells me that I need a 468 watt PSU. So a 480 watt supply will do, right? Wrong.
Remember that, for efficiency, long-life, and less heat, you want your actual power consumption to fall between 30-70% of the PSU’s rating, so add 30% (minimum) to the 468, and you get 468 + (468*.30)= 608 Watts! Holy Cow!
However, I’d only need a 608-Watt supply if I was using all the devices at once, and I don’t. But, in truth, with video and audio processing, I often get close when I process, burn, and monitor at the same time. (Hardcore gamers also get close a lot, as they blast the sound and push that video to its limits.) So, let’s take off 10% (maximum) of 608, for a total of 541 Watts.
I need a 550 Watt supply, but not just ANY 550 watt PSU. I need a supply that can give me enough power on the critical 3.3, 5, and 12V rails combined. I also want a supply from a trusted, name-brand manufacturer, so I start hitting the many online reviews. Here are just two from Tom’s Hardware:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20030609/index.html
http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html
Read these in their entirety. I didn’t post them because they’re pretty links.
In the end, I chose Antec, because they’ve got the reputation, the recommendation, and because the Antec True550 has better specs than the rest of the 550 Watt competition. I also bought it from a reputable company I found on Pricegrabber.com, for the lowest price I could find, $95.00 shipped to my door. (In truth, I wanted two mini-redundant supplies, like the hospitals and military use, but they were too expensive.)
The result? Not only are the random reboots, crashing, the BSOD, lockups, etc., gone like magic, but I also now have “peace of mind” in that whatever might happen to my equipment in the future, I know almost for certain that the PSU is NOT the problem. I also bought an UPS, because the East Coast Blackout proved to me that even the Antec True550 isn’t going to provide me any power for emergency shutdown if it doesn’t get its power from somewhere.
Even if your problem doesn’t lie in the PSU completely, it gives you a GREAT platform for troubleshooting further. If you’re not reasonably certain that the supply is the cause, borrow one, or buy one that you can return once you’ve solved the problem. But, above all else, BUY THE RIGHT SUPPLY before you do anything else! Otherwise, you could be plugging and unplugging components, buying and blowing up expensive memory, and causing even further damage, until you give up or die.
I mean, I assume you built your own system to enjoy “more bang for your buck,” right? What’s the fun of a random reboot in the middle of Unreal Tournament 2003?
William Hopkins
Former Staff Sergeant, USAF
B.A., B.S., with Honors
The University of California, San Diego
[email protected]
P.S. It should be noted that while Enermax, ThermalTake, Zalman, Fortron, and others make great PSU’s, and I compared and considered them, the Antec still won out overall in my critical evaluation, like it did in so may others’ reviews. You’d probably be ok if you went with another reputable manufacturer as listed above, but pick a supply that gives you at least 230 watts on the 3.3 and 5V lines combined, and still meets the 30% criteria as stated above. Remember, if the manufacturers don’t give you maximum combined specs up front, they’re untrustworthy right off the bat. With power supplies, you definitely end up getting what you pay for. Don’t say nobody warned you.
P.P.S. Update! After recent developments, it looks like Enermax is the leader, but only the latest line of PSU's.

Ok, as an electrical engineer...I have to step in here! LOL
First, these amp rating are for 2 +12 rails. That is why you see a protection of around 15-18A on the +12 rail. That means each Rail is allowed up to 18A lets say for the new Enermax 1.2 version like the one I have.
Now, Lets say 18A for 12V....well as you know the Abit NF7-S uses the 12V for powering the CPU.
Lets say you have a Barton like me and you want it stable at around 2.4-2.5Ghz. You will have to put lets say around 2V to the cpu to get it stable at that kinda speed, specially if you have high FSB like I do. So 12V * 18Amps = 216W ....well the converter on the NFS-7 is really bad, its loss on the step down convertion is probably around 25% along with the PSU lost cuz its not running at 25oC (another 15%)....you will actually only get around 100-120W for the CPU.
Now, if you go into Sandra and see how much a Barton eats up at 2.4Ghz you will see its around 110Watts.
So, if you wanna push more, dont even think about it! Prime Power test fails and your +12 rail will drop as low as 11.60 Volts.
Now, lets say you got yourself a AMD 64 bit chip and you wanna overclock it....I bet it will need more than 110Watts.
So, what im saying is, dont buy nothing less than a 500 Watt PSU!
You really need around 20-22 A on the main +12 along with really really good cooling on the case and PSU so it is running at a 100%.
http://forums.amdmb.com/showindex.php?s=&threadid=287828
i found this quite interesting especially the bit re the power loss turning the 12v into 1.6v or what ever cpu needs

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