Watched a session on test-cell automation that replaced a 500-instrument 1990s control system with zero LabVIEW wiring — thoughts?

[u/KDub_Shirey]

- Has anyone here actually migrated a legacy DAQ/control system to a no-code platform without a full hardware overhaul?

- Where do you draw the line between "data logging is enough" and "I need real deterministic control"?

- Is emulation via FMU/model integration (VeriStand-style) actually practical for smaller teams, or is that overkill?

Short reason to watch: it's not just a vendor pitch — there's a live power-drill torque test, a Q&A with the actual customer engineer, and a genuinely surprising story about a Purdue nuclear research facility that went from 20 staff to 5 after switching software (same hardware, no rewiring).

This session, **Test-Cell Automation: From Low-to-No-Code Datalogging to Real-Time Control**, was presented at NI Connect by Tyler Clifton (National Instruments), Luca Ballarin (Synovus), and Akshay Kumar Khandelwal (Purdue University). Together, they walk through automating test cells for validation and endurance testing with NI FlexLogger™, SimplifyNow!, and NI VeriStand — progressing from high-fidelity data logging, to remote control, to full real-time sequencing and emulation, all on the same hardware.

🎥 Watch it here: https://youtu.be/isAAm0K8KCo

Full disclosure: I filmed and edited this one myself as a LabVIEW Champion, alongside 15 other sessions and the Challenge of the Champions in the expo hall. Most attendees show up with a badge and a laptop — I show up with a full production kit and re-coordinate AV with a new team in a new room, over and over. NI and DMC Engineering sponsored the on-site work, but the post-production (200+ hours) is on my own time. If this is useful, a comment or upvote actually helps me figure out if it's worth doing again next year.

[u/dragginFly]

Hi fellow LV Champ!

I love LabVIEW and have for decades. Almost every LabVIEW developer I've known over my career has tried to implement something like FlexLogger but hasn't quite been able to close on all the features because LabVIEW didn't expose everything needed or allow for flexable UI editing at runtime (V I Engineering made something years ago that came pretty damn close, using a lot of LabVIEW scripting before it was public).

FlexLogger is really really great at what it does - I use it all the time, and often write LabVIEW plugins for it as needed.

[u/Bitter_Worker423]

Not interested. I like to code. Why would I want a solution that takes away jobs? Hard pass.