Page 63 - Shock and Vibration Overview

Analysis Software Options

Figure 45: The Spyder Python development environment is shown; it has a similar interface to
MATLAB.

Python is gaining popularity because it’s free and the community is generating a wide
variety of versatile libraries that are publically available through GitHub. A quick search
finds the PyDAQmx library that interfaces with National Instrument’s drivers. Again
Python is free so it’s becoming a compelling alternative, especially as they offerings and
capabilities continue to grow and improve.

LabVIEW
Most engineering companies will likely have a couple LabVIEW licenses to interface with

their National Instruments data acquisition hardware and analyze data in real time.
LabVIEW is a development environment specifically designed for engineers and
scientists analyzing data. As such, it’s a popular tool for vibration testing! As we’ve
discussed, National Instruments is the world leader in hardware for data acquisition; so
it makes sense that their software is also very popular and pairs well with their
hardware. Designing analysis programs with LabVIEW may be easier to those with less

63 of 69