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What does Beijing Olympics have to do with National Instruments? 

National Instruments partnered with the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) to develop a structural health monitoring (SHM) solution for the main venues of the Beijing Olympics—the National Stadium and the Aquatics Center.

The technology behind this structural health monitoring solution is powered by none other than NI LabVIEW (the product I write documentation for), CompactRio, Real-Time Module, and FPGA Module.

I’m a technical writer, not an engineer, so I don’t really understand the technology behind this health monitoring solution. It is my job though as a technical writer to learn about different products at NI and write the technical documentation.

The technical writing team in Shanghai focuses primarily on LabVIEW and LabVIEW add-ons, so that’s the extent of my limited knowledge of the technology behind NI products. And I can’t say I know much about LabVIEW programming either, but that’s a post for another day.

The Technology Behind the Structural Health Monitoring System

Let me see if I can explain exactly what is behind this health monitoring system. Excuse my non-engineering language. Here we go…

1. Engineers created a system using LabVIEW and CompactRio to capture vibration signals at critical points of the stadium.
2. Using LabVIEW FPGA Module, the system is able to capture vibration signals continuously in real-time.
3. Engineers used LabVIEW Real-Time Module to filter and improve the accuracy of the vibration measurements.
4. All the data are collected, stored, and shared using LabVIEW shared variable engine.
5. Many users can access the data in real-time. Engineers can compare key health indicators against previously recorded levels.
6. Using LabVIEW programming, the system can be configured to notify users when events or abnormalities occur.

This technology isn’t as exciting as, say, using LabVIEW and FPGA to create a robot that plays near perfect score of Guitar Hero, or using Lego Mindstorms NXT to build a robot that plays a perfect game of Wii bowling. But nonetheless, I’m a technology enthusiast, aka a geek, and I love writing about technology stuff.