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NI Connectivity to Industrial Communications

National Instruments' programmable automation controllers (PACs) and LabVIEW software can add a wide variety of functionality to existing programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and industrial systems. Machine condition monitoring, high-speed analog measurements and custom vision applications are a few examples of typical PAC applications. Communication between the PLC and PAC systems is extremely important and must be simple, effective and often times deterministic. Common methods include using basic analog and digital I/O, as well as the widespread standard, OLE for Process Control (OPC). For more complex fieldbus systems, there exists a large number of industrial protocols used in process automation, machine–building and other such markets.

This white paper explains how you can use industrial communications to connect to your existing networks with LabVIEW and PACs.