LabVIEW and Test Automation Introduction

Table of contents

On most electronics-focused communities, the members spend a lot of time learning new technologies, building projects, and experimenting with their new ideas. These are necessary skills for anyone who is involved in designing and innovating with hardware and software. But it doesn't stop there for real-world engineers involved in new product development. Many engineers spend their time on what comes after the innovation: validation, verification, debugging, and overall testing of new products. This often is accomplished through automated testing.

Knowledge of testing automation is a very useful skill to have. That's why the element14 Community, in collaboration with National Instruments, is excited about offering a new competition called, A Beginner’s Course in LabVIEW and Test Automation, to our members.

LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment engineers use to develop automated research, validation, and production test systems. In this competition, participants will get to know LabVIEW and finally build an automated test system to compete for big prizes.

Before we talk about what the participants will receive in the kit and the great prizes they are competing for, let's talk about how to enter this competition, the timeline, how the quizzes will be graded, how the final blog will be judged, and some common FAQs.

Who is eligible & how do I enroll?

Any element14 member is eligible to enroll. You need to submit an application by the enrollment due date (see Milestones Table). If you are not an element14 Community member and are interested in enrolling, please join here. After joining, complete all the required information on the application form and click SUBMIT.

What do challengers have to do to win?

The simple answer: learn about LabVIEW.

Read the lessons, take the quizzes, and complete your final test automation project using the LabVIEW Community Edition before the due date (See Milestones Table). Participants are awarded points based on their quiz scores and their final project. Quizzes and final project must be completed by their respective due dates.

• Quiz Scoring: each lesson will have a 5-question quiz. If you score 100% on the first attempt, you will receive 20 points. Every subsequent attempt will be worth 2 points less (e.g., 2 tries = 18 points, 3 tries = 16 points, etc.). The point total will be displayed on the Status Table.
• Final Project Scoring: the final project blog will be a test automation project. Our judges will assign scores based on creativity and technical merit. The maximum score for a project blog is 300 points. The final project is a single, standalone, detailed final summary of your project. Within this blog, you should state what your project covers, describe your methodology, the final results you obtained, what you learned, and any tips you discovered that would help other people.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please post all your blogs here and tag your final project with 'A Course in LabVIEW and Test Automation' to ensure they are found easily.

The Prizes
Grand Prize* Test Workflow Software, Pro Edition (includes LabVIEW) 1yr subscription	Runner Up* Test Workflow Software, Standard Edition (includes LabVIEW) 1yr subscription & MP720011 US Digital Oscilloscope	3rd Prize* Test Workflow Software, Standard Edition (includes LabVIEW) 1yr subscription & USB Soldering Iron
4th Prize* Test Workflow Software, Standard Edition (includes LabVIEW) 1yr subscription & Infrared Thermometer	5th Prize* Test Workflow Software, Standard Edition (includes LabVIEW) 1yr subscription & Handheld Digital Multimeter	Honorable Mention* BRADY M210 Label Printer Kit & M21-750-499 Label Printer Tape
Finisher Prize Water bottle, T-shirt, ball cap

*Note: All finishers, excluding the Grand, Runner Up, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and Honorable Mention Prize winners, will receive the finisher's prize.

The Kit

For this competition, we will be using the Community Edition of LabVIEW and Raspberry Pi Pico. (Scroll down to see how to download the LabVIEW Community Edition) The Community Edition uses the same graphical programming language that engineers and scientists use in the professional editions. The LabVIEW Community Edition includes: All of the capabilities found in the LabVIEW Professional Editions The LINX toolkit for use with Raspberry Pi, BeagleBoard, and Arduino Access to the G Web Development Software for creating web-based applications

Buy Now

How To Access and Use the LabVIEW Community Edition

You will use the Community Edition to get familiar with LabVIEW and in your test automation project. Go to the following link for the LabView Community Edition: Under downloads section, select the Community Edition.

• Download: LabVIEW Community Software
  (Note: To download, you will need to create an NI account. Follow the prompts.)

You must be logged in to create a blog post.

Post Blogs

Quiz Schedule

Lesson 1: Intro to LabVIEW Programming Environment
LabVIEW Quiz 1

Lesson 2: Dataflow Programming
LabVIEW Quiz 2

Lesson 3: Dataflow Types
LabVIEW Quiz 3

Lesson 4: Sub VIs
LabVIEW Quiz 4

Lesson 5: Arrays
LabVIEW Quiz 5

Lesson 6: Loops
LabVIEW Quiz 6

Lesson 7: Case Structures
LabVIEW Quiz 7

Lesson 8: Charts and Graphs
LabVIEW Quiz 8

Lesson 9: Debugging and Fixing Errors
LabVIEW Quiz 9

Lesson 10: Raspberry Pi Pico Using the SCPI labTool
LabVIEW Quiz 10

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What do I need to do to win the Grand, Runner Up, 3rd, or 4th Prize?

You need to take as many of the quizzes as you can to score points, and you need to complete your final project blog before the due date (see Milestones Table). The judges and element14 will award points for each. The five participants who earn the maximum number of points will win the top prizes. Anyone else who finishes the competition, that is, completes and posts the final project on the element14 Community, will receive a complimentary finisher’s swag prize.

Do I have to tackle every lesson quiz to successfully complete this competition?

No. To finish the competition, you have to complete and post your final project to element14. But taking quizzes will earn you more points.

How do you determine who wins the competition?

We award points for the quizzes, and the final project is scored based upon its quality, creativity, and technical merit. See the judging section for details.

Where can I get my questions the competition or the lesson material answered?

For any general or technical questions about the competition, please post a comment on this page. It is monitored by element14.

You can also post a question to the forum associated with this competition.

The Judges

element14 members volunteer to judge the competition. Typically, our judges come from our Top Members group. For this competition, the judges are:

element14 Community Judges element14 Community Member

Thank you to our Judges for offering their time and service.

The Challengers’ Status Table

In this status table, you will be able to see how you compare to other participants. All scoring is final. (Updated: November 17, 2023)

Bookmark this page to keep up-to-date with this competition.

The Terms

Please read the full terms and conditions attached below.