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Using a programmable device to expand the capabilities of an embedded system, designers can reduce power consumption at the same time By Rahul V. Shah and Vishesh Agrawal

On Monday, National Instruments announced one such platform. It's called LabView Robotics. In addition to LabView, the popular data-acquisition application, the package includes a bunch of tools specific to robotics. It can import codes in various formats (C, C++, Matlab, VHDL), offers a library of drivers for a wide variety of sensors and actuators, and has modules for implementation of real-time and embedded hardware. NI says engineers could use the package to both design and run their robotic systems. 

Ted Marena of Lattice Semiconductor Corp., points out that designers of digital systems are familiar with implementing the 'leftovers' of their digital design by using FPGAs and CPLDs to glue together various processors, memories, and standard function components on their printed circuit board. In addition to these digital functions, FPGAs and CPLDs can also implement common analog functions using an LVDS input, a simple resistor capacitor (RC) circuit and some FPGA or CPLD digital logic elements to create an analog to digital converter (ADC).

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