Latis II Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle Technical Report

SOFTWARE
LATIS II
The cRio controller on the ROV is programmed
using National Instruments LabVIEW software.
LabVIEW is a graphical programming language
that allows users to create programming code
through control block diagrams rather than
traditional line code found in BASIC or C. Since
most of the team did not have any experience
with C or other typical controller programming
languages, the graphical format of LabVIEW
allowed the team to focus their efforts on the
actual content of the program, rather than
learning the syntax.
MAIN HOST AND DASHBOARD
The core component of the software is the main
host program (called a virtual instrument, or
VI). The main host contained the code for all of
the inputs and outputs for the ROV, including
sensors, thrusters, and the arms. The front
panel of this VI contains displays and indicators
for many of the ROVs vital functions.
9
Figure 9: LabVIEW Dashboard
VENT MISSION SUB-VI
To increase the modularity of the system, the
vent mission code is broken out into a sub-VI.
When performing this mission, the pilot presses
a button on the dashboard to load this program
separately. The program then allows the pilot
LATIS II
TECHNICAL REPORT
to record the three temperatures, chart the
data, and show the judge before closing the
program. Having this code as a sub-VI helps
free up space on the main dashboard for other
indicators. This setup also allowed the team to
create and test the code for this mission before
any of the code for the actual ROV was created.
Figure 10: Vent Mission Dashboard