What is the best software for signal acquisition and processing

[Diogo M]

I'll be doing a project that will need to acquire and process signals coming from one or two antennas. What is, in your opinion, the best software to do this? I've used LabView before and it worked alright but it was a very simple project, this one is much more complex. Is LabView a good option? Are there better options?

Thank you.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

I've used LabView for very complex projects. It worked well. I would recommend LabView if you have the appropriate instrument drivers, prior experience using it, and the need for a slick user interface.

 

[f95toli]

There are many different options and which one is best depends on the hardware you are using, what kind of signal processing you need personal preference.
Labview is commonly used and could be a good option, especially if your hardware has good Labview drivers and and you can use the built-in functions in Labview/toolboxes to to do the signal processing.
Other options include Matlab with the instrument control/data acquisition toolbox (which is my preferred option these days); and Python (with the appropriate add-ons, e.g. QTLab). The latter is of course free, but is more complicated to set up

 

[Daz]

Something else to consider: the ability to perform your data acquisition and analysis in a high-level programming language is a much more marketable skill than LabView. NI’s pricing policy (especially outside North America) makes LabView unattractive in the commercial world.

As an employer of graduates I’ve seen countless CVs where the applicant makes a big deal about their ability to do clever things in LabView. That means absolutely nothing to me. It would cost me many tens of thousands to equip my systems with LabView and everything - literally everything - you can do in LabView can be done more flexibly in, say, C, C++ or python. On the other hand if I come across a CV that says the applicant can write good code, then I set up and pay attention. That’s a skill I can use.