Using Raspberry Pi or Arduino with LabVIEW

Updated Apr 12, 2023

Reported In

Software

  • Third Party Add-Ons
  • LabVIEW
  • JKI VI Package Manager
  • Package Manager
  • LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit

Other

  • Raspberry Pi
  • Arduino

Issue Details

  • I want to build a control system using a Raspberry Pi and LabVIEW. Can I control the Raspberry Pi platform from LabVIEW?
  • I have written a VI with LabVIEW and I want to run it on my Arduino. Can I deploy a LabVIEW VI to an Arduino?

Solution

There are two primary solutions for integrating LabVIEW with Raspberry Pi or Arduino platforms - the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit, and the LINX by Digilent Toolkit. 

Both solutions are designed to be generic hardware abstraction layers for embedded devices, rather than designed for just one specific microcontroller platform.

They allow for communication with hobbyist hardware like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, chipKIT, and others.


LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit (recommended option for LabVIEW 2021 and later)

Most applications looking to run a LabVIEW program on Raspberry Pi or other embedded platforms like Arduino and BeagleBone should look into using the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit. This toolkit allows you to develop LabVIEW code to deploy and run on Raspberry Pi boards up to the Raspberry Pi 4.

This toolkit is only compatible with LabVIEW 2021 and newer. Support can be found for the toolkit on the Hobbyist Toolkit NI Community Group

The LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit can be downloaded through the Package Manager or the NI Tools Network. Specifically for LabVIEW 2020, the toolkit is named the LabVIEW LINX by NI Toolkit and can be downloaded from this page or through the VI Package Manager (VIPM).

Note 1: Do not install the package if you are running LabVIEW 2020 Community Edition or later, as the Community Edition already includes the LabVIEW Hobbyist/LINX by NI Toolkit.

Note 2: In order to make the most of the toolkit's features and have some additional menus natively integrated within the LabVIEW environment, the versions of the toolkit and LabVIEW must match. For example, install the 2023 Q1 version of the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit if using LabVIEW 2023 Q1. The Getting Started with the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit article outlines some of the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit's integrated features.

LINX by Digilent Toolkit (deprecated)

For applications running on versions older than LabVIEW 2020 (LabVIEW 2011 minimum), the third-party LINX by Digilent Toolkit for LabVIEW is the former option for designing programs for Raspberry Pi and other embedded platform devices. This solution is designed to work primarily with a host computer running a program and communicating with an embedded platform board, and only supports deploying code to run headlessly on a Raspberry Pi up to the Raspberry Pi 3.

The LINX by Digilent Toolkit can be downloaded through the VI Package Manager (VIPM) or from the VIPM page. VIPM is not a NI software, and any bugs or issues with VIPM are best supported by the VIPM developers.

Additional Information

None of these options is supported with LabVIEW NXG.