Real-Time Implementation of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Finding the Power Spectrum Using LabVIEW and CompactRIO

The growing popularity of adopting virtual instrumentation (modular, customizable, software-defined instrumentation) has only became possible due to the use of LabVIEW with a highly interactive process known as graphical system design. The Compact RIO programmable automation controller is an advanced embedded control and data acquisition system designed for applications that require high performance and reliability. This paper explains the real-time implementation of 256-point FFT, one of the most important transforms used in signal and image processing and finding the power spectrum using LabVIEW and Compact RIO. The proposed implementation uses only 3077 slices(21%), 2489 slice registers(8.7%), 4651 slice LUTs(16.2%) on a 400 MHz real time embedded processor.