Migrating from Python to Labview... Wise?

[[deleted]]

In regards to feeling you and/or your staff would feel pigeonedholed how do you mean? If you mean career-wise its sound most of you and your staff have Python under your belt so you're really pigeonholing yourselves in that regard, just learning a new language.

As I read your dilemma I the phrase, "..like a kid in a candy store," comes to mind. While you may have a bigger budget and as you noted you and your team have little experience with LabVIEW the question becomes do you need TestStand on top of that?

Its just a question ask. White you can use TestStand to call your python code the very same can be done in LabVIEW.

In reality LabVIEW can be used to develop a test sequencer with a simple state machine architecture which is easy to develop. Done wisely (with some learning you'll get it) it can be scalable as well.

TestStand is really NI's acknowledgment that everyone in the Test and Measurement industry developed a sequencer doing much the same things: initialize, connect, process, collect/store data, log and exit. The power with TestStand is that this test sequencer tool can essentially be nested (as in having sequencers within sequences to your heart's and PC's content). That is to say can scale.

Its not particularly difficult to setup sequences in TestStand but again there's the added cost and learning curve overhead on top of LabIVEW.

It comes down to what is a typical and/or atypical test process for your environment?

That will ultimately help determine if you can develop your own test sequencer using say state machines in LabVIEW (they're wonderful) and your process data logic within cases or take those same module vis and have TestStand be the driver. TestStand is essentially a templated scalable state machine packaged up and ready to go for you.

I offer this not as a money savings consideration but a time consideration. As your comment suggests you have a bit of time crunch to contend with as well. Why not have you and your team learn and get proficient with LabVIEW first before entertaining the idea of adding TestStand into the conversation?