A modeling and simulation process based on the optimal chemical-mechanical respiratory control model, which has been verified in earlier studies, is implemented on the LabVIEW platform. By utilizing the graphical programming language of LabVIEW, real-time simulation and signal monitoring of respiratory control with multilayer functional
modules are realized. The fundamental hypothesis of the control model is that a total cost function can be formulated and optimized to reflect the balance of a combined challenge due to the chemical and mechanical cost of breathing. Based on the optimal model, the respiratory control simulator is developed as a minimization problem with respect to the parameters of a neuromuscular pressure profile. The simulator provides monitoring windows to observe the optimal respiratory waveforms of instantaneous pressure, airflow, and lung volume. Through the use of a virtual instrument, the optimized breathing pattern, including breathing frequency, tidal volume, arterial CO2 pressure, alveolar minute
ventilation, initial lung volume, and partial pressure of arterial O2, can be monitored. Simulations of respiratory control are performed under resting conditions, CO2 inhalation, muscular exercise, hypercapnia exercise, and various mechanical loadings. Model behavior is predicted, examined, and compared with experimental data. The development of the simulator is valuable for research of respiratory control and beneficial in biomedical engineering education of respiratory physiology.