Community Spotlights

LabVIEW Career Center Online

Deirdre — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:33:42 GMT

Visit ni.com/labviewcareers, which allows employers and recruiters to search resumes of qualified developers or post their own job listing on the NI discussion forums. Additionally, it has information for job seekers and aggregates global openings from ni.com, LabVIEW specific sites, and popular career search platforms.

Soar High with Flight Simulator VIs

Deirdre — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:46:13 GMT

Download this flight simulator VI library from community member Torbjorn Tjellden. His code is based on his 3D-script viewer, which has three inputs: the script with leaves and variable names, the definition of leaves, and the variable array. For the airplane, those variables control the wing, flaps, roll, etc. Torbjorn is currently working on an editor for the landscape and additional features. Visit this wiki collaborate on his code, comment on the functionality, or just have some fun.

Download Wiimote Interface VIs

Deirdre — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:44:30 GMT

With a high-resolution camera, a 3-axis accelerometer, and a Bluetooth wireless link, the Nintendo Wii Controller (Wiimote) offers exciting possibilities beyond use as a video game controller. With the examples in this community document from NI engineer Sam Shearman, you can easily access these data sources in LabVIEW.

LabVIEW Application Featured on Conan O'Brien Show

Deirdre — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:39:26 GMT

LabVIEW developer Brian Turner was on the Conan O'Brien TV show on May 2 to talk about NASA's 2008 Space Elevator Competition. Brian's team, the Kansas City Space Pirates, will be using LabVIEW and NI CompactRIO to compete for a $2M dollar grand prize.

Here is Brian's response on the appearance:

Space Pirate news 5-9-08

The Conan Show was a big hit. I managed not to choke and remained rather articulate through the 5 min interview. We did not however get to cover the competition, the team or the sponsors. They were on the list but I had no idea how fast time would fly. I felt that I was on for only 30 seconds. We clearly managed to inform thousands of viewers about the space elevator and raise awareness. I saw a big jump in web site visitors but only received 1 small donation. The show will be re-run at least once so even more may come of it. I will keep you posted.

You can go watch the video on the NBC site if you missed it. We mechanically steered an beam! It was just a laser pointer and only in 1 dimension. Still it is a small but significant step in our mission. We are planning to go to the ISDC (International Space Development Conference) in Washington DC at the end of this month. I plan on meeting with potential supporters there and hopefully securing the

funds needed for the rest of this year.

Here is a photo from NBC.com. Check out the Powered by LabVIEW hard hat!! LabVIEW really is everywhere.

Video: Trends in the Test, Measurement and Control Industries

Deirdre — Sat, 03 May 2008 00:08:58 GMT

Test engineers in industries ranging from aerospace and defense to consumer electronics are facing the challenge of testing increasingly complicated designs with shrinking timelines and budgets. Check out this YouTube video from NI Product Manager Kevin Bisking, which draws out the new test and measurement technologies that are capable of meeting complex design requirements without raising costs.

LabVIEW - Snap to It

Deirdre — Fri, 02 May 2008 23:03:29 GMT

Download Mark Ridgley's SnapToPanel VI, which allows LabVIEW developers to position a target VI window relative to a reference VI window. Click here to get the code or comment on the functionality.

NI Wireless Technology Tested Live on Google Maps

Deirdre — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:21:37 GMT

Using a GPS receiver and a bike-mounted ultra-mobile PC running LabVIEW, the NI Cycling Team tracked rider progress live during a 150-mile bike ride from Houston to Austin, Texas. To make it more interesting they decided to give some prototype wireless devices (currently in development by NI R&D) a trial run by taking simple measurements on nearby riders. Check out the technical tutorial and images of the tracking in the NI Developer Zone Community.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame with LabVIEW and Compact DAQ

Deirdre — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:38:12 GMT

The VI Road Show has a cool video showing how CompactDAQ was used to measure how hard Tim Dehne, senior vice president of R&D and former member of the Rice University baseball team, could hit a baseball. Since it's opening day for the sport in the United States, we figured it would be a cool application to highlight.

NI Labs 3D Visualization Kit

Deirdre — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:04:41 GMT

Download and discuss the latest emerging technology from LabVIEW R&D in the NI Labs virtual playground. Specifically, download the 3D Visualization Kit, which explores how to utilize the 3D picture control along with other NI technologies to help create dynamic, highly practical applications in LabVIEW.

There are two demos in this package to show the versatility of the 3D picture control. The first example demonstrates how to create a 3D graph as an alternative to using ActiveX. The second demo allows users to place sensors across a predefined model and watch them react to dynamic data.

Video: Wiimote, Robotics, and LabVIEW

Deirdre — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:59:37 GMT

Check out this cool YouTube video from NI AE Evan Dozier. He found an old robotic arm with a broken controller and revamped it using NI hardware, LabVIEW and the Nintendo Wiimote. Evan uses special Bluetooth LabVIEW VIs to control the robot.

Visit the VI Roadshow video blog for more zany applications.

Programming Tip from a LabVIEW Champion

Deirdre — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:56:48 GMT

Check out this advice from the newest LabVIEW Champion Yair Neeman (aka TST):

Community Nugget - Join the Discussion

Almost everyone using LabVIEW understands that a wire carries its data type as well as its data. What many people do not seem to know is that there is an easy interface to view the data type (other than the color and shape of the wire, which are only indicative up to a certain level). This interface is the context help window, most easily opened by pressing Ctrl+H or clicking the yellow question mark near the VI's icon. Look at the following image. See how hovering the cursor over different wires shows the information about the wire. This information includes the type and name of the wire. The name is determined by the source of the data.