Throwback Tuesday: Dataflow Programming In Video Games
For today’s Throwback we look back upon an archived post detailing one individual’s journey via video games into the world of graphical programming…much like LabVIEW!
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Plasma Arc Microphones
In a previous post, I talked about how plasma can be used to build high-fidelity speakers. Plasma isn’t limited to only producing sound– it can also be used to record it. Being made up of physical particles, plasma can be affected by vibrations through the air. This means it is possible to build a plasma arc microphone using the proper circuit. This application is far less common than using a plasma arc for a speaker, but research has still been done on the subject.
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Induction Heating
Did you know you can melt metal using magnetic fields? It seems pretty crazy, but it’s possible.
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Playing with Lighting in a Faraday Suit
Have you ever wanted to shoot lightning bolts out of your hands like the Sith do in Star Wars? Have you ever wanted to be immune to lightning strikes? These things sound impossible, but they actually aren’t. Specially designed suits are capable of making you immune to high voltages by redirecting the flow of current around you.
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Plasma Arc Speakers
In science fiction, plasma-based technology is often included because it is perceived as futuristic and exotic. Referring to plasma as exotic is understandable, but the technology behind its creation is less so. Since the invention of electric circuits, it has been possible to easily create and control plasma using high voltages. It is pretty common knowledge that high voltages ionize the air producing plasma arcs. What is not-so-common knowledge is the fact that these arcs of plasma can be used to play music.
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Radar Motion Tracking through Walls — Science Fiction or Science Fact?
Radar tracking systems have been around for about 80 years now. Typically, when someone mentions radar it evokes images of giant antennas used to track clouds or planes miles and miles away. Close range radar that works through walls seems to be something exclusive to the realm of science fiction. Perhaps the most iconic example of this is the motion tracker from the 1986 movie Aliens. Its ominous pulsing and shrieking tracking tone made it a fantastic plot device for building tension in the movie.
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Testing the PmodACL and LabVIEW on the Race Track
Recently I released a collection of projects going over how to use LAbVIEW, the chipKIT Max32, and the PmodACL to do some neat stuff with accelerometer data. These include filtering, multidimensional vector plots, and tilt measurement.
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Who is LabVIEW Hacker?
So what exactly is LabVIEW? LabVIEW is National Instruments’ program development environment. The name is short for “laboratory virtual instrument engineering workbench”. NI created LabVIEW to enable domain experts to focus on building systems by abstracting the hardware and software. For example, their hardware and software allows a chemist to focus on chemistry and not get bogged down with analog signal conditioning for thermal couples or advanced programming techniques.
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Using Sparkfun’s Nokia 5510 LCD Display
Check out Sparkfun’s Nokia 5510 LCD display. It’s both cheap and simple to use!
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