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Coding Challenge - Model the Solar System - Results

Challenge Description:
In this Coding Challenge, the goal was to model our solar system using the new LabVIEW 3D Picture Control Evaluation Software. It was certainly one of the more demanding challenges we have ever had.

The minimum requirement was to simulate the sun and nine planets.

For bonus points, contestants could implement the following features:

  1. Include all moons which orbit the appropriate planets.
  2. Model non-circular orbits of the planets around the sun.
  3. Include comets and asteroids which travel through our solar system.
  4. Apply actual physics to the objects, i.e. gravitational pull is stronger near larger celestial bodies.

The judging was performed by comparing the interface of each submission and how effectively it displayed a simulation of the solar system. We also took into account what features, such as those listed above, had been incorporated into the solution. The coding style was judged according to the LabVIEW Style Guide.

 Coding Challenge Winner
  Congratulations to Neil Richardson, the winner of the LabVIEW Zone Solar System Coding Challenge! Neil works for a company in the United Kingdom called Serco where he has developed with LabVIEW for over 2 years.

 The Winning Solution
Neil submitted a very impressive LabVIEW application. Not only does it represent the solar system, but he added in zooming features, rotation schemes, predefined views, and options of camera angles. You can modify the sizes of planets, the light intensity of the sun, and the path of heavenly objects.

Here are a few screenshots from Neil's application:
 Image 1: Default view of Solar System
 Image 2: View of Jupiter and Saturn. Notice the presence of Jupiter's moons.
 Image 3: View of inner 4 planets from the side.
 Image 4: View from Sun looking outwards.
 Image 5: Zoomed in view of innermost four planets and the Sun.

Not only was Neil's submission graphically very impressive, but he also exhibited a very clean and readable coding style. His Block Diagram is very well designed and clean enough for other developers to read. Download his VI to see how he designed the code.

Additionally, he created very useful icons for his VIs. Notice the use of descriptive images for the two VIs in his application:

Solar System.vi 
 Orbit.vi
 

The Person Behind the Developer

Neil Richardson works for Serco, a National Instruments Alliance Member, in the U.K. He has been using LabVIEW for just over 2 years and passed the Certified Developer Exam this past August.

At Serco, Neil develops engineering solutions for the commercial and defense markets mainly in the test and automotive fields. He recently worked on a major project to completely upgrade the facilities at the low speed wind tunnel for Airbus UK in Bristol. The project involved stripping out 1960/70s hardware, controls, and decoration, and replacing it with a state of the art control and data acquisition system in a refurbished modern setting. They used LabVIEW 7.0, a server, 5 networked PCs and 6 FieldPoint systems to control everything from the control room lighting to the fan itself. The upgrade has taken the facility from the 1960s with its dials and knobs into the 21st century with LCD screens and PCs.

"Personally, I'm a total LabVIEW convert. Coming from a hardware background and having used everything from 8080 assembler through Basic and Fortran to C\C++, I now can't imagine using anything else. In my view the visibility of the software design is the key to LabVIEW. Being able to SEE on a single screen, what would have been pages of textual code, makes the whole process so much more simple, efficient and enjoyable. It was great fun putting together the solar system model, the 3D VIs provide a new level of capability to an already superb development environment. Keep up the good work!"
- Neil Richardson

Congratulations to everyone who competed in the LabVIEW Zone Median Machine Coding Challenge. Be sure to enter the newest Coding Challenge!