LabVIEW Champion: Richard Sorrells

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LabVIEW Champions Member Profile - Richard Sorrells

Home:

Safety Harbor, Florida

Work:

Senior Member of Technical Staff: Draper Laboratory. St. Petersburg Florida.

Programming Languages:

LabVIEW, TestStand, Basic, and many years ago C, Vee

Certification:

CLD

Used LabVIEW Since:

2001

Applications Areas:

• Bio-Chemistry

• Nuclear Detection

• Aerospace Flight Instrumentation
  

• GPS (NI VST)
• Guidance Systems

• Commercial & Heavy-Industry Control

• Medical Instruments

A few of my favorite LabVIEW projects:

• Chemiluminescent Sensor Array
• GPS Satellite Signal Quality Analyzer
• Portable Chemical Threat Detector
• Gyroscope Assembly and Performance Verification
• Continuous Drinking Water Sampler for Pathogens
• Silicon Wafer Robotic Handling & Etching
  
• Renal System Monitor
• Educational Platform Development for MicroChip
• 24-7 Environmental Sensor Life-Test
• Auto-Regulating Steam Loop Controller
• Navy Ship Valve Testing Platform
  
• And many more I'm not allowed to talk about!
  

Biography:

My start in electronics was in the mid-1980's as an audio engineer and performance modification technician. Later that decade and into the next, I held positions of PCB Designer and Electrical Engineer. Starting in the 2000's, my focus shifted more toward Test Engineering and software development.

I have been involved in the development of commercial products from dog training collars to biological threat detectors. In the military and aerospace fields, I have been involved with critical testing platforms for valves used on aircraft carriers, guidance systems, sensors used on jet fighters, and display units for bombers.

I picked up a shrink-wrapped copy of LabVIEW 5.1 around 2001, because someone told me I could "control things with it". Since then, I have made it a mission and a passion to ensure that LabVIEW Is Everywhere!

Discussion Groups:

LabVIEW, a top-contributor to the LabVIEW Idea Exchange with many ideas implemented.

Articles:

LabVIEW code (written by R. Sorrells) was used during the development of the following Patents, papers, and thesis:

1. Automated Concentration System (Patent Pending water sampling system)
2. Development of a semi-dead end filtration system for concentration of bacterial spores from drinking water. (Kearns, E.A., S. Magaña, B. Dodge, A. Levine, R. Sorrells, and D.V. Lim.)
3. Design of a chemical agent detector based on polymer coated surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator technology. (Graduate school thesis by Dr. L. Manoosinhg)