well that of course.
i'll have a switch (actually its a potenti) which sets the delay between the detection and the trigger.
but if the delay is too long the object would already be on the ground (or whereever) when the singal is reported back.
so thats why i asked if the singal would take only a few (<10ms) milliseconds, or if the delay were too big to handle (like over half a second), though i dont think it would be a problem.
after all, network cables (RJ45) can be quite long and still maintain a high rate.