Hoping someone here might have a solution for me, I've been attempting to do some research on sensors that can achieve what I'm trying to do without breaking the bank.
The goal is have multiple AR500 plates mounted to the same apparatus with sensors attached to them and have the ability to tell which plate is being hit. So some sort of threshold would need to be programed in order to filter out the "shock" of the hit on the other plates. So it's not overly important to have max accuracy, just need enough granularity in the sensor ability to know which plate was hit. Then down the road to maybe have different profiles for different calibers. Thanks for reading and any feedback!
AR500 plates are capable of absorbing the energy from a projectile impact. When a plate is struck, it produces enough vibrations that can be detected by a piezoelectric or vibration sensor mounted on the back.
âžś have each plate equipped with such a sensor and they can signal an impact
you might want to check this discussion in the French speaking part of the forum (use your browser's translation capability if you don't read French)
Thank you for quick response and forgive my absolute ignorance in the realm of arduino. But what site/marketplace is the preferred place to buy equipment in the US?
I live in France not sure I can provide a good guidance but here are some ideas
- Arduino's web site of course
- vendors like Adafruit, SparkFun, Digi-Key, Mouser...
- Amazon
- or order from the far east on you preferred platform (eBay, aliexpress, ...)
Ok perfect, thanks again for the help!
Hi @elyk864 ,
feel free to read this thread from 2020:
https://forum.arduino.cc/t/recommended-sensor-to-detect-rifle-shot/652960
and/or
https://forum.arduino.cc/t/impact-sensor-piezo-knocksensor-or-vibration-sensor-feasible/117100/8
Good luck!
ec2021
If you mean Arduino and/or sensors, you can range from eBay to Amazon.
If you want to know how they are made and how to connect them to Arduino you can find various tutorials, for example this video:
The only problem I can think of that you might have is the distance between the Arduino and the sensors, as the length of the cables greatly affects the signal level and quality. A line driver such as the MAX485 with a shielded wire could help, but you may also consider using a more robust communication protocol such as RS-485, especially if there is electrical noise.
Another possible solution is using WiFi connections. Use any board with integrated WiFi like ESP32 (I often use weMos D1 mini boards for their small size) and send data to the central node, like another Wemos or an Arduino R4 WiFi, using UDP packets: each device will send a packet whenever the signal level is greater then a specific threshold (to avoid continuous sending), and the central node can make the required filtering and display the result (e.g. turning one of the three LEDs, one for each plate, showin the one that was hit), plus a "reset" button.
HTH 
Cheers
Awesome, thank you for the information. Strong chance I'll be back asking more dumb questions at some point when I get the project built out.
And if the entire unit can be mounted on the back of the plate (magnetically?) there are no exposed wires to get cut/damaged by projectiles.