I'm working on a project where I need a very sensitive IR sensor (I'm trying to make something that senses when particles as small as pieces of dirt or grains of salt pass in front of the sensor). I'm using a basic IR sensor off of Amazon (Amazon.com). I soldered the signal wire directly to the IR receiver to get an analog output from 0-1023, but the sensor is not great so its output fluctuates by +/- 1 all the time. The problem is, to get the level of precision I need from the sensor, it needs to be accurate to the 1's place (no fluctuation). Do I need to buy a new sensor (and if so, what are the best options), or can I do some tuning of my code/setup to make this work better?
Thanks in advance for any help; I'm still pretty new to Arduino so apologies if anything is unclear.
Being new to Arduino is not that terribly bad.
May I ask about Your knowledge regarding IR, IR sensors, IR phenomena etc.?
I once worked with top of the art IR stuff but as it might still be classified I can't hand over that knowledge.
my knowledge of IR is pretty much limited to online tutorials/basic informational sources online. I know that what I'm trying to do can be done, but I don't know if my issue is with my sensor or my code or both
You need to limit the sense field width on the receive sensor. Get your geometry book out and decide how wide the slot needs to be for the size of particle you want to detect.
Then make a slotted shutter from some opaque, to IR, material and place it across the receive part of the sensor. when the shadow passes the slit, the sensor will see it. May have to adjust the IR light output of the LED.
My suggestion for you to try.
Paul
@OP Totally okey. You ask for quite a high tech, high level, performance of Your stuff. IR can be used in many aspects but it can be tricky to awoid disturbance comming from quite unexpected sources.
Read the advice given by helpers, and good luck!
Paul_KD7HB:
You need to limit the sense field width on the receive sensor. Get your geometry book out and decide how wide the slot needs to be for the size of particle you want to detect.Then make a slotted shutter from some opaque, to IR, material and place it across the receive part of the sensor. when the shadow passes the slit, the sensor will see it. May have to adjust the IR light output of the LED.
Paul
Just to add to that if I may, infra red radiation is absorbed/attenuated by water, so water droplets within your sample may cause a great deal of noise on your signal. You may have to add compensation for this or take measures to dry the sample, all adding to complexity and expense.
The Sharp GP2Y1010AU0F seems to be commonly used for this.
Leo..
Wawa:
The Sharp GP2Y1010AU0F seems to be commonly used for this.
I've looked into particulate matter sensors like this- the issue is that I also need to sense larger particles. Essentially anything that can be sucked up by a normal vacuum cleaner should be detected by the sensor.
whodge:
I've looked into particulate matter sensors like this- the issue is that I also need to sense larger particles. Essentially anything that can be sucked up by a normal vacuum cleaner should be detected by the sensor.
Then you may need more than one sensor!
Paul