I'm looking for some help / starting points / feasibility on the following project.
Looking to create a position sensor utilizing either ultrasonic or laser ranger finding technique to record/compute the position and time of a moving object so it then can be analyzed on a computer.
Any help is much appreciated.
Thank you -
Alex Z
azaharak:
Looking to create a position sensor utilizing either ultrasonic or laser ranger finding technique to record/compute the position and time of a moving object so it then can be analyzed on a computer.
An ultrasonic rangefinder? Certainly - this is how most commercial units work. Laser? Only if you've got a couple hundred dollars to spare (they're REALLY expensive). The basic idea would be to periodically measure the distance of the object and the millis() when it is recorded, then print it out to Serial. On the computer side, you can easily take a differential time measurement from the initial time at which the object starts moving.
Hi,
Another approach is to use "Photogates" placed at specific points along some travel, if appropriate. This is easy with low-cost IR LEDs and PhotoTransistors.
Also, a high-resolution approach is to have a very light striped tape attached to a movement, and have it pass through a fixed photo gate. PASCO does it, um, like this:
http://store.pasco.com/pascostore/showdetl.cfm?&DID=9&Product_ID=54794&groupID=338&Detail=1
What kind of distances and velocities do you expect?