I am very new to all of this and am here for suggestions on some hardware decisions.
First, I would like to determine the position of a person while in a hallway. The sensor needs to be able to measure from a minimum of 1 meter and have a range up to5 + meters. The measurement only needs to be accurate to within +/- 10 cm or so. I have been looking at ultrasonic sensors to be used to determine position because they operate completely separate from whatever light might be in the space.
Do you think an ultrasonic sensor is the right choice in this situation? Will it be able to accurately measure a person in the hallway without the walls, ceiling and floor interfering with the reading? The surfaces are Sheetrock and carpet, respectively.
I have looked at a few different components and their specs but I wasn't sure if the whole hallway thing would be a dealbreaker for all ultrasonic sensors.
I read component specs this afternoon and they seemed to have very fine resolutions. 10cm resolution isn't necessary a requirement, it was just to indicate that it doesn't need to be highly accurate. 50cm accuracy would work, 1m would probably be the maximum, if not too much.
would it be possible to determine a relative position of a person in a hallway with an optical solution of sensors and emitters? I had thought at first about optical sensors but I thought that would only give me a strictly on/ off output from the sensor being able to read the emitter from the end of the hall?
I also found laser based range finders, but they were extremely expensive. Is that not what is used in "digital" tape measures that one can buy from Home Depot?
i am trying to keep it as simple as possible by only having the sensing equipment at one end of the hallway.