x and y tracking on small space

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi guys,
I am working on a project of mine and I need to track a small object on a small plane like 6x6 inch,
the object might not touch the surface, I need to find the position of the object on 2d space(x and y axis).
I am a beginner and don't have much experience.

Can you guys give me some suggestion on which sensor I should use, I want to keep the size and power consumption to the lowest.

I have been doing research for hours and I am confused,
Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks.

3

I have been doing research for hours and I am confused,

Please describe your research, tell us about the results, and what you have found to be confusing.

4

And you also need to tell us how precisely you want to identify the position of the mysterious object.

...R

5

Robin2:
And you also need to tell us how precisely you want to identify the position of the mysterious object.

...R

...and how frequently

6

Hi,
Welcome to the forum.

Please read the first post in any forum entitled how to use this forum.
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,148850.0.html

How accurate do you need to be, what resoluton?
How big is the target?

Such a small area you my be able to use an array of IR beams in X and Y to detect position.

Tom... :slight_smile:

7

First of all, thanks a lot to everyone who replied,
Second I am really sorry for not explaining my self properly.

This time I will try go give as much details as possible.

What I want to do is track my finger over a phone,
I want to know where the thumb is over the phone,
just above the surface of the phone maybe around 0.5 cm above the phone screen.

The surface would be air right above the glass screen of the phone.

Just knowing where the finger is all I want to to.

I don't want it to be very precise with the tracking, I don't want to draw with it.

Please let me know if I am missing something.
Thanks!

8

The picture in my mind is of you holding the phone in one hand and holding a finger of the other hand 5mm above the screen on the phone and wishing to know where your finger is relative to the X and Y coordinates of the phone screen.

Is that the correct picture? If not, then maybe you can post a diagram showing what you have in mind.

I can't imagine how you would identify the position of your finger when it is not touching the phone unless you have another grid of sensors - perhaps IR beam-breaks - that are intersected by your finger. And that does not sound very practical for a phone.

...R

9

Some Samsung phones have touch screens that detect "approach" up to maybe 10mm off the screen.
Try one of the touchscreen controller mfrs, like Synaptics or Atmel.