[TriEmbed] New TOF distance sensor

Fri Feb 13 14:30:39 CST 2015

Rodney, 

Glad you mentioned the short range, was about to buy one!  Looks like I will need to use the good old fashioned ultrasonic sensor unless someone knows of a version with a 3m range.

I am interested in one that can be used outdoors and will be able to ignore noise.  I have used the cheap HC-105 but they are too unreliable.  The Maxbotix sensors are much better but 5x the price.  The outdoor version <http://www.amazon.com/Maxbotix-MB7060-XL-MaxSonar-WR1/dp/B00A7YH6M4/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1423859198&sr=1-1&keywords=outdoor+ultrasonic> is more expensive sill at $100.  

Any other ideas for an outdoor distance sensor that would be reliable and resistant to noise?

Charles McClelland
chip at mcclellands.org <mailto:chip at mcclellands.org>
919-624-5562

> On Feb 13, 2015, at 1:36 PM, triembed-request at triembed.org wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
> 
>   1. Re: [TAR] New TOF (time of flight) distance sensor from
>      Sparkfun (Randy Farmer)
>   2. Re: [TAR] New TOF (time of flight) distance sensor from
>      Sparkfun (Rodney Radford)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2015 13:21:19 -0500
> From: Randy Farmer <randy.farmer at gmail.com>
> To: trianglerobotics at yahoogroups.com
> Cc: TriEmbed Discussion <triembed at triembed.org>
> Subject: Re: [TriEmbed] [TAR] New TOF (time of flight) distance sensor
> 	from	Sparkfun
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAFKBHwNp240BVWLAbr1vArmSKeCa7T84gy=iUSYFjkAqN+dOCA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> Cheaper breakout with just the sensor:
> 
> https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12784
> 
> 
> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 1:14 PM, Rodney Radford ncgadgetry at gmail.com
> [trianglerobotics] <trianglerobotics at yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> 
>> If you are on the Sparkfun mail list, you probably already got this, but
>> this guy is interesting enough to warrant an announcement just in case.
>> 
>> https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12785
>> 
>> It is a $24.95 TOF (time of flight) distance sensor - this means that it
>> actually measures the amount of time to send light (IR) to and from the
>> object, so it is immune from surface reflectivity issues, and also immune
>> from many of the problems with ultrasonic sensors.
>> 
>> The only drawback that I see is the relatively short range - 0.5 meters is
>> listed in the spec sheet, but if you look at the app note they are
>> measuring distance out to almost 2 meters.  The actual distance is
>> dependent upon ambient light and surface reflection.  Note that while the
>> maximum dept allowed is dependent upon surface reflection, the actual value
>> of the measurement does not.
>> 
>> I will be ordering one of these soon (too bad I did not know about it
>> before placing two orders to them just last week).
>> 
>> Take a look at both the datasheet and the appnote.
>> 
>> 
>> __._,_.___
>>  ------------------------------
>> Posted by: Rodney Radford <ncgadgetry at gmail.com>
>> ------------------------------
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2015 13:36:12 -0500
> From: Rodney Radford <ncgadgetry at gmail.com>
> To: trianglerobotics <trianglerobotics at yahoogroups.com>
> Cc: TriEmbed Discussion <triembed at triembed.org>
> Subject: Re: [TriEmbed] [TAR] New TOF (time of flight) distance sensor
> 	from	Sparkfun
> Message-ID:
> 	<CA+kfaxGLmRAXTDRA200NyiuoV5hDLinY2J_Ng=M5N-q9TNZAew at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> Yet an additional followup - while reading the comments on the bare sensor,
> someone mentioned the ST eval board and it is $19.95 and includes an
> arm-cortex-4 processor and USB interface:
> 
> http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/STMicroelectronics/EVALKIT-VL6180X/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvfpQN6QVmrfGjb%252b49cDybCa83Lgq8kEXU%3d
> 
> 
> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 1:21 PM, Randy Farmer randy.farmer at gmail.com
> [trianglerobotics] <trianglerobotics at yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> 
>> Cheaper breakout with just the sensor:
>> 
>> https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12784
>> 
>> 
>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 1:14 PM, Rodney Radford ncgadgetry at gmail.com
>> [trianglerobotics] <trianglerobotics at yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> If you are on the Sparkfun mail list, you probably already got this, but
>>> this guy is interesting enough to warrant an announcement just in case.
>>> 
>>> https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12785
>>> 
>>> It is a $24.95 TOF (time of flight) distance sensor - this means that it
>>> actually measures the amount of time to send light (IR) to and from the
>>> object, so it is immune from surface reflectivity issues, and also immune
>>> from many of the problems with ultrasonic sensors.
>>> 
>>> The only drawback that I see is the relatively short range - 0.5 meters
>>> is listed in the spec sheet, but if you look at the app note they are
>>> measuring distance out to almost 2 meters.  The actual distance is
>>> dependent upon ambient light and surface reflection.  Note that while the
>>> maximum dept allowed is dependent upon surface reflection, the actual value
>>> of the measurement does not.
>>> 
>>> I will be ordering one of these soon (too bad I did not know about it
>>> before placing two orders to them just last week).
>>> 
>>> Take a look at both the datasheet and the appnote.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> __._,_.___
>>  ------------------------------
>> Posted by: Randy Farmer <randy.farmer at gmail.com>
>> ------------------------------
>>    Reply via web post
>> <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/trianglerobotics/conversations/messages/5063;_ylc=X3oDMTJwMDg0a3V0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzM3NTYxODEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTM3MDc4BG1zZ0lkAzUwNjMEc2VjA2Z0cgRzbGsDcnBseQRzdGltZQMxNDIzODUxNjgx?act=reply&messageNum=5063>
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>> Visit Your Group
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