sensors....

[N.]

Hi!
I was wondering if anyone could help me with part of my
project...here's the situation.....

We have decided to use a laser emitter/sensor method in order to
locate the position of a receiver with respect to an emitter...my
question is this...
We are using a microcontroller (PIC series) to manipulate our
device(receiver) and i was wondering how i can include input from the
sensor in the microcontroller..

What our device needs to do is measure the time when the laser is
detected and use that time to do calculations in the microcontroller
program...Can this be done easily?Is it just a matter of programing
the chip properly?

I appreciate any kind of help..also if anyone can tell me where i can
get extra information on programming the microcontroller to do this...

I hope my question makes sense!Thanks again for any input!

 

[Keith Kyllonen]

Hi!
I was wondering if anyone could help me with part of my
project...here's the situation.....

We have decided to use a laser emitter/sensor method in order to
locate the position of a receiver with respect to an emitter...my
question is this...
We are using a microcontroller (PIC series) to manipulate our
device(receiver) and i was wondering how i can include input from the
sensor in the microcontroller..

What our device needs to do is measure the time when the laser is
detected and use that time to do calculations in the microcontroller
program...Can this be done easily?Is it just a matter of programing
the chip properly?

I appreciate any kind of help..also if anyone can tell me where i can
get extra information on programming the microcontroller to do this...

I hope my question makes sense!Thanks again for any input!

What programming language are you using?
Basic, C, or Microchip assembly?
You can find a wealth of information on PICs. There are many groups
and example programs out there.

I don't know enough details about your application to give you a
proper answer. Not sure if you can do it inside the PIC, or if a RTC
(real time clock) is needed.

Go into Google and type "Microchip PIC". That will get you there.

Keith

 

[Luhan Monat]

We have decided to use a laser emitter/sensor method in order to
locate the position of a receiver with respect to an emitter...my
question is this...

What our device needs to do is measure the time when the laser is
detected and use that time to do calculations in the microcontroller
program

Hi,

Are you intending to use a PIC to measure the actual delay time for a
beam of light? The count resolution of a 20Mhz PIC is about 1
microsecond (or so). Lets see, at 186000 miles/second times 1/1000000
seconds = 18600 miles. The distance around the earth is about 25000
miles so that puts us at Australlia going the long way; and, of course,
light does not travel in a cicle.

I think is more like a 'physics' problem here.

 

[Luhan Monat]

Luhan Monat wrote:

Are you intending to use a PIC to measure the actual delay time for a
beam of light? The count resolution of a 20Mhz PIC is about 1
microsecond (or so). Lets see, at 186000 miles/second times 1/1000000
seconds = 18600 miles. The distance around the earth is about 25000
miles so that puts us at Australlia going the long way; and, of course,
light does not travel in a cicle.

I think is more like a 'physics' problem here.

Ooopsies,

Don't post to newsgroups before your first cup of coffee....

186000 miles/second times 1/1000000 seconds = .186 miles. So measuring
distances on the order of miles is quite possible.