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Distance sensors

satchmo · 2013-02-15 19:17:52

I'm looking for some sort of sensor to do short (<20cm) 3D distance measurement between the sensor and a marker of some sort. The two can't be tethered, and the higher resolution the better (~1mm would be great). I have some basic electronics experience and am willing to learn a lot more, but I'm looking for a good…

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15-02-2013 8:17pm

#1

satchmo

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I'm looking for some sort of sensor to do short (<20cm) 3D distance measurement between the sensor and a marker of some sort. The two can't be tethered, and the higher resolution the better (~1mm would be great).

I have some basic electronics experience and am willing to learn a lot more, but I'm looking for a good starting place. From my initial research, my options are:
- Ultrasonic: seems like it might be a good fit, but occlusion (pretty much guaranteed in my situation) could make it a non-starter.
- Hall effect sensor: seems great in that they're small and cheap, but I don't know if they'd have the range or accuracy I'm looking for. Also, the marker can rotate and move freely, so I don't know if this means hall effect sensors couldn't be used as every example I see is with a very constrained magnet. These 3D hall effect sensors sound awesome and perfect for me, but again I don't know if they could be used for accurate distance measurement.
- Electromagnetic (something like this): this is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for, but it seems too bulky and overly complicated for what I'm looking for, and I don't need any rotational information.
- RF: the occlusion problem seems to make RF useless for accurate distance measurement. Although over such a small distance maybe it wouldn't be an issue?

Hall effect sensors seem like the most promising approach, but I haven't been able to find any answers to the above concerns. Does anyone have any experience with them? Or any other suggestions or comments? Any input appreciated.

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