Sensor Explorations

IR Break Beam Sensor

Strengths: Detect motion fast. Very sensible. 

Limitation: Transparent and semi-transparent materials do not work, You need to plan where to place both the transmitter and emitter.

Could be used for:

• Sensing if a card, object, or hand goes through the beam

• Sensing if something is blocking or in the way

Specifications

Sensing Distance: Approx 50cm / 20" (there’s also  a 3mm version that works for slightly shorter distances. )

Power Voltage: 3.3 - 5.5VDC

Emitter Current Draw: 10mA @ 3.3V, 20mA @ 5V

Output Current Capability of receiver: 100mA sink

Transmitter/Receiver LED Angle: 10°

Response Time: <2 ms

Dimensions: 20mm x 10mm x 8mm / 0.8" x 0.4" x 0.3"

Cable Length: 250mm / 10"

Weight (of each half): 3g

We referenced code from here

Time-of-Flight Distance Sensor

Strengths: Very little interruption and margin of error

Weakness: range and accuracy (noise) depend heavily on ambient conditions and target characteristics like reflectance and size, as well as the sensor configuration

Applications : 

• User detection for personal computers/ laptops/tablets and IoT (energy saving)

• Robotics (obstacle detection)

• 1D gesture recognition.

• Laser assisted autofocus. Enhances and speeds up camera autofocus system performance, especially in difficult scenes (low light levels, low contrast) or fast-moving video mode. (these applications are from here*)

Specifications

Mix/Max Distance: 3cm up to 2m

Size: 0.5″ x× 0.7″ x 0.085″

Weight: 0.5 g

Operating voltage: 2.6 V - 5.5 V

Supply current: 10 mA

Resolution: 1 mm

We referenced code from here