Distance US3 sensor

Archive
1

Hi GHI support,

I got a Distance US3 sensor module with FEZ spider mainboard (firmware 4.2.11.1) a few weeks ago from Mouser. After deployment, the returned distance seems to be incorrect as its value returns between 14-17 in range even if I move the sensor in and out. What wrong and could you please help me finding out the issue?

Here is a code

distance_US3.AcceptableErrorRate = 2;
int distanceCm = distance_US3.GetDistanceInCentimeters();
string message = string.Empty;
if (distanceCm == distance_US3.SENSOR_ERROR)
{
message = “Sensor errror”;
}
else
{
message = "Distance = " + distanceCm;
}

Display(message);

Thanks
Phisarn K.

2

How far out are you moving the sensor? Movement closer than a few centimeters, sometimes 10-15cm, can give incorrect readings.

3

I’ve moved around in any direction to measure distance but the sensor did provide incorrect result, Here are the test scenarios

case actual value returned value

sensor to so close object 5 cm 14 cm
sensor to cabinet 50 cm 17 cm
sensor to ceiling 150-200 cm 17 cm
sensor to floor 100 cm 17 cm.

the returned result varied between 14-17 cm

4

I’ve moved around in any direction to measure distance but the sensor did provide incorrect result, Here are the test scenarios

case | actual value | returned value

1.sensor to so close object | 5 cm | 14 cm
2.sensor to cabinet | 50 cm | 17 cm
3.sensor to ceiling | 150-200 cm | 17 cm
4.sensor to floor | 100 cm | 17 cm

the returned result varied between 14-17 cm

5

Do you have any other mainboards or modules you can test with?

6

I have only one main board but regarding other modules all I have such as PIR motion detection, color sense etc. all of them seems to be ok.

7

No other DistanceUS3 modules? Can you try to use a different cable and socket?

8

No other distance sensor. I’ve changed other cable and socket. The result is still the same.

9

what’s wrong with the sensor? Is it not the normal operation?

10

@ Phisarn I have a number of these modules so I’ll setup some tests with them tomorrow and post my results. I was thinking of using them for a snow pack experiment, but they only seem to have 1 cm resolution and I was needing 1 mm resolution, but I’m sure I’ll find other uses for them, but for now I’ll setup a test and see how they do.

11

How many measurements are you telling GetDistanceInCentimeters to take? Does it ever return SENSOR_ERROR (-1)? Could you post a minimal example that reproduces the error?

12

Here is the code I’m using for my test.



using System;
using System.IO;
using Gadgeteer.Modules.GHIElectronics;
using Microsoft.SPOT;
using GT = Gadgeteer;
using GTM = Gadgeteer.Modules;

namespace DistanceTest2
{
    public partial class Program
    {
        private readonly Font _font = Resources.GetFont(Resources.FontResources.small);
        private string _distance;

        // This method is run when the mainboard is powered up or reset.   
        private void ProgramStarted()
        {
            Debug.Print("Program Started");

            capTouch.ButtonPressed += capTouch_ButtonPressed;
            button.ButtonPressed += button_ButtonPressed;
        }

        private void button_ButtonPressed(Button sender, Button.ButtonState state)
        {
            double distance = 0;

            Mainboard.SetDebugLED(true);

            if (_distance.Length > 0)
            {
                distance = Convert.ToDouble(_distance);
            }

            oledDisplay.SimpleGraphics.Clear();
            oledDisplay.SimpleGraphics.DisplayText(distance.ToString(), _font, GT.Color.White, 0, 0);

            int distance1 = distance_US3.GetDistanceInCentimeters(10);
            oledDisplay.SimpleGraphics.DisplayText("1. " + distance1, _font, GT.Color.Yellow, 0, 15);

            int distance2 = distance_US32.GetDistanceInCentimeters(10);
            oledDisplay.SimpleGraphics.DisplayText("2. " + distance2, _font, GT.Color.Orange, 0, 30);

            int distance3 = distance_US33.GetDistanceInCentimeters(10);
            oledDisplay.SimpleGraphics.DisplayText("3. " + distance3, _font, GT.Color.Red, 0, 45);

            if (sdCard.IsCardMounted)

            {
                try
                {
                    FileStream fs = sdCard.GetStorageDevice().OpenWrite("Data.txt");
                    var sw = new StreamWriter(fs);
                    sw.WriteLine(distance1 + ";" + distance1 + ";" + distance2 + ";" + distance3);
                    sw.Flush();
                    sw.Close();
                    fs.Close();
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    Debug.Print("Message: " + ex.Message + "  Inner Exception: " + ex.InnerException);
                }
            }

            Mainboard.SetDebugLED(false);
        }

        private void capTouch_ButtonPressed(Gadgeteer.Modules.GMod.CapTouch sender, int button,
            Gadgeteer.Modules.GMod.CapTouch.ButtonState state)
        {
            double distance = 0;

            switch (button)
            {
                case 11:
                    _distance = string.Empty;
                    break;
                case 9:
                    _distance = _distance + ".";
                    break;
                case 10:
                    _distance = _distance + "0";
                    break;
                default:
                    _distance = _distance + (button + 1);
                    break;
            }

            if (_distance.Length > 0)
            {
                distance = Convert.ToDouble(_distance);
            }

            oledDisplay.SimpleGraphics.Clear();
            oledDisplay.SimpleGraphics.DisplayText(distance.ToString(), _font, GT.Color.White, 0, 0);
        }
    }
}

My initial tests are making me want to do more tests as the results weren’t as good as I hoped as anything under 9" was reporting as 14 cm and I thought the sensor was 2cm to 400cm in range, so more testing later.

13

Do you guy have any progress or any hint how to use the sensor?

14

Hello,
i have a problem like that.
Sensor Distance US 3 connected to Cerbot 1.3 return always distance between 4 to 50 cm.
When i connect the same sensor to Spider 1.0, sensor return distance up to 50 cm (200 cm for ex).

Code is the same with 2 projects :

    void ProgramStarted()
    {
        new Thread(CheckDistance).Start();
    }

    public void CheckDistance()
    {
        int j;
        distance_US3.AcceptableErrorRate = 2;
        while (true)
        {
            j = distance_US3.GetDistanceInCentimeters(5);
            Thread.Sleep(100);
            if (j == distance_US3.SENSOR_ERROR)
            {
                Debug.Print("Sensor errror");
            }
            else
            {
                Debug.Print("D=" + j);
            }
        }
    }

Why i can’t have distance up to 50 cm with sensor connected to Cerbot ?

Thank you.