Created November 25, 2015

Distance Measuring Sensor

Taking simple readings from a 2Y0A21 Sharp Infrared Proximity Sensor!

BeginnerShowcase (no instructions)36

Story

The Project:

Range: From some research I did, the range of this device is between 10cm and 80cm. It reads its highest value around 3-5in from the sensor, and decreases from there.

I noticed if you go closer than the shortest distance allowed the readings start to go back down.

Information gathered from these two places:

-https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Components/GP2Y0A21YK.pdf

-http://bildr.org/2011/03/various-proximity-sensors-arduino/

Distance readings:

20cm: ~260

40cm: ~135

60cm: ~102

80cm: ~100

The fritzing schematic and breadboard are as follows:

"Breadboard", even though there wasn't one used here.

Schematic.

The infrared sensor pointed straight into the air, where I waved my hand up and down to determine distance.

Bluetooth car update!

A few exciting things happened to my car this week.

1) I replaced all the batteries, and the car is actually quite quick!

2) I got a new L298 Motor Controller! I was connecting the motors in series this whole time since two of the output pins die (didn't read a voltage). As a result, my car is working much better.

Also, I got rid of all the unnecessary wiring! Everything is now soldered, and the car works wonderfully.

1 / 3

For the body, I am going to construct a frame using carbon fiber tubes, and I will pull canvas over it.

Distance measuring sensor code

int sensorPin = 0; // intialize sensor on analog pin 0

void setup(){
  Serial.begin(9600); // open up serial port to display distance values
}

void loop(){
  // the sensor will change the voltage according to the distance the user is from it, so we want to read this voltage
  int val = analogRead(sensorPin); 
  
  // scaled down the value of the distance, to decrease the resolution of the data so it is easier to follow
  val = round(val/3.5); 

  // print this new value to the serial monitor
  Serial.println(val);

  // delay so the serial monitor displays values in a readable manner. Any faster than this makes the data much harder to read in sequence
  delay(85); 
}

Credits

Ian St. Louis

12 projects • 5 followers

Distance Measuring Sensor

Story

The Project:

Bluetooth car update!

Code