Parking Sensor Project

[tw0081]

Hello there,

I am currently undertaking a type of parking sensor project. These sensors will notify the driver when the vechile is too close to surround objects. I have a good electronics knowledge but I am not sure on which type of sensor to use. I have a very basic budget - and have looked into ultrasonic sensors. Can anyone point me towards a good sensor on the internet that is worth equal to or less than £10.

I would like the sensor to be as accurate as possible in terms of distance from the object. I would like a warning to sound when it is 200mm close to an object.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out.

 

[MikeMl]

Welcome,

Most cars sold today already incorporate such sensors. Is this for a school project?

 

[ronsimpson]

https://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/78

Sonar:

 

[debe]

What you are proposing is avalable as a finished product on Ebay for $35. It uses ultrasonic sensors & tells you how close you are to the object quite acurately. Ive fitted one to my vehicle which is hard to judge the distance at the rear when parking.

 

[tw0081]

This is a project that I would like to make. I'm not a programmer, but would learn what ever I would need for this project. This isnt for a car as such but for airport vechiles, the sensors will indicate when they are too close to objects which will help the maintenance of the airport and therefore cost less in the long term in replacing damaged goods.

I have looked into ultrasonic sensors, but do not understand the programming side of it. Can I get away with building this project and learning a code as I go along, or is this out of my depth?

The circuit itself will consist on a sensor on either side of the vechile, when the vechile is 200mm - 400mm close to an object, a warning light and a siren will sound on a wired control box. The driver can then reset, turn off or mute the sound.

This is the project, I appreciate any help

 

[MikeMl]

An ultrasonic sensor doesn't require any programming. It is an electronics project.

 

[tw0081]

how can I change the distance at which the alarm sounds at to state whether it has interfered with the sensor?

 

[MikeMl]

how can I change the distance at which the alarm sounds at to state whether it has interfered with the sensor?

I'd start by turning a potentiometer shaft. I guess I could call my screwdriver a "programmer"

 

[tw0081]

I have now had a chance to build a transmitter circuit at 38kHz, however I am not producing a signal. I have got a simple astable circuit and this isnt working. Has anyone got any ideas or circuits that do work?

Thanks

 

[dougy83]

You can get a prebuilt ranging module for $2.50, **broken link removed**

This needs a trigger pulse to tell it to send the pulse. It returns a pulse having a width proportional to the distance. For those two reasons it would need a small amount of support circuitry for your application, which I'm happy to sketch up (just not right now).

EDIT: schematic attached. I think it should work, though I may have made a mistake.