Vibration sensing time

Help & Support Robot Parts
1

I have 1018 - PhidgetInterfaceKit 8/8/8 (phidgets.com/products.php?product_id=1018) and four 1104 - Vibration Sensor (phidgets.com/products.php?product_id=1104) connected through the analog interface. They work as designed, but I am trying to use them in a slightly non conventional way. I have roughly a 4 foot by 6 foot 1/4 inch thick rubber mat hanging (6 foot span up and down) on the wall in my garage with the four sensors attached in the approximate center top, center bottom, center left and center right. My intent is to pinpoint an impact (my kids are throwing baseballs at the mat) by measuring the difference in time from one sensor trigger in relation to the other three. It appears that the interface kit can poll on the millisecond but it does not expose the clock time through the API. However I need to work with nanosecond time for reasonably accurate measurements. I tried to pull nanosecond time from the computer but I am getting inconsistent results.

So I have a few questions:
Am I using the wrong sensors and/or interface kit?
Is there anything out there that works with nanosecond precision?

2

Hi,

We see what you plan to do, and it is certainly possible (they use the same principle to figure out the direction of a gun shot), but not certain if you can do it with that setup (especially with the timing required). It might be cheaper to simply incorporate a lot of cheap buttons behind the mat (in a matrix) or even force sensors. 1100 buttons may cost about $100 and take a bit of time to wire, but you would have a 33 x 33 matrix (granted you’d need to consider the force of the impact as well 0 perhaps hang it a slight distance from the wall).

Hope this helps,