Laser PING 2m Rangefinder: How dust, luminosity and vibration affect measurements?

Community General Discussions
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Hey!
I’m planning on using LaserPING 2m Rangefinder sensors to control an aircraft maintenance platform.
I would like to know how dust (for example when the aircraft is being painted), luminosity and vibrations affect measurements.

Thank you in advance!

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Hey @maria_noronha_costa!

I noticed you also created a few other topics concerning the same idea but with other sensors. Any luck with those (i.e.: tried any yet)?

As mentioned in one of your other topics if dust/paint particles/etc. directly obscure either port of the sensor (illumination or receiver) then it will most likely either have large errors or stop working completely.
Something that has worked for me in the past with other sensors is to place a piece of flat IR-transparent plastic on top of the sensor & electronics connected to it. This way it is easier to clean. I have a strong feeling you don’t want paint dust (or paint sprays!) directly unto the sensor as I’m not so sure that would be fixable / may lead to permanent damage with such exposure.
Of course, adding a barrier that is not perfectly transparent (imperfections in the surface) may of course reduce the efficacy of the sensor itself.

Well, it’d be best to test the sensor directly in the luminosity level you expect to be using it in. The datasheet from the manufacturer does not specify any specific immunity to any amount of illumination level (typically reported as a limit in Lux). I assume any bright light (especially sunlight) directly into the sensor or reflecting off the target into the sensor would cause error in measurement. But, due to lack of manufacturer details we do not know by how much and therefore you would need to test it.
Since there are no details I recommend taking the safe approach and assume it is meant for indoor lighting. If I had to take a guess, I’d say 10-15 kLux should be safe.

Well, I figure that would depends on distance and vibration strength, frequency, etc.
We don’t have any hard data on this sensor but it is a solid state device therefore the vibrations themselves shouldn’t have any real impact other than causing the starting point of illumination be different when compared to the reception point. Then again, we are talking about a 5-200 cm range sensor sending a signal at about the vacuum speed of light, so unless your vibrations are really, really fast, I doubt it’ll have a big impact.

All in all, it comes down to:

  1. It should work as long as you prevent pain, paint dust, etc. from getting on/in the sensor.
  2. Assumed to work well in most indoor lighting but probably not all that well with strong lighting or indirect (strong) or direct sunlight.
  3. Assumed to not be affected at all (or not significantly) by vibrations of any kind that would be reasonable to expect in the environment you described.

I hope that helps. If you do end up using the Laser PING 2M please post here again to let us know how well it works for your setup (pics of the setup would be nice too!).

Good luck with your project!

Sincerely,

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