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Originally Posted by gnormhurst
I am frustrated by the nearly exclusive use of digital sensors in the kit -- sensors that output either 1 or 0. The Banner sensors are like that, and the IR sensors in the trackers are like that. Why not analog?
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You're free to sample the ones and zeros with an A/D as they zip in
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Originally Posted by gnormhurst
Some may think that "1" or "0" is a much cleaner, noise-free signal than an analog signal, but it is nearly information-free as well!
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You're kidding, right?
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Originally Posted by gnormhurst
...But if each tracker's IR sensor put out an analog value proportional to the "brightness" of the IR it was seeing, then small pointing errors could be determined as the difference between the values, without having to hunt back and forth with the servo. Integrate the sensor difference and apply to the servo -- or something like that.
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How would you discriminate against all of the other sources of 940nm infrared? Would you use a different wavelength for the other beacon?
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Originally Posted by gnormhurst
If two analog line sensors were pointed, "defocused", at the left and right edges of the line such that the output was a measure of how far off the edge the sensor was, then, again, the small error signal would be the difference of the sensors. Negative means "too far left", positive means "too far right", and zero means right on.
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There's nothing preventing you from doing this. Radio Shack carries infrared phototransistors.
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Originally Posted by gnormhurst
Yes, the outputs would have some noise in them -- that's part of the fun, filtering out the noise.  |
*sigh*
-Kevin