Newbie: Digital Sensor Question

[Mark Everett]

Hi,

I know nothing about electronics at the moment but I am looking into
pursuing a personal project.

Does anybody know if there is an off the shelf product which can
determine the xyz position of a tagged object within a 5x5x3 metre
range. So I just mean a sensor and a small digital tag which can be
fitted to/inside an object. Then I want the sensor to detect where the
tag is in relation to the sensor.

I want to be able to read the location (offset coordinates anyway)
into my pc initially.

If there isn't anything already on the market to do this
a) is it possible/hard and what do I need?
b) will i require a high degree of electronics knowledge?

Any information would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Kyle Miller]

quortex@hotmail.com (Mark Everett) wrote in message news:<30535797.0308260607.14815d8a@posting.google.com>...

Hi,

I know nothing about electronics at the moment but I am looking into
pursuing a personal project.

Does anybody know if there is an off the shelf product which can
determine the xyz position of a tagged object within a 5x5x3 metre
range. So I just mean a sensor and a small digital tag which can be
fitted to/inside an object. Then I want the sensor to detect where the
tag is in relation to the sensor.

I want to be able to read the location (offset coordinates anyway)
into my pc initially.

If there isn't anything already on the market to do this
a) is it possible/hard and what do I need?
b) will i require a high degree of electronics knowledge?

Any information would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Mark

Well first of all you need to decide whether any physical object like
an arm can reach the tagged object. I assume by 5 meters you likely
want wireless measurement. I am not aware of any commercial device
like that. Light waves, RF radio waves could work. Something like a
high-powered metal detector with three seperate coils (x,y,z) that
measure phase shift of a known mass of metal would probably be the
simplest way to build it.

Kyle

 

[Ewan Sinclair]

Does anybody know if there is an off the shelf product which can
determine the xyz position of a tagged object within a 5x5x3 metre
range. So I just mean a sensor and a small digital tag which can be
fitted to/inside an object. Then I want the sensor to detect where the
tag is in relation to the sensor.

You could potentially use colour tracking and have cameras on 2 walls. The
only easy way *I* know of to do this is to use Cycling74's Max/MSP, which
has a feature to do it.

Also, I don't know just how innaccurate it would be in the capacity you want
to use it, but you could always pair up a 3-axis accelerometer with a
wireless serial transmitter, then just start the thing off at the same point
in the room each time and reset the coordinates. I have no idea if this
would work though, I've never tried it. The things might not be sensitive
enough.

Ewan