DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY DASMARINAS

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE

AND TECHNOLOGY

ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

SCHOOL YEAR 1ST SEMESTER 2018-2019

SUBJECT: CPET513
ULTRASONIC SENSOR AND 5 CHANNEL LINE TRACKING
PROXIMITY SENSOR

SUBMITTED BY: TAMICO ELAINE SINCHONGCO

CYS: ECE43
SUBMITTED TO: MR. FERDINAND G. OSORIO
DATE OF SUBMISSION: OCTOBER 05, 2018
What is an Ultrasonic Sensor?

As the name indicates, ultrasonic sensors measure distance by using ultrasonic waves.
The sensor head emits an ultrasonic wave and receives the wave reflected back from the target.
Ultrasonic Sensors measure the distance to the target by measuring the time between the emission
and reception.

An optical sensor has a transmitter and receiver, whereas an ultrasonic sensor uses a single ultrasonic
element for both emission and reception. In a reflective model ultrasonic sensor, a single oscillator
emits and receives ultrasonic waves alternately. This enables miniaturization of the sensor head.

The distance can be calculated with the following formula:

Distance L = 1/2 × T × C

where L is the distance, T is the time between the emission and reception, and C is the sonic speed.
(The value is multiplied by 1/2 because T is the time for go-and-return distance.)

According to MaxBotix, An ultrasonic sensor is an instrument that measures the distance to an object
using ultrasonic sound waves. An ultrasonic sensor uses a transducer to send and receive ultrasonic
pulses that relay back information about an object’s proximity.High-frequency sound waves reflect
from boundaries to produce distinct echo patterns.

How Ultrasonic Sensors Work.

Ultrasonic sound vibrates at a frequency above the range of human hearing. Transducers are the
microphones used to receive and send the ultrasonic sound. Our ultrasonic sensors, like many others,
use a single transducer to send a pulse and to receive the echo. The sensor determines the distance to
a target by measuring time lapses between the sending and receiving of the ultrasonic pulse.

Why use an ultrasonic sensor?

Ultrasound is reliable in any lighting environment and can be used inside or outside. Ultrasonic sensors
can handle collision avoidance for a robot, and being moved often, as long as it isn’t too fast.
Ultrasonics are so widely used, they can be reliably implemented in grain bin sensing applications,
water level sensing, drone applications and sensing cars at your local drive-thru restaurant or bank.
Ultrasonic rangefinders are commonly used as devices to detect a collision.

Ultrasonic Sensors are best used in the non-contact detection of:

 Presence
 Level
 Position
 Distance
 Non-contact sensors are also referred to as proximity sensors.

Ultrasonics are Independent of :

 Light
 Smoke
 Dust
 Color
 Material (except for soft surfaces, i.e. wool, because the surface absorbs the ultrasonic sound
wave and doesn’t reflect sound.)
 Long range detection of targets with varied surface properties.

Ultrasonic sensors are superior to infrared sensors because they aren’t affected by smoke or black
materials, however, soft materials which don’t reflect the sonar (ultrasonic) waves very well may cause
issues. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s good and reliable.

Applications Involving Ultrasonic Detection

Ultrasonic Distance Measurement

Ex. Distance measurement would be applied in a garage parking application, sensing when a vehicle is
pulled completely into a garage.

Ultrasonic Sensors for water level detection

Tank level measurement, Fuel gauging, irrigation control.

Ultrasonic Obstacle Detection

Our UAV Sensors for Drones as well as our proximity sensors that are used for robots are for obstacle
detection.
How to use the HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor

HC-SR04 distance sensor is commonly used with both microcontroller and microprocessor platforms
like Arduino, ARM, PIC, Raspberry Pie etc. The following guide is universally since it has to be followed
irrespective of the type of computational device used.

Power the Sensor using a regulated +5V through the Vcc ad Ground pins of the sensor. The current
consumed by the sensor is less than 15mA and hence can be directly powered by the on board 5V pins
(If available). The Trigger and the Echo pins are both I/O pins and hence they can be connected to I/O
pins of the microcontroller. To start the measurement, the trigger pin has to be made high for 10uS
and then turned off. This action will trigger an ultrasonic wave at frequency of 40Hz from the
transmitter and the receiver will wait for the wave to return. Once the wave is returned after it is
getting reflected by any object the Echo pin goes high for a particular amount of time which will be
equal to the time taken for the wave to return back to the sensor.

The amount of time during which the Echo pin stays high is measured by the MCU/MPU as it gives the
information about the time taken for the wave to return back to the Sensor. Using this information, the
distance is measured as explained in the above heading.

Applications

Used to avoid and detect obstacles with robots like biped robot, obstacle avoider robot, path finding
robot etc.

Used to measure the distance within a wide range of 2cm to 400cm

Can be used to map the objects surrounding the sensor by rotating it

Depth of certain places like wells, pits etc can be measured since the waves can penetrate through
water.
5 CHANNEL LINE TRACKING PROXIMITY SENSOR

Line sensors are used for sensing white line on dark surface or black line on light surface. This line
sensor board has five-line sensors connected together. These sensors working together can follow any
curved or zig-zag path. Because of multiple sensors it can even detect nodes and move on the maze of
white or black lines. Line sensor consists of high intensity red LED for illumination and directional photo
transistor for line sensing. Phototransistor consists of a photo transistor and convex lense. Because of
precise alignment between lense and photo transistor it has very narrow viewing angle of 5 degrees.
This makes this line sensor highly immune to ambient light. This sensor gives 0.18 volts on bright
surface and gives 2.2V or more on the dark surface. Its output is analog in nature. Because of analog
output one can write complex algorithm to follow white line using microcontroller. This sensor has very
proven track record in various robotics competitions.

Specifications

 Supply: 5V, 100mA

 Sensor output: Analog out, 0.18V to 2.2V
 Illumination: Red ultra bright LED
 Sensing element: Directional photo transistor with 5 degree viewing angle
 Sensing distance: 9mm to 20mm from the surface
 Number of sensors: 5
 Distance between adjacent sensors: 18mm
 Connector: 14 pin FRC male connector
 Mounting: Six 3mm mounting holes
 14 pin FRC cable included
REFERENCE:

5 Channel Line Sensor. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2018, from http://www.nex-

robotics.com/products/sensors/5-channel-line-sensor.html

Burnett, R. (2018, February 12). Understanding How Ultrasonic Sensors Work. Retrieved October 4, 2018, from
https://www.maxbotix.com/articles/how-ultrasonic-sensors-work.htm

HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2018, from https://components101.com/ultrasonic-

sensor-working-pinout-datasheet

ROBOT SENSING: 5 Channel Line Tracker Sensor. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2018, from http://www.e-
gizmo.net/oc/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=524

What is an Ultrasonic Sensor? (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2018, from

https://www.keyence.com/ss/products/sensor/sensorbasics/ultrasonic/info/