How to build a Timing Gate??

[JustinONE]

hey guys, I know there are some EE brains lurking in here, so maybe you can help he out on a little project..

Basically I want to build a timing gate capable of accuratly sensing a high velocity model plane up to about 500mph. Not expecting to go that fast just like the head room. I would like to keep it simple, maybe just give a readout in time.

Any ideas would be great.

[gkamysz]

http://www.go-cl.se/f2atimer.html

Greg

[JustinONE]

thanks for the lead...

[gkamysz]

If you can make your way through German you should look up some of the Speed Cup stuff. I'm pretty sure they are using electronic timing.

http://www.f3s-speedcup.de/

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11154650&postcount=123

Greg

[rich smith]

http://www.go-cl.se/f2atimer.html Greg

Thank you for that link Greg. I was also looking to do this. Others may have trouble though as I'm probably the last person on the planet with MSDOS. :)

[gkamysz]

I ran across this article when it was printed. I always wondered if it could be modified for timing airplanes.

http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/Print.cfm?ArticleID=3597

I'm not into electronics other than basic power circuits, or over the 8 years since this article I may have tried something.

Greg

[JustinONE]

I was wondering if accuracy of the optical gate would be affected by increasing the distance between the optical sensors?

I really want to have a width of about 100 feet, for the glider to fly thru. Is it possible to create a timing gate using a grid of laser diodes instead?