laser rangefinder

[nealbloom]

I've been looking for a good small laer rangefinder and all I keep coming up with are those hunting binoculars or the golf ones. Anyone have some info on small ones to put in a plane to then hook up to an onboard computer or autopilot?

[reedchristiansen]

BYU is doing work on small UAVs using a laser range finder for obstacle avoidance. This paper:
http://www.ee.byu.edu/grad1/users/beard/www_docs/papers/preprints/SaundersCallCurtisBeardMcLain05.pdf

Describes a laser range finder you might be interested in.

Reed

[DV8]

reedchristiansen.....

I don’t know where you get your references from..... but the folks out at BYU have in-deed been doing a lot of UAV stuff. Maybe you can share some of your references.... :)

This past May (May 2005) Randal Beard along with Erik Anderson and Timothy McLain wrote an interesting IEEE Transaction on 'Real-Time Dynamic Trajectory Smoothing for Unmanned Air Vehicles'...... It makes for a very good read....

I am just starting to pay attention to the UAV community since I can now see the end of my graduate work. I hope to design and build my own UAV after I defend my thesis.

If you want to read up on what they discussed (it’s related to your post) you can find the article in: IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Vol. 13, No.3, May 2005, p471.

Cheers

[air]

Leica do a range of laser distance meters, the new A3 is about the size of a mobile phone. It doesnt have a serial output that I'm aware of but I'm sure it could be hacked!
The Disto Plus has bluetooth.

http://www.leica-geosystems.com/corporate/en/products/laser_distancemeter/lgs_5061.htm

[space_case]

The Disto Plus has bluetooth.


$700 :eek:

[mckaneorg]

there is also the issue of trying to find a small object in a big sky. there would need to be some sort of scan technology that would be fast enough to detect a micro object in the sky as it became bigger and bigger! :)

[direwolf]

We're currently testing the Opti-Logic RS-400 on our helicopters...
http://store.opti-logic.com/400yarsinlar.html
They're real-time, 10 samples per second, continous streaming via RS-232. Very easy to use and program. And small and light enough to put in most planes and helicopters.

-- Brian

[Tuner]

As fare as scanning a sky then analyzing what you found in greater detail.
The methode I use that works great is to use two image sensors. One has 180deg fisheye the other zoom lense. The 180deg senor is scanned to find objects the high res sensor is used to give detailed info.

Also I have seen good Stereo Scopic low resolution low price camera setups generate 3d topographical. It requires some heavy CPU and complex Math but this is the approach I am focusing on as soon as CPU gets lighter and more efficient this will be the only way to go.

Check out a company I found that uses this approach for high end applications.
Analogic Computers (http://www.analogic-computers.com/)

[moon-dawg]

The Opti-logic laser scanner is certainly much lighter and less expensive than the SICK-LMS 200 that is the standard of the robotics research industry...$500 vs $5000. that is a good trend. I will have to play around with one of these devices.