Re: IR detector system, biasing of photo diode

On 10/28/2024 4:52 PM, Klaus Vestergaard Kragelund wrote:

As I said before, it is a really great "sensor"!  The downside is
that you need resources to use it (your optical approach is likely
possible with far less resources -- think of how robot vaccuum cleaners
operate wrt their charging docks)

 Correct, all though high resolutionn cameraes are very cheap nowadays. And they have a Linux maching running the application SW, so adding a camera does not add much extra cost, just a camera interface IC.

But, you need enough MIPS to process the video!
As for cameras, you have three options, there:
- RS170-ish
- USB
- Network
I prefer the last (though likely most costly) as there is less
likelihood of hidden protocol gotchas.
I have a (toy?) robot application where the robots are controlled
externally based on observations from sensors in their environment.
It was considerably easier than equipping the robots with the
sensors and processing ability (how do you reliably sense that
you are navigating as intended in a given arena?)