Keeping Flies away from my PING)))
Fargo
Posts: 4
I'm new here 
I'm trying to use PING))) to count some passing objects. Each object takes 500~1000ms to pass through the sensor's range. The system works really well , except when there are houseflies or mosquitoes around!! The system starts taking wrong readings when an insect passes within its detection field. So, how can I keep these insects away?!
Thank you
I'm trying to use PING))) to count some passing objects. Each object takes 500~1000ms to pass through the sensor's range. The system works really well , except when there are houseflies or mosquitoes around!! The system starts taking wrong readings when an insect passes within its detection field. So, how can I keep these insects away?!
Thank you
Comments
Now - to be of more help tell me more about the set-up. I assume you are outside. How far from the Ping))) are the objects to be counted passing? Is is a contained environment? or just open to the great outdoors?
Note: This post should really be in the Sandbox.
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Whit+
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
Post Edited (Whit) : 9/2/2008 1:24:20 PM GMT
The system itself is contained in a plastic box. The box has two holes for the PING transporter and receiver. The system is used in an open area, i.e. there is no isolation from the outside environment. The objects pass 1 to 6 inches from the PING.
I'm sorry about misplacing this thread.
Post Edited (Fargo) : 9/2/2008 2:39:36 PM GMT
if you have a defined region in which the Ping must do its sensing, could you use the force of moving air (a fan) to clear that region of insects? If the intake of the fan is screened in such a way to catch the bugs, then the air coming through the fan exhaust will be clear. If you can semi-enclose your detection space, it might help keep the bugs from getting counted by your system. What I don't know is whether or not the ping itself would be greatly affected by a steady stream of air. I suppose you would want to keep the air flow laminar so turbulence doesn't somehow play with the sensor.
This is just speculation on my part; I have no experience with this kind of a problem.
good luck,
Mark
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It might be the Information Age but the Eon of Ignorance has yet to end.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
Automatic long range bug-zapper. I'm kidding, of course. It'd be danged near impossible, and it wouldn't solve your problem anyway. It'd be dangerous enough to make a great YouTube video, though.
Post Edited (sylvie369) : 9/2/2008 6:19:14 PM GMT
Thanks for your input. Actually, I've thought of the fan. The problem is that the system is so small that no proper fan would get inside. Also, installing a fan outside the box blowing toward the system is not possible!
sylvie369,
Could you please elaborate more on "Ping-controlled laser"?
Thank you.
good luck,
Mark
I'm just thinking out loud here.
Maybe some sort of "attractant" to encourage the flies to go someplace other than between your PING enclosure and the objects that you're sensing. I think they still make those "fly paper" strips that come in the little tubes. In Spain they use soda bottles with about a half inch of soda in the bottom and they put them on the outside walls of the courtyards to keep the flies, wasps and hornets away from the tables and the patrons.
Might be worth a·try,
Duffer
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Whit+
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
We had a horrible problem with bugs when they were running prototypes. It was found that the colour they were painted, not the paint scent, was what attracted a certain midge.
It was a shade of white.....we then went to a metal coloured coating.
What colour is your setup? I think most people that hike would tell you that white/bright colours will attract bugs!
Of course, if it's black it throws my idea out the window!! haha
Cheers
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<FONT>Steve
What's the best thing to do in a lightning storm? "take a one iron out the bag and hold it straight up above your head, even God cant hit a one iron!"
Lee Travino after the second time being hit by lightning!
Mount some live frogs with long tongues to clear the area???
Where's a bug expert when you need one?
So then, why not software filter the input so that the signal needs to be within a certain range for at least 500ms?
I mean, you can't just say, if distance < some number, count up... Do you have some filtering already?
Second idea: mount a stepper motor with a long arm, and sweep it around in front of the ping. Just take your measurements between passes. Max speed of rotation would be about 20 rotations per second. That gives about 40 ms of open space to ping with.
My calculations show that an instrumented frog tongue would work better than that.
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It's sunny and warm here. It is always sunny and warm here.... (unless a typhoon blows through).
Tropically, G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan