PIR Sensor (Speed Trap)

goldenpirate99

Ok I am trying to make a speed trap to use during track practice. I want to use the dome shaped PIR sensor. My Idea is to have a program that would have the first sensor scan for motion, then when it picked up something it would start a counter (stop watch?) and that would run until the other sensor picked up motion. Then It would display on my computer screen what the time was.. then maybe have it convert that to m/s or mph. I know the sensor is like 360 degrees so I was just going to put like a tube over it to aim it.

My main problem is hooking up the sensors and writing a program to use them. Ive used them before and they would either like display 0 or 1 for if it detects something or not. But I can not find the program I used. So I basically need a basic program to get the sensor working.

Also what would be the best place to hook them to the Board of Education? Just into the bread board or could I use the little 3 prong spot that is just like 12 13 14 and 15? I have the 3 wire extension cord so that would make it a lot easier, but don't know if that works or how to write a program to those spots.

Thanks.

SRLM

Be sure the read the datasheet on the PIR sensor to get the pinout (arguably one of the most important points of any IC). As for the project, it should be possible in a controlled situation. The PIR performance degrades significantly when it's covered by a tube, so you'll want to do lots of testing to make sure it's reliable. Usually, in these sorts of cases (timing an object between two points) the designer uses a break beam (IR) or a binary distance measurement (IR or ultrasonic). Note also with the PIR that you'll need to keep the field of view clear from moving objects except for the one that you want to measure. To get the input of the PIR, you can just use IN14 (or what ever the pin number is) as a bit.