Ultrasonic Radar Circuit for High School MITES Project

[christina k]

I am in high school and I am doing an altrasonic circuit for my MITES project. I am using this schematic for it, but I read a lot of complaints about it on this website so I was woundering if there was a better one I could use.

This is the one I am using:

http://www.electronics-lab.com/projects/sensors/007/

 

[berkeman]

What kind of complaints do you hear? That it is hard to get working, or is unreliable, or has limited range?

BTW, that's not really an ultrasonic RADAR device. It is just a movement detector, trying to use distortions in the US reflections to detect the physical movement of objects in its operational window. An US RADAR circuit would send out US pings, and measure the time for the reflection to arrive, to give a distance to the object.

Which type of device are you wanting to build and experiment with? Sounds like a fun project for a high school student!

 

[christina k]

I've read that's its difficult to build, Just looking at it though I have no problem figureing it out. It doesn't matter if its just a motion detector, I just need something to challange me a little, and to impress the judges.

 

[berkeman]

I've read that's its difficult to build, Just looking at it though I have no problem figureing it out. It doesn't matter if its just a motion detector, I just need something to challange me a little, and to impress the judges.

Yeah, it looked pretty standard to build. Just use a good quality soldering iron and take your time. Practice some soldering on other things first, if you haven't done much soldering before. I googled soldering tutorial, and got lots of helpful hits. Here's the first one:

http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/solderfaq.htm

Also, it's a good idea to have a small fan or something blowing the solder smoke away from you (or pulling it away from you). Solder smoke is not a good thing to be inhaling much of.

Have fun!