I bought this unit based on the technical information claim that it could detect something at close to 131 feet (40 meters) distant. I am attempting to build a low cost lidar speed trap for vehicles in my RV Park. At distances of 100 plus feet, this would probably work. However, I am unable to get the unit to detect objects at more than 60 feet. I have tried both day and night and on various surfaces including a building made out of concrete. No luck. What’s the secret to make it see beyond 60 feet?
The [datasheet/user’s manual specifies that the 40m range is for a 70% reflective target (page 2). Try testing with a mirror instead of the concrete wall (you will need to point directly at it… perpendicular to the surface).
While what Santa_Impersonator said is true regarding reflective surfaces, a mirror is a little tricky since it does not diffuse the beam from the LIDAR so you need to make sure it is exactly lined up with the beam spread to get any distance data back from pointing it at one.
The 70% reflectivity of the object you are pointing it at is very important to get that close to that max range. The “How do distance, target size, aspect, and reflectivity effect returned signal strength.” section of the FAQ in the Operation Manual is a good read to help figure out what might be causing the distances to max out at 1660cm/~55ft. The concrete wall you tested with probably is porous and is not reflecting the beam from the LIDAR back to the sensor very effectively.
What other surfaces and objects have you tried testing with? Did you by chance test multiple angles as well as surfaces? If you have any, say, high-visibility jackets/vests or other highly reflective objects, that will certainly help boost that read distance. Matte walls and smooth, flat surfaces like paper should also work well at ranges exceeding what you have seen.
It is not ideal, but you could try using some IR reflector patches or tape on your testing surfaces and that would certainly boost your distance results. For your intended application though, as a low-cost speed trap for vehicles, that would not really work since you would need to have an IR reflector on the vehicle you are trying to measure.
I hope these suggestions help you boost the max ranges you have seen so far and explain some of the limitations of the LIDAR-Lite v3. If, after testing with some better reflective surfaces, you are still seeing poor max range readings, please reply to this post and we can troubleshoot further.