Hi there,
I’m busy with a project where I want to detect a person walking over a certain area, and then further tracking their position as they move within the specified area in the form of GPS coordinates.
Any advice ?
Thanks
Hi Nicky.
An ultrasonic sensor would be good for detecting a person crossing a specific area like walking through a door or down a hallway. You can find the ultra sonic sensors we carry [at this link.
A sensor like that is only going to give you distance to the person along a line, it can’t track someone in 3D space. The only (easy) way to track them in space would be to use a sensor made for 3D tracking like an [actual GPS. If you can have the person carry one and there is reception available where you’re tracking them, it would be possible to transmit the data from the GPS the person is carrying to a receiver and track them that way.](Search Results for gps - SparkFun Electronics)](Search Results for ultrasonic - SparkFun Electronics)
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the response.
The specific area I am referring to is a big square of grass. So it’s an external environment with no specific point of entry.
Also, I don’t want the person to carry a GPS, because they shouldn’t know when and where they are being tracked, so that they react without any bias.
If I place a matrix of the ultrasonic sensors which you mentioned over the area, surely I can detect and calculate the position of the human ?
Or should I rather look at something like a matrix of PIR’s or vibration sensors ?
How large of an area and what sort of resolution?
Would a grid of lasers/detectors spaced every meter or so give enough resolution?
Sparkfun offers a radar motion detector:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14918
For the money, this little guy is tempting, too:
If I place a matrix of the ultrasonic sensors which you mentioned over the area, surely I can detect and calculate the position of the human ?
That’s a possibility, not one I’ve ever tried. You’d probably need to scan through the sensors individually to prevent them from interfering with one another.
A different solution would be to use a camera connected to a computer to recognize the person and figure out where in the grid they are. I don’t know how to implement something like that, but the same technology is used at traffic lights to tell if a car is in a turn lane and needs a green arrow.