I’m new to Lidar and am looking for some help choosing which sensor I should purchase. The project is for a local museum. They have a rocket launcher exhibit and want to determine the maximum height of the launch. The rocket is launched inside an 18” square x 13’ tall chamber. The rocket is a 3/4” x 10” tube where the guest arranges various fin configurations of their choice. The rocket is propelled by compressed air and the maximum altitude is 10’. The time from launch to max height is probably 1 second. I need a Lidar sensor that will be able to sense a rocket of that size and take measurements sufficiently fast to determine the altitude achieved. Accuracy of + or - 5 cm is sufficient. Any help with sensor selection would be appreciated.
I would probably look at https://www.sparkfun.com/products/18642 - feel free to poke through the hookup guide for more info 
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/2002
Hmm, I didn’t even consider that one because it didn’t have “Lidar” in the description. I’ll order one and give it a try. Thanks.
I would recommend the Velodyne Puck Lidar sensor for your application. It is a small, lightweight sensor that can be easily mounted in the museum exhibit. It has a range of 10 meters and a field of view of 360 degrees, so it will be able to track the rocket throughout its entire flight. The Puck also has a high measurement rate of 100,000 points per second, so it will be able to accurately capture the rocket’s altitude, even though the flight time is only 1 second.