DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF DIGITAL DISTANCE MEASURING INSTRUMENT

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF DIGITAL DISTANCE MEASURING INSTRUMENT

ABSTRACT

Distance measurement plays a vital role in engineering, science and business. The distance is always measured between two points. Generally distance measurement is possible only by making contact with the target whose distance is to be measured, but this project discusses the measurement of distance by digital measuring instrument. This is done by providing a circular object (wheel) of about one meter in circumference. Here the distance is calculated by the number of revolution or circulation of the wheel multiplied by the total circumference of the wheel. This device also makes the use of microcontroller for calculating the distance and displaying it on a seven segment display. The digital measuring distance instrument can measure a distance up to 1000 meter. The result obtained from practical distance measurement showed that compared to the use of tape rule, this digital distance measuring instrument is faster and easier. However it has higher error rate since fraction of revolutions are not detected. It is recommended that improvement of the efficiency of this device be made by employing a software that can directly convert number of revolutions to distance.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Taking of measurements has been necessary since human beings first began trading with

their neighbors. In addition to trading, early societies also needed to be able to measure to

perform many other tasks. When people turned from leading a nomadic life to settling in one

place, other measurements such as measurement of land and building materials became

important (Crease, 2011). Our knowledge about early measurement comes from historians and

archaeologists, leading us to realize that although the roots of many of the early units of

measurement were the same, actual values and their application differed from country to country.

As our societies become increasingly technology oriented, the quality of measurements has

improved over time because of the need for higher measurement accuracy in many fields.

A measuring instrument is a device for measuring a physical quantity. In the physical

sciences, quality assurance and engineering, measurement is the activity of obtaining and

comparing physical quantities of real-world objects and events (Kirch and Wilhelm,2008).

Established standard objects and events are used as units, and the process of measurement gives

a number relating the item under study and the referenced unit of measurement (Kirch and

Wilhelm, 2008). Measuring instruments, and formal test methods which define the instrument's

use, they are the means by which these relations of numbers are obtained. All measuring

instruments are subject to varying degrees of instrument error and measurement uncertainty

(Creased, 2011).

There are two main types of the measuring instruments: analogue and digital. The analogue

instruments indicate the magnitude of the quantity in the form of the pointer movement. One has

to learn reading such instruments since there are certain markings on the scale. They usually

indicate the values in the whole numbers, though one can get the readings up to one or two

decimal places also. The readings taken in decimals places may not always be entirely correct,

since some human error is always involved in reading. (B.H. engineers, 2012). The digital

measuring instruments indicate the values of the quantity in digital format that is in numbers,

which can be read easily. One doesn't needs any prior training to read these instruments since

they indicate the values directly in the numerical form. They can give the readings in one or

more decimal places. Since there is no human error involved in reading these instruments they

are more accurate than the analogue measuring instruments. (B.H. engineers, 2012)

In the construction field, electronic measuring devices are still not widely used due to the high

cost of this equipment. Hence there is need to develop designs for accurate measuring device

with low cost. Nowadays, measuring distance is considered tedious task in construction field or

persons are needed to measure between two distances. Besides, it does not have a perfect

accuracy due to parallax and in some cases, presence of some obstacles such as trees hamper

linear measurements in the field.

Improvement had been done where some products have infrared light emitters and receivers to

determine an object's distance. Other devices have laser-based systems which have improved

accuracy and precision. Presently, the detection techniques of laser, radar, and infrared ray have

been widely applied in the aspect of obstruction detection and distance measurement. Due to

high cost of design and use of laser and radar based measuring instruments, they are not

commonly employed. For infrared sensor, the range of the distance that can be measured is very

short with only a range of 4-30cm (Crease, 2011). Therefore, a design that can enhance speedy

and accurate measurement of distance at low cost is necessary.

1.1 AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this project is to design and construct a suitable electronic digital distance

measuring device. To achieve this aim the following objectives are set;

a) To design an electronic measuring device using AT89S52 microcontroller.

b) To write appropriate program for the microcontroller.

c) To construct and test the designed device.

TOPIC: DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF DIGITAL DISTANCE MEASURING INSTRUMENT

Chapters: 1 - 5
Delivery: Email

Number of Pages: 60

Price: 3000 NGN

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