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Makers and Making: Best method of proximity detection?
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Arctic Wolf
Nov 2nd 2009
Hello, I was wondering what would be the best approach to make a proximity switched circuit that activated when I put my hand close too (but not making contact with) a sensor, say a distance of about 3" (roughly 8 cm). I had thought about a capacitive sensor but I think you actually have to touch those (or at least be almost touching). I also thought about ultrasonic transducers, but this seems a rather expensive solution to the problem. Any thoughts would be welcome.
Odin84gk
Nov 3rd 2009
The new Capacitive touch sensors can be set in proximity mode, in which you only need to get close to them. Check out any of the main microcontroller companies to learn more (Microchip, Atmel, Cypress...)
Arctic Wolf
Nov 4th 2009
jon~
Nov 9th 2009
try the qprox qt300.

http://www.qprox.com/downloads/datasheets/qt300_102.pdf

i made a theremin using one of these hooked up to an arduino controller - an on/off switch should be pretty easy. i think qprox make analog proximity sensors too (the qt300 is digital) which might be more suitable for a simple switch, especially if you aren't hooking up to a microcontroller.

you can read my garbled post on the arduino forum about getting the sensor to work, but i'm sure i make it look more difficult than it actually is :)

http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1169728880

jon
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