New app idea?

[The New No. Two]

I haven't seen this mentioned before, so here goes...

How about an infrared distance-measuring app for the Palm?

The idea would be that you point the Palm at a wall or something, tap a button and see the approximate distance to it on the screen.

It would work by measuring the strength of the Palms' IR signal reflected back to it (and this is assuming that the Palm's IR is full duplex, i.e. the Palm can send and receive IR at the same time).

Note that IrMonitor (http://www.freewarepalm.com/communication/irmonitor.shtml) already measures signal strength.

Is such an app possible?

And while wer'e at it, how about a Bluetooth rangefinder, so we can hunt BT devices on a "getting warmer/getting colder" basis? Sort of an enhanced Discovery (http://www.metaviewsoft.de/en/index.html) app.

[scientist]

perhaps a good browser is better thing. everyone seem to be complaining one way or the other...

[johnling]

Note that IrMonitor (http://www.freewarepalm.com/communication/irmonitor.shtml) already measures signal strength.



Does IR Monitor v1.2 work on the TX?

[snark]

Does IR Monitor v1.2 work on the TX? Yes, it does. :cool:

[dmitrygr]

by strength it means error rate. the sensor is not analog, so it cannot measure IR brightness

[pokeypda]

How about a bookmark editor for Blazer .

[The New No. Two]

by strength it means error rate. the sensor is not analog, so it cannot measure IR brightness

That makes sense. But I would assume that the error rate increases with the distance from the signal (or reflected signal), so it's still possible.

Hmn. I wonder if error rate increases in proportion to distance, or as the square of the distance...?

[dmitrygr]

not linearly in any wya. it depends more on ambient light and angle then on distance

[The New No. Two]

not linearly in any wya. it depends more on ambient light and angle then on distance

Yeah, and the properties of the reflecting surface too, like IR absorption, scattering etc. I guess. Oh well...

[Zano2004]

Radar uses pulses. Sends them out and measures the time for them to return. Radio waves are reflectable, less so with stealth technology. To be accurate, the I/R interface would have to be pretty quick, which it may not be. It's probably fast enough for greater distances, but the I/R may lose it's pulse defination at those distances. At close distances where the I/R would be strong enough to work, the return times would be too fast to have any accuracy.

[The New No. Two]

Just brainstorming:

Then I wonder if there are any applications for IN-accurate infrared echoing?

Motion-sensing, perhaps, as in a portable alarm? Or detecting changes in the Palm's position relative to its environment, as in an anti-theft application, or as part of a game?