Distance Sensor Ultrasonic HY-SRF05 - 2-450cm
Product information:
Are you looking for an ultrasonic distance sensor/distance meter? Then the HY-SRF05 is a good choice.
Its stable performance and high accuracy make it one of the most popular modules in the electronics market.
Easy to connect and of course perfect for use in Arduino projects!
Arduino library: arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,37712.0.html
Power supply: 5V DC
Quiescent current: <2mA
Effective angle: <15°
Range: 2cm - 450 cm
Resolution: 0.3 cm
The sensor has a digital input and output.
You give a pulse at the input (trigger) and receive it back at the output (echo) a moment later.
By calculating the time between transmitting and receiving, you can determine how far the sensor is from an object.
Fortunately, there are also libraries for the Arduino that make this very easy (e.g. the NewPing library).
Just look at this example:
http://code.google.com/p/arduino-new-ping/wiki/Simple_NewPing_Example
(See also the programming example under documentation.)