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SF30
SF30
Accelerated rangefinder
Product manual
4. Communicating with the USB port
The SF30 has a micro-B USB port that can be used to communicate with
LightWare Terminal
software on a PC. This connection also
gives power to the unit providing a quick way to test and configure the SF30. The
LightWare Terminal
software will automatically
detect the USB port that is connected to the SF30 and communications can be established by clicking on the “Connect” icon. If more
than one compatible device is present, click the “Laser” icon to select which USB port should be active.
Figure 5 :: USB communications
Once communication has been established, settings can be changed by pressing the
<SPACE>
key to access the menu and then
selecting the menu item that needs changing. Pressing the
<SPACE>
key again restarts the measuring process. The results outputted
during measuring include the distance, the analog voltage and the alarm status. At high update rates of greater than 350 readings
per second, only the distance is outputted. More details of the menu items are discussed in the sections that follow.
If you want to use a different serial emulation program then the USB serial protocol should be set to 115200 baud with 8 data bits, 1
stop bit and no parity or handshaking (8N1). All communications are in standard ASCII format.
5. System configuration
There are two settings that provide the overall system configuration for the SF30 and these affect the behaviour of each of the
interfaces.
The “1: Active data port” selection directs the results to one of the two available data ports, either the serial port or the USB port.
Only one of these ports can be active at a time.
USB option:
When connected to a PC with the USB cable, it is convenient to have the results displaying in the Terminal
window. Results are available in the following formats: distance in m; distance plus speed in m/s; speed in m/s; speed in
kph or analog voltage. The results from the analog port are displayed continuously while the SF30 is running.
Serial option:
When connected to a host controller the results should be directed to the serial port. The menu system is
still available using the USB port but readings (distance in m or speed in m/s) will not be displayed when the SF30 is
running.
The “2: Resolution / Smoothing filter” selection affects the way that distance readings are taken and presented to the output ports.
Resolution:
This selection offers 4 alternative resolution settings from 0.25 m down to 0.03 m. The lowest resolution
selection allows for the highest speed measurements whilst better resolution reduces the measuring speed. Results are
updated on the interface ports at the time specified by their associated update rate settings. Each reading is given as a
“snapshot” of the latest result at that time.
Smoothing filter:
This selection swathes on a digital smoothing filter that uses historical values of previous results to
smooth the output. This presents higher resolution and less result-to-result variation but also slows down the rate at which
distance readings can change.
Setting
Values
Description
1: Active data port
Serial distance in m <->
Serial speed in m/s <->
USB distance in m <->
USB distance plus speed in m/s <->
USB speed in m/s <->
USB speed in kph <->
USB analog voltage <->
Selects the serial or USB port to output distance or speed data.
2: Resolution /
Smoothing filter
0.25 m <-> 0.12 m <-> 0.06 m <->
0.03 m <-> Smoothed
Selects the resolution of each reading taken or activates the
digital filter to smooth the output.
SF30 Accelerated laser rangefinder - Product Manual - Revision 5
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© LightWare Optoelectronics (Pty) Ltd, 2015
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