Easy Distance Sensing With Python

This project will show you how to add distance sensing to your next Python project.

• VINT Hub
• Sonar Phidget

Connect your Sonar Phidget to your VINT Hub with a Phidget Cable.

In order to get your Phidgets to work, you have to install the appropriate libraries. There are a few different ways to do this depending on your operating system.

Windows

Just pip install Phidget22Native and you're done!

macOS

Run the Phidget Installer for macOS and then pip install Phidget22

Linux

Follow this guide.

Copy the following code into a new Python script:

#Add Phidgets Library
from Phidget22.Phidget import *
from Phidget22.Devices.DistanceSensor import *
#Required for sleep statement
import time

#Create
distanceSensor = DistanceSensor()

#Open
distanceSensor.openWaitForAttachment(1000)

#Use your Phidgets
while (True):
    print("Distance: " + str(distanceSensor.getDistance()) + " mm")
    time.sleep(0.25)

Each section of the code is described below.

Add Phidgets Library

This section adds the Phidget class and the Distance Sensor class to your project. These are from the Phidgets Python library that you installed using pip.

Required for sleep statement

The time module is used in this code to implement a sleep statement. Sleeping is often used when polling sensors.

Create

This line of code creates the DistanceSensor object. This object will be used to interface with the Sonar Phidget.

Open

After creating the object, call open to start interacting with it. The 1000 is a timeout value that normally doesn't matter for small projects like this. The Phidgets library will throw an error if it doesn't connect to the Sonar Phidget within 1000 ms or 1 second.

Use your Phidgets

This is a basic polling loop. It checks the distance reported from the Phidget and then sleeps for 25 milliseconds (the default data interval of the Sonar Phidget).

Phidgets can also be used with events instead of polling, but that is not covered in this tutorial

The result is a Python program that can quickly and easily sense Distance.