ISSN (Print) : 2320 – 3765 ISSN (Online): 2278 – 8875 International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical, Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering (An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization) Vol. 2, Issue 10, October 2013 Copyright to IJAREEIE www.ijareeie.com 4726 Infrared Sensor Rig in Detecting Various Object Shapes SitiAsmah Daud 1 , NasrulHumaimi Mahmood 2 , Pei Ling Leow 3 , FauzanKhairiChe Harun 4 PhD Student, Faculty of Bioscience and Medical Engineering, UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia 1 Senior Lecturer, Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, Faculty of Bioscience and Medical Engineering, UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia 2,4 Senior Lecturer, Department of Engineering Control and Mechatronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia 3 ABSTRACT: This paper describes the application of infrared sensor installed in a sensor rigto measure the distance of the object located at the centre of the plate. Data received by the sensor rig that is fully controlled by Arduino as a microcontroller, is then saved in a text file using CoolTerm terminal application. Post processing of the data is fully run using the Matlab software to reconstruct the image from the data obtained by infrared sensor. Most of the objects used throughout this research are polygon shapes such as cylinder, rectangle, hemisphere, oval, trefoil, and curvilinear. The sensitivity of the infrared sensor used during the experiment should be considered in order to obtain accurate result and reduce the noise during the data captured process. The closest distance of infrared sensor from the measured object is set into 5 cm. Results show that this sensor is capable to detect any changes in distance measurement and image from the object can be reconstructed. Keywords: Infrared sensor; Arduino; CoolTerm; Matlab; Image Reconstruction I. INTRODUCTION It is very challenging to measure accurately of a distance using sensor even though there are a lot of sensors nowadays can be applied. When an engineer deals with distance measurement, other possibilities such as resolution and duration for the sensor to give output data should also be considered. Nowadays there are lots of equipment have been installed to the robot in order to make a distance measurement such as in laser scanner, ultrasonic (US) range finder, camera, laser diode (LD), linear variable differential transducer (LVDT), and infrared (IR) range finder sensors [1]. These sensors require special calibration to obtain accurate distance measurement [2]. In order to reconstruct 3D geometry of an object, the application of 3D camera and laser scanner have been widely used [3][1]. An accurate data of a 2D image can be obtained from the laserscanner; unfortunately the cost is expensive [4]. Compared to the 3D scanners, it requirescomputational and power consuming solution, which cannot be handled by a robot in a real time. The application of LVDT in a robot can measure the distance precisely with a resolution within few micrometresorders [2]. The drawbacks of this sensor are it is expensive; require lots of signal conditioning circuits and complicated mechanism, which is not reasonable in some cases. Ultrasonic range finder can also be used for 3D image of an object reconstruction it is depended on the time-of-flight (ToF) from the transmitter to the receiver where it is capable in take data from an object in 50 cm away within 3 ms [5]. US sensor has a major disadvantage in detecting poor angular resolution. The accuracy of object detection is very important, and every researcher wants an accurate result in their study. Sensor that can give accurate data is considering as a good sensor and can be used for other application. US sensor offered a long-range distance measurement with an error of 3 cm, [6][2] and it requires a proper calibration using this sensor. With an accuracy of 0.3 mm within an operating distance of 3 m, LD sensor can do that [7] and the resolution for this sensor is higher compared to position sensing detectors (PSD) in a long range. Meanwhile, PSD within a range of 35 cm to 63 cm will give an error of 1 % of a distance measurement [8]. It is different with an IR sensor that has the capability to measure a short distance with accuracy up to 0.5 cm [9], which is better compared to other sensors.