Can standard components do rough distance measurement?
I’m wondering whether it’s possible to do rough distance measurement by interrogating a remote device via RF and measuring the amount of time it takes to reply (subtracting the known processing time, delay to transmit a full packet of X bytes at Y bps) using a standard RF module and microcontroller. In theory the unknown period less known delays, then divided by 2 should be the time it’s taken for the signal to travel one way. If the speed of light is 299,792,458 metres per second then to measure to a resolution of (say) ~300m would require a measuring precision of 1 microsecond, or a frequency of 1MHz if it was a free running counter; 100ns / 10MHz for 30m resolution and 10ns / 100MHz for 3m resolution. A 100MHz microcontroller clock speed sounds impractical, but perhaps a compromise could be using a dedicated high speed counter that the microcontroller can read. 2am ramblings so apologies if I’m barking up the wrong tree. Thanks for any assistance.
