iPhone Acoustic Ruler

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By Adam Flaherty
Posted 2011/11/14 @ 2:00 am
Category Computers & Mobile, Tools

Here’s a novel way to take measurements using sound waves with an iPhone. German developer Florian Student’s Acoustic Ruler Pro for iOS will measure distances up to 25 meters by clocking the time delay of emitted sound waves. You can use the app with either a pair of headphones or with another iPhone to measure the distance between the two handsets. [via /.]

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6 Responses to iPhone Acoustic Ruler

零影月 on November 14th, 2011 at 3:10 am said:

The actual process is called “Time Domain Reflectometry” and it’s the same process used in things like cable length testers/break finders and standard ultrasonic distance sensors. This is a pretty impressive implementation.

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Daniel Kim on November 14th, 2011 at 8:32 am said:

This reminds me of Sonar CE, a Windows CE application that uses the speaker/mic of an iPAQ PDA as a sonar app. I’ve not had the patience to configure it properly, but user comments seem to imply that it works.

http://nerdipedia.com/tiki-index.php?page=Sonar+CE

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Ian Page-Echols on November 14th, 2011 at 12:38 pm said:

There’s also a program to do this included with the OLPC XO machines since the Give One Get One’s were sold.

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Florian Student on February 19th, 2012 at 6:32 am said:

Hello Adam,

Thanks for writing this article about my app!

I wanted to let you know that the app is free for the next few days, so may be you can post a follow up to your article?

Thanks a lot!

Florian

Reply ↓
- Bryan on August 28th, 2012 at 12:38 pm said:
  
  OK, How do you get it free? The App store want’s $1.99 for it.
  
  Reply ↓
- Bryan on August 28th, 2012 at 12:39 pm said:
  
  OK, How do you get it free? The App store wants
  $1.99 for it.
  
  Reply ↓