Can be GY-US42 ultrasonic range finder usefull for plane landing?

ArduPlane Plane 4.3
1

I want to add some affordable range finder to my Mini Talon plane to assist autolanding.

I real life tested responses of GY-US42 on my Mini Talon and results were much worse, than values stated in the sonar specification.
Over the grassland it gave me usefull responses at best between 0,4-1,8 m, but anyway the measurements consisted many errorous readings of either 0m or 7,2m (theoretical max. range).
To have some idea see this graph:

rngfndr
rngfndr1705×988 16.1 KB

Red and green lines are altitude from two baros, blue is rangefinder response.

Before I crash my plane during an autolanding attempt, can someone tell me if such responses have any chance to be usefull?
Will be error readings of 0 and 7,2m filtered if I define rangefinder correct reading range 0,4-1,8m?

To have some idea how this part of flight shown in the graph looked like see this video.

I tested also TOF400C VL53L1 infrared range finder and for outdoor it was completely useless. At daylight it gave only some 10-20cm range, too little for the plane.

Any other idea for a range finder under $30 providing usefull readings for a plane?

2

You could try the TF luna lidar. It’s cheap and on copter I had useful readings up to 8 meters. To be positioned far from the GPS because it emits EMI disturbances.

3

Thanks! Can you please share more details about your tests? Was it outside on the direct sunlight and over the grass?
Any details wellcome!

4

Try here:

5

Bought Benewake Luna and tested on the plane (mini Talon). Results are much better than GY-US42 ultrasonic. At full noon sunshine above grass or soil provides good results at 6+ meters at speed 60-70 km/h. Not tested automatic landing yet.

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