History- A transducer is an electronic device that converts an energy pulse. There are several sites that provide a reasonable summation of the development of transducer technology, so it will not be further discussed on this site.
Transducer Materials- A Brief History (Azom.com)
Similar Technologies- Before attempting to develop a range finder it is useful to examine similar technologies that utilize timer technologies to determine distances.
Depth Finder/ Fish Finder Technology - Sound waves are reflected by physical discontinuities (places where the speed of sound suddenly changes). The flesh of a fish is mostly water, and the difference between the speed of sound in water and in the gas of a swim bladder is so great that much of the energy that strikes it is reflected back.
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Fish finders have come into wide use for in both recreational and commercial applications.
Time-of-flight laser rangefinder-Calculation of round trip travel time of a single pulse of light. Immune to air density variations typically attributed to temperature and gas stratification effects. Short wavelength, compared to that of ultrasonic and microwave/radar technologies, allows the beam to be reflected back to the rangefinder from a target in virtually any orientation.
- Beam is highly collimated allowing measurement of small targets at large distances. Used by many golf pros. Typical accuracy +/- 1m
