This test was conducted to verify and document the reliability of the MaxBotix Inc., MaxSonar product lines. Test parameters were selected that, if met, would establish and verify a mean time between failure (MTBF) of at least 200,000 hours. Additionally, industry practice states that product performance at temperature extremes (-40°C, +70°C), during and after a significant number of temperature cycles, is required to validate the MTBF.

Our product lifetime test was setup in an industry standard way. To facilitate reasonable test duration, the test temperature of 85°C allowed an acceleration factor. For the purposes of this test, the Arrhenius model was used.

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We just conducted an engineering test of the accuracy of our lowest-cost line of high-resolution sensors, the HRLV-MaxSonar-EZ. The two graphs show 1000 distance measurements each to a bar target at 500mm and 1000mm respectively.

The test demonstrates how accurately our sensors measure distance, and takes into account the part-to-part consistency, the full operating voltage range, and the reading-to-reading stability. The measured accuracy results speak for themselves. As CEO of MaxBotix Inc., I could not be more pleased with these test results.

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MaxBotix^® Inc., HRXL-MaxSonar-WR Tank testing and results. The HRXL-MaxSonar-WR was designed with tank level measurement as one of the primary applications. The HRXL-MaxSonar-WR has 1-mm resolution and stable range readings. This tank test shows the accuracy and stability of the HRXL-MaxSonar-WR sensor in a tank measuring application.

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MaxBotix Inc., sensors have been successfully used on a number of multi‑copters. (Multi‑copters are also called UAVs, rotorcraft, quadrotor helicopters, or quadcopters.) Even so, many users have had issues getting the sensors to operate reliably. Sensor operation during flight on a quad‑copter is a challenging environment for an ultrasonic sensor to operate reliably. The most obvious issue is the amount of wind turbulence the ultrasonic wave must travel though. Adding to this acoustic noise is the noise the propellers generate.

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MaxBotix Inc., has recently tested operation of our MB7360 HRXL‑MaxSonar‑WR in a multi-sensor environment. The testing was conducted from 11/15/2012 to 11/19/2012.

All the test data (about 7.5mil. data points) gathered show there to be no interference from multi-sensor operation for the MB7360 in this test setup.

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MaxBotix Inc., thanks guest writer Tim Gallagher who shares his experience with the MB7369 while transporting heavy equipment.

MaxBotix Inc., sensors have been successfully used in extreme duty conditions. Large multi-axle trailers, which are used to transport wind energy equipment across the country, hydraulically adjust the ride height of their payload throughout their journey to meet varying conditions. The HRXL‑MaxSonar‑WR sensor series withstand the extreme environmental conditions of these trips, and power through the extreme road noise and wind conditions.

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It's a little known fact that all of our MaxSonar products have been designed with a high acoustic noise tolerance. This means that the MaxSonar sensors from all of our product lines work to reduce or eliminate false detections caused by external noise sources. While acoustic noise tolerance is only a small part of our "sensor magic", that provides our users with reliable and stable range information, it is a critical factor for some of our users.

Recently, some of our users in the UAV community have been asking questions about the difference in noise tolerance between our LV-MaxSonar-EZ products and our XL-MaxSonar-EZ/AE products. As a result, MaxBotix Inc., felt that it would be a good idea to provide our users with test data for each of our current sensors ability to reject acoustic noise sources.

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The primary goal during the building of the original LV-MaxSonar-EZ1 was to make a high performance ultrasonic range finder that provided readings, so stable, that unless the object moved, the readings didn’t vary. This was the first and primary goal during the initial design of the LV-MaxSonar-EZ1, these goals have continued and been improved upon for all of our subsequent products. MaxBotix Inc., has virtually reached that goal. The original LV-MaxSonar-EZ1 ranges objects between 6” and 254” and objects closer than 6” report 6”. Below is an actual plot to a swinging ball showing the stability of readings provided by the LV-MaxSonar-EZ1.

MaxBotix Inc., wanted to provide a sensor that was better than the others. Range stability was the primary goal. All other goals were either required to meet this primary goal, or were secondary goals.

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