Ultrasonic

Overview

BeamNG.tech ships with a simulated Ultrasonic sensor which measures distances to nearby surfaces, commonly as an aid to vehicle parking. The range and detection sensitivity are physically-based and customisable by the user. Single or multiple ultrasonic sensors can be attached to vehicles or places at fixed locations.

Usage

Ultrasonic sensors are exposed to Lua through the sensors extension in the tech folder. Using this API, an ultrasonic sensor can be created with various range and detection properties, and either attached to a vehicle or to a fixed point on the map.

sensorId = extensions.tech_sensors.createUltrasonic(vehicleId, args)

Args:

vehicleID(int): The vehicle ID. This can be nil if the ultrasonic sensor is not to be attached to any vehicle.

The args parameter is a Lua table containing as many of the following properties as required. If any property is not set manually then a default value is used, so it is entirely possible to create the ultrasonic sensor with args being an empty table. What follows is a complete list of these arguments:

updateTime(float): How often the ultrasonic sensor should update its readings in the simulator (in seconds).

updatePriority(float): A scheduling priority value for this ultrasonic sensor, in range 0 to 1. 0 is highest priority, 1 is least.

pos(Point3F): The position of the ultrasonic sensor either in vehicle space (if attached to vehicle) or in world space (if fixed to the map).

dir(Point3F): The forward direction in which the ultrasonic sensor points.

up(Point3F): The up direction of the ultrasonic sensor.

size(table): The horizontal and vertical resolution of the ultrasonic sensor.

fovY(float): The vertical field of view of the ultrasonic sensor, in degrees.

nearFarPlanes(table): The near and far plane distances of the ultrasonic sensor, in metres.

rangeRoundness(float): The general roundness of the ultrasonic sensors range shape. Can be negative.

rangeCutoffSensitivity(float): A cutoff sensitivity parameter for the ultrasonic sensor range-shape.

rangeShape(float): The shape of the ultrasonic sensor range-shape in the range [0, 1], going from conical to spherical.

rangeFocus(float): The focus parameter for the ultrasonic sensor range-shape.

rangeMinCutoff(float): The minimum cut-off distance for the ultrasonic sensor range-shape. Nothing closer than this will be detected.

rangeDirectMaxCutoff(float): The maximum cut-off distance for the ultrasonic sensor range-shape. This parameter is a hard cutoff - nothing further than this will be detected, although other parameters can also control the maximum distance.

sensitivity(float): The sensitivity of the ultrasonic sensor detection.

fixedWindowSize(float): Used with sensitivity to set how sharply the ultrasonic sensor detects surfaces.

isVisualised(bool): A flag which indicates if the ultrasonic sensor should be visualised.

isStatic(bool): True if the ultrasonic sensor is fixed to a point on the map, false if it is attached to a vehicle.

isSnappingDesired(bool): True if the ultrasonic sensor position should be forced onto the surface of the vehicle, at its closest vehicle point. This is useful if finding it hard to have the ultrasonic sensor on the vehicle itself. False, otherwise, eg if the ultrasonic sensor should be suspended at a fixed point relative to the vehicle.

isForceInsideTriangle(bool): Used with isSnappingDesired. True, if the ultrasonic sensor should be forced to be inside its nearest vehicle triangle. Otherwise false.

Returns: sensorId(int): The unique Id number of this sensor, in order to refer to it later eg when closing it.

distance = extensions.tech_sensors.getUltrasonicDistanceMeasurement(sensorId)

Args: