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In my use case, I have to detect things about 3-4 meters. I don't need to be accurate, +-2 or 3cm is enough. The EV3-G and most other places have a max distance of 255cm, which I understand that it is a protocol limitation.

But is there a software solution, e.g. controlling send/receive with software and calculate on the main brick? Best if it is in the form of EV3-G custom blocks.

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It is not a protocol limitation. It is a sensor limitation. There is a microcontroller on the LEGO EV3 Ultrasonic sensor that cannot be updated so there is no way to measure more than that. So to measure more than 255cm, a 3rd party sensor is needed, e.g. https://mindsensors.com.

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  • Well can I manually tell the sensor to send a pulse?
    – he77789
    Oct 28, 2019 at 10:55
  • I'm not sure what you mean, but there is an "Advanced" mode of the sensor that takes a single reading instead of measuring continuously. This mode is intended to prevent multiple ultrasonic sensors from interfering with each other.
    – David Lechner
    Oct 28, 2019 at 15:43
  • As distancing is just measuring the time between the emitted pulse and reflected pulse, can we use the main EV3 brick to emulate the on board weaker chip?
    – he77789
    Oct 28, 2019 at 23:49
  • No, that is not possible.
    – David Lechner
    Oct 29, 2019 at 1:06
  • @he77789 According to the EV3 Hardware Development Kit, the ultrasonic sensor has a small 8-bit controller inside which communicates over UART with the EV3. This is probably where the limitation of 255cm comes from: 8-bits cannot represent numbers larger than 255. And since the controller is physically between the EV3 and the sensor hardware, the EV3 can't ping the sensor manually.
    – MindS1
    Oct 29, 2019 at 16:04

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