An ultrasonic distance sensor mounted on an autonomous orchard sprayer measures the distance to fruit tree foliage. The sensor emits a sound pulse and detects the return echo after a two-way round-trip transit time of $t = 8.82\text{ ms}$. If the ambient speed of sound in air is $c = 340\text{ m/s}$, the one-way distance from the sensor to the canopy in $\text{m}$ is ________ (round off to 2 decimal places).
Answer Key:
1.50
Step-by-Step Solution & Explanation
```
Ultrasonic Time-of-Flight:
Sensor ===( Sound Pulse )===> Canopy
Sensor <==( Echo Pulse )==== Canopy
Total Distance = 2 * d = c * t
```
**Step-by-step Calculation:**
1. Round trip distance traveled by acoustic wave:
$d_{\text{round-trip}} = c \times t = 340\text{ m/s} \times (8.82 \times 10^{-3}\text{ s}) = 2.9988\text{ m}$
2. One-way distance to canopy ($d$):
$d = \frac{d_{\text{round-trip}}}{2} = \frac{2.9988}{2} = 1.4994\text{ m} \approx 1.50\text{ m}$