[Big chip solution] A new tool for optical distance measurement, WPG launches a ToF distance measurement solution based on NXP LPC804 + ams TMF8801

On July 15, 2021 , WPG Holdings, a leading semiconductor component distributor dedicated to the Asia Pacific market, announced

Its subsidiary World Peace launched a ToF ranging solution based on NXP LPC804 and ams TMF8801. ☜

Figure 1- Application scenario of ToF ranging solution launched by WPG World Peace based on NXP and ams products

ToF stands for Time of Flight technology, which emits continuous light pulses to the target, then uses a sensor to receive the light returned from the target, and detects the flight (round-trip) time of the light pulses to obtain the distance information of the target. In recent years, ToF ranging technology has been widely used in many fields such as consumer electronics, automobiles, and industrial visual inspection. While further extending the detection distance, the emergence of ToF technology has greatly simplified the design complexity of the ranging module, catering to the current mainstream product trend of miniaturization.

Figure 2- A display board of the ToF ranging solution launched by WPG World Peace based on NXP and ams products

The ToF ranging solution launched by WPG World Peace is equipped with the MCU LPC804M101J with Cortex-M0+ as the core. The maximum clock frequency of this product is 15MHz, equipped with 32KB flash and 4KB RAM, and can support up to 30 GPIOs. LPC80 provides rich peripheral resources, including 2 x I²C, 1 x SPI, 2 x UART, 1 x 12bit ADC, 1 x 10bit DAC and switch matrix.

Figure 3-Block diagram of the ToF ranging solution launched by WPG World Peace based on NXP and ams products

The TMF8801 in the solution is a time-of-flight sensor product that combines ultra-small size with high-precision measurement. Its volume is only 2.2mm x 3.6mm x 1.0mm, which is nearly 30% smaller than similar sensor products on the market. The product integrates a VCSEL infrared emitter, multiple SPAD (single photon avalanche photodiode) light detectors, a time-to-digital converter, and an on-chip microcontroller that implements histogram processing, providing excellent ToF performance while having ultra-low power consumption.

With the performance support of LPC804 and TMF8801, this solution has the advantages of large range, long distance and high accuracy. It can shine in application areas such as anti-collision of sweeping robots, intelligent dimming of projectors, automatic dimming of smart lights, and water measurement of smart cups.

▌Core Technology Advantages

• Support SWD and UART firmware upgrade;

• Support UART, I²C, SPI communication;

• Distance: 20mm~2500mm, ±5% error;

• Small package, low power consumption;

• TMF8801 optical distance measurement.

▌Solution Specifications

• LPC804 core ARM® Cortex®-M0+ 15MHz including 32 kB Flash, 4 kB SRAM;

• TMF8801 optical distance measurement;

• 2 x I2Cs、1 x SPI、2 x UARTs、1 x 12bit ADC、1 x 10bit DAC。