ST's latest time-of-flight sensor has higher ranging accuracy

STMicroelectronics, a global leader in Time-of-Flight (ToF) solutions with over 1 billion shipments, has expanded its FlightSense™ ToF range of sensors with the launch of the VL53L3CX, a new product that uses a patented histogram algorithm to measure the distance to multiple targets with greater accuracy.

The VL53L3CX has a range of 2.5cm to 3m and, unlike traditional infrared sensors, measurement accuracy is not affected by the color or reflectivity of the target object, enabling end-product designers to introduce powerful new features into their products. For example, enabling occupancy detectors to ignore unwanted background or foreground objects for accurate occupancy detection, or reporting accurate distances to multiple targets within the sensor’s field of view.

ST's patented histogram algorithm improves the sensor's immunity to crosstalk from the glass cover and enables real-time dirt compensation to prevent external contamination from affecting ranging accuracy, such as vacuum cleaners or other equipment operating in dusty industrial environments. Ranging performance in ambient light is also improved.

In addition, the VL53L3CX has excellent linearity, which can improve the accuracy of short-distance measurements, thereby improving the wall-following, cliff detection and obstacle avoidance capabilities of service robots, vacuum cleaners and other equipment. STMicroelectronics has achieved great commercial success in these markets. Like all FlightSense sensors, the VL53L3CX also uses a compact all-in-one package design to simplify the integration process of the sensor with customer equipment, and its low power consumption helps extend battery life.

ToF sensors bring excellent ranging performance to a variety of application devices, making occupancy detection more reliable for building automation and lighting controllers, proximity sensing more intelligent for IoT endpoint devices, automatic wake-up for portable devices more convenient, and user detection for automatic bathroom equipment more robust. The high accuracy and fast response of ToF sensors also enhance the performance of devices that have high requirements for precise motion control, such as robots and indoor drones.