STMicroelectronics VL53L8CX multizone time-of-flight sensor

STMicroelectronics’ VL53L8CX, the company’s latest-generation 8x8 multizone time-of-flight (ToF) ranging sensor, delivers a range of improvements including greater ambient-light immunity, lower power consumption and enhanced optics.

ST’s direct-ToF sensors combine a 940 nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL), a multizone SPAD (single-photon avalanche diode) detector array and an optical system comprising filters and diffractive optical elements (DOE) in an all-in-one module that is designed to outperform conventional micro lenses typically used with similar alternative sensors. The sensor projects a wide square field of view of 45° x 45° (65° diagonal) and receives reflected light to calculate the distance of objects up to 400 cm away, across 64 independent zones, and up to 30 captures per second.

The VL53L8CX boosts ranging performance with an updated VCSEL and silicon-based meta-optics. Compared with the current VL53L5CX, the enhancements increase immunity to interference from ambient light, extending the sensor’s maximum range in daylight from 170 to 285 cm and reducing power consumption from 4.5 to 1.6 mW in low-power mode. Due to its true 8x8 multizone sensing, the product enables uniform sensitivity and correct ranging throughout the field of view, with good range in ambient light.

Mobile robots including autonomous vacuum cleaners can leverage the sensor to improve guidance capabilities like floor sensing, small object detection, collision avoidance and cliff detection. The synchronisation pin also enables projectors and cameras to benefit from coordinated autofocus.

The sensor features a motion indicator, an auto-stop feature that allows real-time actions and immunity to cover-glass crosstalk beyond 60 cm. Now supporting SPI connectivity, in addition to the 1 MHz I2C interface, the sensor handles host data transfers at up to 3 MHz.