Ranging sensor provides optimized data outputs for AI applications
The VL53L8CH, a multi-zone direct time-of-flight (ToF) sensor from STMicroelectronics, includes new histogram data outputs which AI algorithms can use in innovative ways to sense and understand the environment.
A ToF optical ranging sensor from STMicroelectronics, the VL53L8CH, provides new raw data outputs which enable a wide variety of innovative AI applications including gesture recognition and recognition of materials such as flooring.Ā
The VL53L8CH, an 8 x 8 multi-zone ToF sensor, offers high-performance features, including high immunity to interference from ambient light, low power consumption, and an eye-safe invisible optical output at 940 nm from a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). Diffractive optical elements on both transmitter and receiver enable the VL53L8CH to create a square field of view of 45Ā° x 45Ā°, 65Ā° diagonal.Ā
Like previous ST ToF sensors, the VL53L8CH includes firmware running on an integrated microcontroller which produces outputs computed from the raw optical data, such as distance, peak signal amplitude, and reflectance.Ā
The new feature in the VL53L8CH is that it also produces the sensorās raw optical data as a compact normalized histogram (CNH) output. The CNH data transforms the VL53L8CH from a standard multi-zone ranging sensor to a versatile optical sensor which can enable many AI-based applications, such as:Ā
- Detecting the location and size of a cup in a beverage dispenser
- Recognizing the material from which a floor is made, useful for autonomous vacuum cleaners and other robotics applicationsĀ
- Recognizing shapes, motion, or hand gestures
The sensor can calculate the distance of objects up to 4 m away, across 64 independent zones, at a rate of up to 30 frames per second. The ST multi-zone sensor with two advanced metasurface lenses offers superior performance to competing devices that have conventional optics, as they support fewer native zones and feature lower sensitivity in the outer areas of the field of view. The VL53L8CH provides uniform sensitivity and accurate ranging across the field of view, with superior range in strong ambient light.
The sensor includes a motion indicator for each zone to detect whether targets have moved, and how they have moved.