Imaging (sensors)

HI,The driver file I downloaded from the official website is version 1.2.8.(stsw-img029)But when I downloaded the Demo(X-CUBE-TOF1), I found that it uses version 1.2.10.Should I use the latest one? Thanks

Hello all, We have multiple VL6180 sensors on a common IIC bus.Upon system start up, we are enabling one sensor via its GPIO0 / CE pin, initialising it, changing its IIC address, disabling it, and repeating these steps for all sensors on the IIC bus.We noticed that upon disabling the chips (GPIO0 / CE pin low) and enabling them again (GPIO0 / CE pin high) to take measurements, their address changes again to the default (0x29) and we cannot communicate with them using the newly-assigned addresses. Moreover, the sensors would need to be re-initialised before measurement (using the default address).So am I correct in saying that when low, the GPIO / CE pin completely shuts down the chip and any set registers (e.g. register 0x212 that holds the IIC address) are reset to their default address? Do you have to keep the chips enabled (GPIO / CE pin high) after address is changed? Thanks for your input! Brian   

I am attempting to connect the satel-vl53l8a to the Nordic Semiconductor nRF5340 using the I2C protocol, but I am not receiving any acknowledgment (ACK). I have followed the wiring diagrams provided in this document: AN5945. Additionally, I have captured the output of my logic analyzer for reference.Startup sequence and signal sent to VL53L8Athe i2c address is always NAK

I'm having a bit of trouble talking to the VL53L5Cx... I'm appearing to download firmware ok, by all accolunts vl53l5cx_init() is returning with VL53L5CX_STATUS_OK and vl53l5cx_start_ranging() likewise. However, the response on the I2C bus to vl53l5cx_check_data_ready() is 0xFF, 0x05, 0xC5, 0x81 - thus the check fails and is_Ready returns 0.Any help what those bytes being returned mean, and therefore clues as to what I've done wrong?The device consumption is in the order 28mA, and I cannot see any light with an IR camera...ThanksKevin

Hi, i am trying to use VL6180 to get an obstacle range.I'm using VL6180 APi to communicate with the device. Communication is ok, and consistent. Each register is written correctly.As show in ST examples I init the device and start a single shot reading, but i always get DataNotReady.Laser ( view with an android camera ) is not lit.Supply is one of my dubt.At first i supply VL6180 from main board supply @3.2V, after i tryed with a supply of AVDD and AVDD_VCL @2,8V but nothing changed.Error register return 0 value. ( I got a VCL Continuity test error solved by doing a RESET cycle to the device )With supply of 3.2V does it function but give bad readings? or i does not function at all?For GPIO i drive only GPIO0 for resetting the device, nothing else.

Hello,i have managed to get the vl53l8cx to run and it returns correct measurements. with the occasional wrong distance. i wanted to take advantage of the "Status" values to throw out bad measurements. however my status prints are always 0.here is my code:  //begin a test measurement int32_t s; uint8_t frequency_hz; vl53l8cx_get_ranging_frequency_hz(&conf, &frequency_hz); uint32_t delay_frequency = 1000 / frequency_hz; VL53L8CX_Start(&pObj, VL53L8CX_MODE_ASYNC_CONTINUOUS); HAL_Delay(delay_frequency); // needs time for one measurement at least! s = VL53L8CX_GetDistance(&pObj, &pResult); // If unsuccessful, log the attempt if (s != 0) { APP_LOG(TS_ON, MDS_VLEVEL, "[ToF] Measurement attempt failed with status %d\n", s); ToF_Disable_Measurement_Circuit(); ToF_Deinit_Measurement_Circuit(); return; } VL53L8CX_Stop(&pObj); uint32_t mm; APP_LOG(TS_ON, MDS_VLEVEL, "[ToF] Distance\n"); for (uint32_t var = 0; var < VL53L8CX_MAX_NB_Z

Hello,We are researching the feasibility of a new product and have some questions regarding STMicro's TOF sensors. At this time we are narrowing on the VL53L4CX, but I am sure these questions apply to most of these sensors. The product is detecting distance of a flat, white, square coupon normal to the sensing field. About three inches by three inches. The questions are as follows:1. It seems like ambient light has the most dramatic effect on range of the device. Does it also dramatically effect measurement repeatability and accuracy? As a result, are these sensors generally not used outdoors? Is there a way to compensate for the effect of ambient light?2. The size of the full visual field for these sensors, even with a 18 degree FOV, gets pretty large past several feet. Is there an understanding of how much of the visual field an object needs to take up for it to be detected? For instance, can a 3inch by 3 inch test coupon be detected at 3 meters, neglecting the effect of am

Hi,When I get the data returned by VL53L4CX, I have two problems.1:About"VL53LX_get_device_results()"The API function "VL53LX_get_device_results()" takes a lot of time. My MCU is 32MHZ and the operation of this function takes me 13ms. Is this time acceptable?2:About"vl53lx_tuningparm_reset_merge_threshold"When the distance of the measured object changes, the data obtained by the L4CX is delayed for a few cycles before the new distance is obtained. There are several cycles of error reporting (ErrorCode: sometimes 7,sometimes 255) or old distance before getting the new data. Looking in the manual, it seems that this can be improved by decreasing the"vl53lx_tuningparm_reset_merge_threshold", but even if I change it to 0, it doesn't change anything, am I using it wrong?Thanks.

Hi there,I was wondering if the memory used to save the values in the device registers for the VL6180X sensor are volatile or non-volatile. This would affect how the sensors behaves during a power cycle. Could someone clarify this for me if possible?Thanks in advance.

When I place an object near the sensor, it shows the reading between 40 - 50mm. How to perform the calibration of this sensor to accumulate accurate reading from the sensor. I have attached the code that I have uploaded.  

Hi, I am currently actively debugging and working with the sensor and it shows correct measurement data when i set the profile to 'Long range' example (settings from the 'um2039' User manual).     however the sensor response for RangeDMaxMilliMeter: always show a value around 1200 which should be around 2000, is there another settings which i need to do before the profile is actively set to long range? Measurement data is now also correctly measured until about 1200mm but higher results in invalid measurements. below are my settings as they are performed in the code: MyDevice.I2cDevAddr = 0x52; MyDevice.comms_type = 1; // 1 should equal I2C MyDevice.comms_speed_khz = 100; MyDevice.hi2c = hi2c; VL53L0X_DEV = &MyDevice; if (VL53L0X_DataInit(VL53L0X_DEV) != VL53L0X_ERROR_NONE) { g_tof_state = tof_sensor_reset_sensor; return HAL_ERROR; } if (VL53L0X_StaticInit(VL53L0X_DEV) != VL53L0X_ERROR_NONE) { g_tof_state = tof_sensor_reset_sensor; return HAL_ERROR; } // Calibrat

Good Morning,I am interested in using the VL53L1X sensor for my application. Before proceeding with the implementation, I would like to gather some information regarding the optical interferences that may affect the sensor's performance.Firstly, I am using the VL53L1X sensor in conjunction with an Arduino Nano board. For the implementation, I am utilizing the VL53L1X_ULD library to facilitate communication and interfacing with the sensor.Currently, I have configured the sensor readout using the LONG mode with an integration time of 66 ms. I have noticed that the SHORT mode sometimes provides me with a null signal value at certain moments. Hence, I have opted for the LONG mode to ensure a more reliable and stable reading.In order to minimize optical interference, I am looking to utilize a passband optical filter with a FWHM (full width at half maximum) of 20-50 nm. However, I would like to know if it is known which wavelengths interfere with outdoor measurements, so that I can select th

I use a VL53l1X looking trough a oil layer of ca. 20 mm. When getting measured distance 3 times with GetResult(), it returns (example):Status = 0, dist = 11, Ambient = 16, Signal = 20936, #ofSpads = 6Status = 0, dist = 19, Ambient = 8, Signal = 18104, #ofSpads = 6Status = 0, dist = 38, Ambient = 16, Signal = 15864, #ofSpads = 19 --> some 'magic' automatic changed the NrOfSpads from 6 to 19, which also affects the measured distance. When I set the NrOfSpads with VL53L1X_Status_t VL53L1X_SetROI(uint16_t X, uint16_t Y);, this only limits the maximal used NrOfSpads, but it's further possible that the sensor switches to a lower NrOfSpads autonomous. How can I force the sensor to use a defined NrOfSpads?

Hi STM Team,We are using VL53L0CXV0DH Sensor for our Object Detection Application in Medical Field. The Sensor is working fine, but after 1 month of time the dust in the environment covers the sensor's LED part, so, the dust was affected the overall sensor performance.We already tried some dust protective films, but that was created the sensor to detect the object wrongly or always detects objects.Kindly provide any protective covers/films or any suggestions to cover the sensor from environmental dusty particles as well as not absorbing the sensor rays.   

Hello all,I'm looking for a rough estimation of required RAM and FLASH for the  VL53L8CLD Driver and the VL53L8CX ULD Driver together  with STSW-IMG035 Gesture Layers. The GestureEVK_UM.pdf  (v1.5.0) shows on page 49 some indication for the artifacts "VL53LMZ FW", "VL53LMZ ULD Mass Market Driver", "Gesture App Layers" and "Gesture Algo". Does the naming convention "LMZ"  mean that the ressource consumtion estimation for VL53L5CX and VL53L8CX is almost the same - I know that the FW is different but driver API should be 100% identical ? And is this a worst case estimation ( all features enabled ) or a typical-case or best-case mentioned in the manual ?  I'm also wondering that the artifact "VL53LMZ ULS Mass Market" only  requires 144 Bytes of RAM - is this a correct value ?  

I'm working on a project that requires liquid level sensing with a couple of complications I'm trying to address. The application is measuring levels in a vessel that is about 1.4m tall, so the ranges of interest are about 100mm to 1.5m. The target liquid is water-based, though not necessarily colorless. I've been testing with clear water as that's a worst case.The challenges relate to packaging. I need to install the sensor in a fitting attached to the lid of the vessel. For various reason, this means I'm in the end of about a 40mm tube, with a ~20 degree field of view. The other problem is that the fitting is at about a 6 degree angle to the surface of the water. I've been testing with a VL53L1X (set to a central 4x4 ROI) and a VL53L4CX, and things are tantalizingly close to working, but not very reliable. This of course works flawlessly if I have the sensor perpendicular to the surface, even at the end of this tube.Any tips on sensor selection or configuration/calibration/technique

Hello folks, I am trying to adapt my product to use the new VL53L4CD sensor, replacing another SPI distance sensor that is in use.However, I only have one I2C bus available and it is already shared with other sensors and devices, such as a FRAM. The problem arises when I modify my project in STMCubeMX, it removes the I2C HAL files, creating new instances that control the I2C peripheral. I am unsure how to address this issue, I have already implemented a good amount of code using the I2C HAL libraries and would like to maintain these implementations. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Can TOF sensors such as VL53L1X and VL53L5CX be cleaned with alcohol and/or cleaning wipes or be submerged in cleaning alcohol?

I am trying to compile the drivers for the ToF sensor: VL53L4CX for an embedded Linux application. I am running Ubuntu 22.04. When I try to make the drivers I get the following error:   CONFIG_STMVL53LX=m make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=$PWD make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-6.5.0-15-generic' warning: the compiler differs from the one used to build the kernel The kernel was built by: x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc-12 (Ubuntu 12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04) 12.3.0 You are using: gcc-12 (Ubuntu 12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04) 12.3.0 CC [M] /home/USERNAME/programs/VL53L4CX_LinuxDriver_1.1.2_bare_1.2.8/driver/vl53Lx/stmvl53lx_module-i2c.o /home/USERNAME/programs/VL53L4CX_LinuxDriver_1.1.2_bare_1.2.8/driver/vl53Lx/stmvl53lx_module-i2c.c:567:19: error: initialization of ‘int (*)(struct i2c_client *)’ from incompatible pointer type ‘int (*)(struct i2c_client *, const struct i2c_device_id *)’ [-Werror=incompatible-pointer-types] 567 | .probe = stmvl53lx_probe, | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~

Does anyone know where I can find a Cadence/Allegro footprint for the TOF sensor VL53L5CX?  This is the optical LGA16 package.  I would also like to find a Cadence/CIS symbol. thank you!

Hi all, I am trying to use a PIC18LF47K42 to read the distance from the Light Ranger 2 click board, which uses the sensor VL53L0X. I copy two folders: core and platform, which are  inside the folder en.STSW-IMG005\VL53L0X_1.0.4\Api I add these file into the project header files and source files  In the main.c, I try to call only one function VL53L0X_DataInit(); same as below void main(void)  {   VL53L0X_DataInit();   while(1)   {      }  } The problem is that I cannot compile. The MPLabX shows the below error: ./../../Year2/MGMT102/0-Datasheet/01-ST_VL6180/API/en.STSW-IMG005/VL53L0X_1.0.4/Api/core/src/vl53l0x_api_core.c:29:10: fatal error: 'vl53l0x_api.h' file not found #include "vl53l0x_api.h"      ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1 error generated. (908) exit status = 1 Could you please advise on a solution to the issue? Thanks,

I am using the VL6180 (not the X version).  This is TOF only.  When reading in continuous mode, I'm getting a tolerance of +/- 1mm and sometimes more.  I'll list my settings below.    My application will measure distances from 10mm to 100mm.  Right now I have the inter-measurement period set to 500ms and this is flexible.  How can I optimize my settings further for accuracy? thanks     VL6180_WriteByte(0x0207, 0x01); VL6180_WriteByte(0x0208, 0x01); VL6180_WriteByte(0x0096, 0x00); VL6180_WriteByte(0x0097, 0xfd); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00e3, 0x00); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00e4, 0x04); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00e5, 0x02); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00e6, 0x01); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00e7, 0x03); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00f5, 0x02); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00d9, 0x05); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00db, 0xce); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00dc, 0x03); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00dd, 0xf8); VL6180_WriteByte(0x009f, 0x00); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00a3, 0x3c); VL6180_WriteByte(0x00b7, 0x

Hi,We have an issue with a production build of a VL53L1X based design. The VL53L1X is interfaced to a PIC18F micro, I have inherited the codebase and hardware. The initial production run was for 500 units, of these approx 260 passed our production tests and some have been working well in the field for some time.The remaining 240 all exhibit an almost identical failure mode. Basically the readings will only  1 - Uart Output (Legacy Code - Good Sensor) VTOF=345mm (5989) (0) VTOF=346mm (5978) (0) VTOF=346mm (6020) (0) VTOF=344mm (5949) (0) VTOF=345mm (6153) (0) VTOF=346mm (5979) (0) VTOF=347mm (6098) (0) VTOF=345mm (6147) (0) VTOF=347mm (6176) (0) VTOF=346mm (6166) (0) Min: 344, Max: 347, Avg: 345.70, Std Dev: 0.95   2 - Uart Output (Legacy Code - Bad Sensor) VTOF=652mm (33) (1) VTOF=524mm (48) (0) VTOF=571mm (38) (7) VTOF=496mm (25) (1) VTOF=734mm (23) (1) VTOF=570mm (14) (1) VTOF=604mm (30) (1) VTOF=515mm (19) (1) VTOF=550mm (3) (2) VTOF=587m

I have a VL53L8CX time of flight sensor connected via I2C on a custom board. The Board has other devices that can talk on I2C no problem. now i cant see the i2c address of the ToF device. from my understanding everything seems to be fine and in accordance with the datasheet. However there are two things that might be not correct and i want to make sure that my assumptions are not wrong. about the LPn pin (A2) in the datasheet this is written:Enables communication. Drive this pin to logic 0to disable I²C communication when the device isin low-power mode. Drive this pin to logic 1 toenable I²C communication in low-power mode.This pin is typically used when you need tochange the I²C address in multidevice systems. Ifit is not used, or if interfacing via the SPI,connect to IOVDD with a 47 kΩ pullup resistor I dont plan to use the low power i2c mode. so i connected it to IOVDD via a 47kohm resistor. Was this correct? the other thing i am not sure about are

I tried using VL53L5CX with ULD API v1.3.6 with an ESP32-S3. I successfully ported the base C function for I2C, as I can talk with the sensor during the first part of the initialization process. Unfortunately, when I reach the NVM part, the function _vl53l5cx_poll_for_answer() fails, and I keep getting VL53L5CX_MCU_ERROR as the return value: I was looking for answers online, especially around ST Community, but I cannot find anything about this specific part of the function failing. As I haven't modified the API itself, I really need some external help to resolve this issue.Does anyone know how to revolve this ?