Imaging (sensors)

Hi,I am working on a project where I am using an array of 16 VL53L4CX to measure both the X and Y coordinate of any object in front of my sensor array. I want my loop time to be less than 50ms, so I am using 1MHz I2c clock. Currently I'm able to read from all sensors in 33ms on average. Even though I'm using the blocking function which is VL53L4CX_WaitMeasurementDataReady(), I'm seeing a pattern of no values at times. Initially when I was not waiting for measurement I was getting around 12 proper readings and 12 no object detections. This behaviour was happening all the time so I decided to use the blocking function. This eventually helped me to correct that behaviour, but now when I read from more than one sensor, 90% of the time I get no object detection or some random reading in alternate loops. I tested the same by placing an object only in the line of sight of one sensor in my array and it works perfectly. In this case all the other sensors were detecting my roof which is around 1

Hi there, I am involved in a project comprising 16x VL53L4CX Sensors, we are trying to measure and track the x and y coordinates of an object in front of the sensor array. Currently, I can read from all sensors in 33ms on average. Even though I'm using the blocking function which is VL53L4CX_WaitMeasurementDataReady(), I'm seeing a pattern of no values at times.Initially, when I was not waiting for measurement I was getting around 12 proper readings and 12 no object detections. This behaviour was happening all the time so I decided to use the blocking function. This eventually helped me to correct that behaviour, but now when I read from more than one sensor, 90% of the time I get no object detection or some random reading in alternate loops. I tested the same by placing an object only in the line of sight of one sensor in my array and it works perfectly. In this case all the other sensors were detecting my roof which is around 1.7m. But the moment I place an object

Hello,I am currently working with an STM32 MCU equipped with 128KB of flash memory, alongside the X-NUCLEO-53L8A1 Time-of-Flight expansion board featuring the VL53L8CX sensor. It has come to my attention that the sensor's firmware, as defined in vl53l8cx_buffers.h (here)  within its drivers, occupies a substantial 84KB of flash memory. This firmware array is written each time the sensor is initialized. I am seeking guidance on potential methods to bypass or optimize this process to conserve memory for my application. Any insights or recommendations from the STM community would be greatly appreciated.   

I am using the latest ULD driver of vl53l8cx. The sensor can work now. But when I use the function vl53l8cx_set_sharpener_percent to change the sharpener param, it does not work. There is no effection on the distance. I also used the vl53l5cx_set_sharpener_percent before, and it can work well. So, Why does the vl53l8cx sharpener param can not be set ? BR. thanks.

I downloaded the simplified driver for the VL5L5CX from https://www.st.com/en/embedded-software/stsw-img023.html#overview .Is there a version of platform.c and platform.h for the Raspbery Pi 4?

The eval board for the VL53L5 has a GUI that displays all of the zones. Is there a similar GUI for the 53L8 eval board? I don't see one listed on the Tools and Software tab for the eval board. Or is there a way to make the L5

Is it possible to control the VL53L1X ToF sensor using the stm32f407? because I am looking for the average website using the nucleo board.

Is there any way to get an overview of the 16x16 (time-integrated) SPAD array signals? I would like to see how the VCSEL spot looks on the SPAD matrix. Clearly, this information must be present on the chip itself, as it knows about its optical center. However, is it also possible to access this data via I2C somehow?

Hello,I am planning to use VL6180 sensor in my application which is going to communicate with STM32L071. I would like to ask a question since the specification for the AVDD mentioning about optimal value is 2.8V. Do I need to provide some special LDO for stabilization this voltage (ripple reduction, etc.) or I can supply VL6180 directly from step down converter as long as I keep +/-100mV tolerance on 2.8V output? STM32L071 should works well. Thank you in advance for your help and sorry if this question was already answered but I had difficulty to find it. Jacek 

Hi everybody,I have purchased SATEL-VL53L8 package containing 2 breakout boards with VL53L8 ToF ranging sensor, and I encountered a peculiar hardware issue. A breakout board has been connected to an ESP32 dev board (3.3V logic level). I have been trying to get it working using SPI bus + ULD driver. When I call the vl53l8cx_is_alive function, a sequence of 4 SPI transactions is executed in order to confirm the presence of the chip on the SPI bus. I connected the logic analyzer to observe the SPI, and on the first glance everything looks fine:However, the MCU always reads 0s on the MISO line. I have measured voltages on the PCB, and it turns out that there is a problem with logic level conversion. The logical 1 level is 1.8V both on the chip and on the MCU side, whereas it should be 3.3V on the EXT_MISO line. As the package contains two breakout boards, I tried the other one as well to eliminate the possibility of having a faulty unit. It turned out that it behaves exactly

Hello,I am interested in the ToF-Sensor VL53L8CH to get access to the histogram data. Is there any Evaluation-GUI to easily try out this sensor and to see the histogram data, similar to the GUI for the VL53L8CX (STSW-IMG041 - VL53L8CX Demo GUI)?Thanks and BR

On same Win10 PC and same NUCLEO-F401RE, STSW-IMG004, STSW-IMG008 can not. STSW-IMG024 can.Does anyone know the reason?

Greetings Team,Have a question (that may not be so quick). Currently working on a project where I need to detect a tube's length, using the VL53L0X, from ~30 to 200mm. The problem is that the inside dimensions of the tube are 20x11mm, quite tight. I've been experimenting with various 3D-printed "caps" to limit the FOV, but with limited success. So far, I've only been able to get up to 150mm. Any suggestions? Thanks!

The datasheet mentions putting the sensor into sleep by driving XSHUT low. measuring the power consumption shows that the power is consumed more when I connect XSHUT even when I drive it low by 200 microAmp. The XSHUT is normally pulled-up on the breakout board so no leakage is assumed.

..

Hello! I am an undergraduate student interested in gesture recognition based on ToF ranging sensors. How to use the gesture library to train a model for the STM32CubeMX project?Is there a tutorial? If possible, could you provide the complete project code?

Hi,I am using the VL53L3CX distance sensor for a project and I am wondering if it's possible to create my own library functions. The MCU I am using is the ATmega328PB XPlained Mini from Microchip, which only has 32KB of flash memory. The API library that I downloaded is way bigger than that, so I am wondering if I can just limit the API file to just a few functions:Data_InitStartMeasurementGetMeasurementDataReadyGetMultiRangingDataClearInterruptAndStartMeasurementI am able to create my own functions to do I2C read and write (I was able to get 0xEA and 0xAA to reference register 0x010F and 0x0110 respectively). My question is how can I setup the functions to get the I2C working? Would I have to go through all the registers (and if so, what are the registers), or would it be better to use a specific setup? Are there a specific file, headers, library that I would have to use that is less than 32KB?I am also wondering if the VL53L0X is using the same registers as the VL53L3CX, I did a sear

Hi,I was wondering if someone can help me with temperature update on the VL53L4CX.According to UM2931  that describes the temperature update in paragraph 3.5 there is a dedicated function named VL53L4CD_Start_Temperature_Update() and can be used when the ambient temperature have changed by more than 8 degrees Celsius. This guide unfortunately is for the VL53L4CD but I just wanted to know does the same apply to the VL53L4CX? Does the CX has the same functionality to improve ranging accuracy?Thanks, 

Hello @John E KVAM ,Table 14 in the datasheet shows power consumption in Autonomous as going as low as 4.5 mW, but is this only the AVDD power? or total device power? Because I do measure low power draw at those levels, but only on the AVDD pin (and those power levels vary with sample rate, per the datasheet). But the IOVDD continues to draw 22 mA at 3.3v in addition to a few mA for the VCSEL on AVDD. I'm pretty sure the device is really in Autonomous because calling vl53l5cx_get_ranging_mode() returns a '3' for Autonomous. But I'm unable to turn off that big power suck on the IOVDD pin. I was hoping this part could be a low-power motion detector, but if I'm stuck with ~100 mW or more then it's not very low power.One issue might be that I'm using threshold detection. Is that what keeps the core digital stuff drawing power? Can I run a low-power Autonomous mode if I don't set thresholds?Another possible issue is that calling vl53l5cx_get_power_mode() returns a comms

Hi,I have a project for which I need to measure a tank level of tanks with a maximum depth of 3 meters. The challenging part is that many tanks have filling tubes with an inner diameter of 50mm but a length of 1000mm worst case. I have made this drawing:The maximum field of view is thus 2.86 degrees in the worst case scenario. I have ordered a VL53L8 development kit and tested it out thinking that the matrix could solve this issue for us. I tested this, but it is a no-go as all measurements drop as soon as I place a tube on top of the sensor. I found it really difficult to select a correct sensor and I probably need a sensor with a narrower lens. But I cannot find a sensor that can se as far as I need (4m in total darkness with a low emissivity fluid (diesel fuel)), with a narrow enough field of view.Can anybody help me out?

Hi community, I would like to understand if the VL53L5CX is a good choice to develop an application to detect holes and stairs. I decided to study them since I was impressed by these things:The FoV of 45 ° horizontally or vertically;The granularity of the zoning:16 zones (in the case of 4x4 mapping)64 zones (in the case of 8x8 mappatira);The refresh rate is also interesting. Up to 15 Hz in the case of 64 zones and up to 60 Hz in the case of 16.Among the other features that impressed me is the sharpner. Thanks to this feature I could sharpen the division of the zones. Having said that, my idea was to divide the matrix of interest into 2 zones:- Region to detect holes or stairs below the floor level- Region to detect other obstacles above the floor levelI had actually also thought of a third zone to be interposed between the two zones just mentionedThe scenario I had in mind was something like this:  Of course, to choose the sensor I must also understand the requirements t

Hi everyone, can you provide information on the highest temperature and ambient pressure the VL53L0X Time of Flight (ToF) ranging sensor can handle without being damaged? Note: this is not during operation of the sensor (operating temperature is given as -20 °C to 70 °C in the datasheet) but during the integration process into a larger system. Thanks in advance and kind regardsPhilip

I want to use the VL53L8CH in histogram mode to distinguish between multiple reflective surfaces. I found a c-driver package in STSW-IMG043, but no useful example how to initialize the sensor and get data out (over I2C).What I'am looking for:1) initialize sensor and start ranging, with some example code to setup the histogram configuration2) get histogram data over I2CIn the mentioned driver software there are a lot of functions, some of them are clear what they do, other are not clear, but I did not found an application in a software layer avbove which bundles these driver functions to a senseful initialization- or read method.

Hello,Even in the SparkFun product introduction video (2.45-3.00 min),  the representative presentation shows there is some bouncing in the sensor reading. I have also experienced the same bouncing issue. How can we deal with this problem? Regards,Fehmi K.

Hello STM Community team:I'm working  with a vl53l3cx sensor on a custom board with zephyr rtos but i am not able to get a reading.To use the sensor I just modified the zephyr driver for the vl53l1x, on the .c file inside the driver I made the following changes:1) added a VL53LX_MultiRangingData_t member in "struct vl53l3cx_data".2) in function "_read_sensor" changed the "GetRangingMeasurementData" for GetMultiRangingData, using the new MultiRangingData_t member as argument.3) in function "_channel_get", changed to get NumberOfObjectsFound instead of RangeMilliMeter.4) Replace the VL53L1X API functions for the VL53L3CX API functions, as indicated on the UM2778. the result is that the number of object found is always 0, this is independent of the distance mode . What I am doing wrong? Any suggestion to get the sensor made a reading.Let me know if I can clarify anything, and thanks in advance for any help.