VL53L0X Measurement noise reduction?

[FPayn.1]

I have two 3-element arrays on my 4-wheel robot, one on each side. I use the arrays for simple distance measurements, and also to orient the robot parallel to a nearby wall by turning it until the front and back VL53L0X sensors (separated by 8.5cm) report the same distance. This works, but not as well as I'd like, so I started investigating. I found that the output from a single sensor is quite 'noisy' in that it's reported distance varies rapidly up and down +/- 0.5cm from the average. With two independent sensors, one can be reporting +0.5cm while the other is reporting -0.5cm (not parallel at all) when in actuality they physically at the same distance. I have included an Excel plot showing the output from the 'center' sensor on the right-hand side.

Currently I have all sensors set for a 20mS measurement budget. Would a longer measurement budget improve this performance? Is there anything else I can do? I have looked through the VL53L0X manual and the API and I didn't see anything other than the measurement budge setting that might affect measurement stability.

If this performance is typical for the VL53L0X, will changing to the VL53L1X or other sensor provide better performance? My application is for measurements in the 10-150cm range, and I would like to be able to detect distance changes in the 200mS time frame.

TIA,

Frank

[Julien NGUYEN]

Hello Frank

The VL53L1X will give you better performances for your application [10 cm - 150 cm].

There are two driver versions, please use the one called ULD.

Regards

Julien

[FPayn.1]

Julien,
Thanks for the quick reply. When you say the VL53L1X will 'give you better performance', did you mean better stability under the conditions I noted, or something else entirely? My current set of VL53L0X units are plenty accurate enough in terms of nominal distance measurements, but as my Excel plot showed, rather noisy over time at a fixed distance.
TIA,
Frank

[Julien NGUYEN]

Max distance for example you need 150 cm ? To get it you need to be in perfect condition, no ambient light, big target, good reflectance surface etc... while with the vl53l1x you have more margin. With the L0x when the SNR becomes poor the accuracy will decrease drastically.