VL53L1X noise and calibration

[Andrew12]

Hello,

I'm using the VL53L1CB sensor to detect objects from a long distance. Unfortunately, I can't always guarantee ideal working conditions. Sometimes, there are objects (structural elements) within the detection area that cannot be removed. Their presence causes 'noise'. Is it possible to perform some calibration that would cause all objects seen by the sensor during calibration to be ignored and considered as background?

[John E KVAM]

The sensor has one job. Dectect photons. These photons are not marked in any way. And other than filtering out all the ones that are not 940nm, we have no way of knowing if they are even ours. That's why sunlight is such a problem. 

The VL53L1CB can detect multiple targets within the FoV, so if you saw one near target you could discount it as noise because you know better.

There is an issue in that in order to be fully rendered, they have to be some 80cm apart in distance. But if the targets were closer together than that - you would get a "merged target warning". 

You might be able to use that information to decide what is going on.

- john

[Andrew12]

You're right, and that's clear to me.

I'm referring to a situation where the sensor has certain elements within its field of view that are fixed. Objects move around these elements, and I want to detect these objects. I was thinking about a calibration algorithm that would record the 'background' and then, during operation, only detect what differs from that background. Another approach could be to ignore selected 'pixels' of the SPAD array that would indicate the detection of an object during calibration. However, I'm not sure if such information is available through the API.