VL53L7/8CH ToF Multizone Sensor

STMicroelectronics' VL53L8CH and VL53L7CH are perfect time of flight (ToF) sensors for enabling artificial intelligence (AI) applications with enhanced performance under ambient light with a wide 65° diagonal FoV. The compact and normalized histogram (CNH) innovative data output is specially designed for AI applications requiring multizone raw data from a high-performance multizone ToF sensor.

The IR signal measured in each zone is sent as raw data to the host through each bin of the histogram. Highly configurable, the user can program the resolution of the VL53L8CH up to 64 zones (8x8 zones), modify the histogram resolution up to 128 bins, and define the bin width. All this CNH data is transmitted to the host through I²C or SPI, up to 30 Hz, in addition to the standard processed data of the ToF sensor (ranging distance, signal level, reflectance, and more).

TThe CNH data transform STMicroelectronics' ToF ranging sensor into a versatile optical sensor that can enable endless AI-based applications. This CNH raw data sent to the host, on top of the standard ranging data, opens the door to many new applications beyond simple distance measurements. From solid material (e.g., carpet, wood, glass, mirror) to gas or liquid (e.g., water, oil, chemical), it becomes possible to detect the location and the size of a cup in a coffee machine or beverage dispenser, to sense the floor material for robotics, and develop advanced shape, motion, or hand posture recognition.

The VL53L8CH and VL53L7CH integrate a powerful new generation VCSEL, and two advanced metasurface lenses. The integrated VCSEL emits fully invisible 940 nm IR light, which is Class 1 certified and safe for the eyes.