Time of Flight Distance Sensor from Adafruit

The sensor can detect the “time of flight” that is how much time the laser has taken to bounce back to the sensor, and in this way calculate the distance between the sensor and the detected object.

Technical Description

The sensor contains a very tiny invisible laser source and a matching sensor. After emitting the laser, it will measure the time it takes for the laser to bounce back to the sensor. The distance can be acquired by multiplying this time with the light speed.

Limitation

Since laser sensors generally use very narrow light source, it can only determine the distance of the object/surface directly in front of it. Meanwhile, there are also recommended distance range for each specific device.

Skill

Competent

Sample Sensors

SparkFun Distance Sensor https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14722.

Garmin LIDAR – Lite Optical Distance Sensor https://www.adafruit.com/product/4058

Sample Exercise

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-vl53l0x-micro-lidar-distance-sensor-breakout.