Vl53l0x troubles

[james57]

Hello!

Some context: I have a vl53l0x TOF distance sensor wired into an Arduino Uno (5V -> 5V, GND -> GND, SCL -> A5, and SDA ->A4). I'm running the Adafruit code and getting good results!

The issue I'm having relates to the range in degrees that the sensor can reach. I am trying to use this to sense the distance of an object in a tube, or in other words a set boundary side-to-side. The sensor is reading incorrect data only when pointed down a fixed straight boundary, like this tube. Just to clarify, when pointed at an object in an open environment the distance is read correctly and the tube I'm using is larger than the sensor itself so there's nothing obstructing the view of the sensor in front of it. I was wondering if there's any way to have the sensor only read distance directly in from of it (0 degrees) in order to alleviate this issue or if there's a way to collimate the data.

I've included a quick sketchup of what I'm trying to do for clarification.

Please let me know if anyone knows anything, thanks!

[anon35827816]

I think you'll need to restrict the angle of view of the sensor and/or the angle of illumination of the emitter. Perhaps (just a wild guess) something as simple as a glued-on plate with an appropriately sized aperture would do. This may impact range and sensitivity though due to the inevitable light loss, and there's the risk of reflections to keep in mind.

[james57]

To my understanding in the code for adafruit there's a "range ignore threshold" factor used to eliminate outliers to give more accurate data. I believe it is this that is returning incorrect values when placed in a limited boundary. Is there a way to program the sensor to only use the highest peak that is sensed at one time? and would that approach of using only the highest peak eliminate the need for something like an aperature?

[TomGeorge]

Hi,
From the specs the Field Of View is 25Deg angle.
vl53l0x.pdf (1.1 MB)

Tom...