Vl53l0x - increase range and sensitivity

Support Sensors
1

Hi,

I’m using 5x Pololu vl53l0x sensors together with Arduino Pro Mini.
Everything is wired correctly, code is implemented and I get readings.
Problem is that I cannot make it useful for range of about 2m as this sensor is advertised.

It works good mostly for 0.5m. I can get reading maximum of 1m when using white object such as A4 white paper.
But after 1m objects are hardly detected. My plan is to detect small obstacles on lower part of robot and with current sensitivity it will be very difficult.

I’m using HIGH_ACCURACY and LONG_RANGE settings:

ToF[i].setSignalRateLimit(0.1);
ToF[i].setVcselPulsePeriod(VL53L0X::VcselPeriodPreRange, 18);
ToF[i].setVcselPulsePeriod(VL53L0X::VcselPeriodFinalRange, 14);
ToF[i].setMeasurementTimingBudget(200000);

IMG_20190207_083642617
IMG_20190207_0836426174608×3456 3.84 MB

Any idea how to improve sensitivity so I can detect smaller object on larger distance?

I switched from VL6180X to VL53L0X in order to detect obstacles on larger distances but I cannot notice drastic improvements.

2

Increasing the timing budget or decreasing ambient light if you can should help somewhat, but in general, it seems like you are encountering a limitation of the sensor itself. Also, the VL53L1X should have more range than the VL53L0X under similar conditions.

-Nathan