Question About VL53L8CH FOV Adjustment and Resolution Enhancement

[kgb]

Hello everyone,

I am currently working with the VL53L8CH sensor, and it's impressive what can be achieved with it. However, I would like to know if there is any way to reduce, modify, or adjust the sensor's field of view while maintaining its resolution (8x8).

Then, in certain specific use cases, I would like to increase the resolution, though I believe 64 (8x8) is the maximum. If increasing the resolution isn't possible, is there perhaps another way to reduce the field of view to focus on a smaller area while preserving accuracy?

[John E KVAM]

Well, there is a way - but you can't do it.

When we invented the VL53L7, we took the L5 and swapped the optics. 

But we WIDENED the FoV and did not narrow it down. Narrowing it down increases the intensity and will make the device non eye safe. So please don't do that unless you have a laser expert test your results.  

We are considering creating a device with more resolution, but it limits the distance at which the device can 'see'.

The trouble is we build these things for the cell-phone industry. And it's not obvious that anyone wants more resolution in their cell phone. it would be nice to have, but giving up range is hard to do. And if you divide up each zone into 4, fewer SPADs (photon detectors) are available for each of those smaller zones. And that leads to less accuracy. 

So, it's a tradeoff. 

Early next year we are releasing the L9. It has 2300 zones. Can you wait for that?

- john

[kgb]

Hello @John E KVAM ,

Wow amazing!!! I just read the overview  of the upcoming L9, it's quite impressive! Up to 10m range, 2.3K resolution (is that even possible?), and even IR imaging? Incredible. I assume it will retain all the features of the L8 and L7, such as motion indication, CNH data, multi-target detection, and support for specific use cases like presence detection, and cup/glass detection , but now with more detailed information and possibly even more use cases. It will be the perfect sensor if it could also integrate a Ambient Light Sensor  :) Anyway I'm really excited! 

[John E KVAM]

We kind of gave up on putting the ALS in the Time of Flight module. It was handy for the customers who wanted it, but just an added expense for those who did not. The VD6283 is incredibly small, and you can tuck it right next to your ToF sensor. And it's not that expensive either. 

The L9 is not just a bigger L8. We changed a lot to get to 10 meters. If we kept the same histogram idea, there would be many hundreds of bins x 2300 zones, and that's just too much data to send, and too much memory. So we found a better way to do it. 

But it works and I'm as excited as you are. 

Should be there for early 2026.