We are looking for a TOF sensor that meets some requirements

[KF1]

Moved  from the Feedback forum - which is not for product questions.

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Dear person in charge
Could you please reply to the following?
Thank you so much for your attention and participation.

Q1
We are looking for a ToF sensor that meets the following requirements

High resolution at close range,
High sampling frequency (more sensor values per second)
low power consumption,

Which of the following would be appropriate?　Are there any other candidates?

1. VL53L4CD ToF (time-of-flight) high-precision proximity sensor
https://www.digikey.jp/ja/product-highlight/s/stmicroelectronics/vl53l4cd-time-of-flight-high-accuracy-proximity-sensor

2. VL6180X
https://www.digikey.jp/ja/products/detail/stmicroelectronics/VL6180XV0NR-1/4854910?gclsrc=aw.ds&&utm_adgroup=&utm_source=google& utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Pmax%20Shopping_Supplier_All&utm_term=&productid=4854910&utm_content=&utm_id=go_cmp-20225018071_adg-_ ad-__dev-c_ext-_prd-4854910_sig-Cj0KCQiAy8K8BhCZARIsAKJ8sfS2JZS8zkXQOrpdpBzAsqcICm3rt5VBeUxjtfeIC9hCuiiBb3g-3OEaAu9sEALw_wcB&gad_ source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAy8K8BhCZARIsAKJ8sfS2JZS8zkXQOrpdpBzAsqcICm3rt5VBeUxjtfeIC9hCuiiBb3g-3OEaAu9sEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

3. Others

Q2
I am looking for a product, other than a TOF sensor, that is a photo reflector and meets the following

High resolution over short distances,
High sampling frequency (more sensor values acquired per second),
Low power consumption,

The distance we want to measure is 1-2 cm.
Do you have any suggestions?

[Andrew Neil]

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@KF1 wrote:

High resolution at close range,
High sampling frequency (more sensor values per second)
low power consumption,?

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@KF1 wrote:

High resolution over short distances,
High sampling frequency (more sensor values acquired per second),
Low power consumption,

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These are all rather vague - what do you mean by "high" and "close" and "low" and "short" here ?

[John E KVAM]

The VL6180X was a great sensor, and has outlived our ability to buy some of the parts inside. So we reluctantly had to retire it. We still have lots, but it's not an option for a new design.

The VL53L4CD is my go-to. It's not expensive, and it's easy to use. Dead simply in fact. 

There is even a Ultra-Low-power software option, that you might look at. 

But you wanted a bit more speed and higher resolution, so I'm going to suggest the L4CD's big brother. 

The VL53L4CX works differently. It's quick, but it uploads the raw data to your MCU for processing. This way you get a better answer, and when run continuously, can run at 100Hz. (Don't be put off by the fact it can range to 6M. It's actually quite good at the shorter distances.)

With a ToF chip, you have to decide on some trade-offs though. Fast means lower power, but lower accuracy as well. You can get good accuracy, but it takes time - and that means more power.

All these chips use about 20mA while ranging. If you range for 5ms you don't use much power. But you get more accuracy if you range (integrate) for 20ms - or even 30ms. 

After giving he datasheet the once over, try buying the P-Nucleo-53L4A2. It's the eval kit for the VL53L4CX. It's only $56 dollars and after playing for a few hours you can get a sense of what it can do. 

This eval kit is also backward compatible with the VL53L4CD, so if you want to try simple, just download that code and give it a shot. 

- john