This is a proximity distance sensor that can sense obstacles in front of the sensor upto 4 meters. It is a highly accurate sensor with precision around 1mm and accuracy around +/-5mm. Very few sensors can detect obstacles at this accuracy. Compared to the VL53L0x and VL53l3x, it has a programmable sensor array that can be used to vary the sensor Field of View(FoV). You can also detect the independent sensor readings. Readings vary slightly with ambient light and object color.

This distance sensor contains a tiny invisible laser source and a matching sensor. It can detect the "time of flight", or how long the light has taken to bounce back to the sensor. Since it uses a very narrow light source, it is good for determining the distance of only the surface directly in front of it. Unlike sonars that bounce ultrasonic waves, the 'cone' of sensing is very narrow. Unlike IR distance sensors that try to measure the amount of light bounced, the VL53L1X is much more precise and doesn't have linearity problems or 'double imaging' where you can't tell if an object is very far or very close.

VL53L1X is an advanced time of flight (ToF) laser range sensor, with precise measurement range up to 4 m, rapid measurement frequency up to 50 Hz. These sensors are different from traditional infrared sensors, VL53L1X uses STT of technology to measure the absolute distance regardless of the target color and reflectivity.

Specifications:

Fully integrated micro modules
Emitter: 940-nm invisible laser (Class1)
SPAD (single-photon avalanche diode) receiving array with integrated lens
Fast and accurate distance measurement
The distance measured is up to 400 cm
Ranging frequencies up to 50 Hz
A typical full field of view (FoV): 27 °
The size of the programmable area of interest (ROI) on the receiving array allows the sensor FoV to be reduced
I2C interface (up to 400 kHz)
Switch off and interrupt pins
Voltage: 3.3 to 5 v
Sensing Range : 4 cm - 4 m

Applications:

Service robots and vacuum cleaners (long-distance and fast obstacle detection)
Drones (landing assistance, hovering, ceiling detection)
Smart shelves and vending machines (goods inventory monitoring)
Sanitary (robust user detection whatever the target reflectance)
Smart building and smart lighting (people detection, gesture control)
1 D gesture recognition
Laser-assisted autofocus enhances the camera autofocus system speed and robustness, especially in difficult scenes (low light and low contrast) and video focus tracking assistance

Package includes:

1x Laser Range Finder Distance Sensor Time of Flight VL53L1X