Pololu Digital Distance Sensor 100cm

Pololu Digital Distance Sensor 100cm

The product works over an input voltage range of 3.00V to 5.5 V, and the 0.1” pin spacing makes it easy to use with standard solderless breadboards and 0.1″ perfboards. This sensor is great way to quickly detect the presence of nearby objects. It has a single digital output that drives low when an object is being detected; otherwise, it is high.

Unlike simpler optical sensors that use the intensity of reflected light to detect objects, this sensor uses a short-range lidar module to precisely measure how long it takes for emitted pulses of infrared, eye-safe laser light to reach the nearest object and be reflected back. This allows the sensor performance to be largely independent of object reflectivity and ambient lighting conditions (though the range can be reduced for extremely low-reflectance objects).

Specifications:

• Operating voltage: 3.0 V to 5.5 V
• Current consumption: 30 mA (typical) when enabled, 0.4 mA when disabled
• Maximum range: 100 cm (20″)
• Minimum range: < 1 mm
• Minimum update rate: 100 Hz (10 ms period)
• Field of view (FOV): 15° typical; can vary with object reflectance and ambient conditions
• Output type: digital signal (low when detecting an object, high otherwise)
• Dimensions: 0.85″ × 0.35″ × 0.136″ (21.6 × 8.9 × 3.5 mm)

Using the Sensors:

VIN, GND, and OUT are necessary to use this module. The VIN pin should be connected to a 3 V to 5.5 V source, and GND should be connected to 0 volts. The OUT pin drives low (0 V) when an object is being detected and it drives high (to the VIN level) when an object is not being detected. It is weakly pulled high when the sensor is disabled or waiting for its first reading to complete after power-up. A red LED on the back side of the board also lights whenever an object is detected.