Distance Detection with the TF-Luna LiDAR and Raspberry Pi

The TF-Luna is an 850nm Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) module developed by Benewake that uses the time-of-flight (ToF) principle to detect objects within the field of view of the sensor. The TF-Luna is capable of measuring objects 20cm - 8m away, depending on the ambient light conditions and surface reflectivity of the object(s) being measured. A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is at the center of the TF-Luna, which is categorized as a Class 1 laser, making it very safe for nearly all applications [read about laser classification here]. The TF-Luna has a selectable sample rate from 1Hz - 250Hz, making it ideal for more rapid distance detection scenarios. In this tutorial, the TF-Luna is wired to a Raspberry Pi 4 computer via the mini UART serial port and powered using the 5V pin. Python will be used to configure and test the LiDAR module, with specific examples and use cases.

Arduino + VL53L1X Time of Flight Distance Measurement

Time of flight (ToF) is an approximation of the time it takes a traveling wave to come in contact with a surface and reflect back to the source. Time of flight has applications in automotive obstacle detection, resolving geographic surface composition, and computer vision and human gesture recognition. In the application here, the VL53L1X ToF sensor will be used to track the displacement of a ping pong ball falling down a tube. We can predict the acceleration and behavior of a falling ping pong ball by balancing the forces acting on the ball, and ultimately compare the theory to the actual displacement tracked by the time of flight sensor.