TOF MINIF Range Sensor User Guide

Overview

Introduction

The laser ranging module is based on the D-TOF single-point laser sensor, with a built-in MCU and completed housing packaging. It has sunlight suppression and smudge compensation algorithms to quickly and accurately measure the target distance. It adopts high-precision optical collimation technology, capable of stably measuring the distance of different targets even in a 100K Lux strong light environment.

Disclaimer

Life Support Policy
The TOF MINIF Range Sensor series is not authorized for use in safety-critical applications (such as life support), where a failure of the TOF MINIF Range Sensor series products may cause severe personal injury or death. The Customers who use or sell the TOF MINIF Range Sensor series products in such a manner do so entirely at their risk and agree to fully indemnify Waveshare and its representatives against any damages arising out of the use of TOF MINIF Range Sensor series products in such safety-critical applications.
Management Approval
The TOF MINIF Range Sensor series supplied by Waveshare has been certified by the European Union for laser products, and it is the user's responsibility to confirm whether these certifications are applicable depending on the region in which they are used or sold. All products developed by users that include the TOF MINIF Range Sensor series sensors must be approved by the relevant regulatory authorities responsible for managing laser products in any given jurisdiction before being sold or marketed within that jurisdiction, and users should be responsible for obtaining approval from the relevant regulatory authorities as needed.

Usage Scenarios

Ceiling height determination
Robot obstacle avoidance
Measurement and detection
Intelligent gesture control
Material level measurement

Operating Principle

TOF is an absolute distance detection technology, which means that the sensor emits near-infrared light that has been debugged and reflects it when it encounters an object. The sensor calculates the time difference or phase difference between the light emission and reflection, converts it into the distance of the captured object, and generates depth information. Compared to binocular and 3D structured light schemes, TOF has the advantages of longer working distance, wider applicability in various scenarios, and higher accuracy at longer distances. Therefore, it is often applied in situations such as personnel proximity detection, robot obstacle avoidance, and camera autofocus.

Specifications

Product	TOF Laser Range Sensor	TOF Laser Range Sensor (C)	TOF Laser Range Sensor (D)	TOF Laser Range Sensor Mini	TOF MINIF Range Sensor
Typical range of distance measurement	Short distance: 0.012 ~ 2.16m	0.05 ~ 25.0m	0.05 ~ 50.0m	0.02 ~ 7.8m	0.02 ~ 20m
	Medium distance: 0.012 ~ 3.60m
	Long distance: 0.01 ~ 5.00m
Typical ranging accuracy	Short distance: Accuracy ±1.0cm, Standard deviation <0.3cm	±3cm standard deviation <1.0cm @0.05~10m, <6.0cm @10~25m	±3cm standard deviation <1.0cm @0.05~10m, <6.0cm @10~50m	±4cm standard deviation <2.0cm @0.02~1m, <8.7cm @1~7.8m	<1m@±20mm, >1m@±2%
	Medium distance: Accuracy ±1.0cm, Standard deviation <1.5cm
	Long distance: Accuracy ±1.5cm, Standard deviation <0.5cm@0.01~3m, Standard deviation <8cm@3~5m
Refresh frequency	30Hz	100Hz		50Hz	30Hz
Power Supply	4.3 ~ 5.2V				4 ~ 5.6V
Operating temperature	-20°C ~ 65°C	-10℃ ~ 60℃
Wavelength	940nm (Compliant with Class1 standard)	905nm (Wavelength under review)		940nm (Wavelength under review)	940nm
Field of View (FOV)	15° ~ 27° (Multi-position adjustable)	1° ~ 2°		2° ~ 3°	3°±0.5°
Communication interface	UART (TTL signal cable electrical level 3.3V)
	CAN (Two interfaces can simultaneously serve as CAN interfaces)	I2C (Support parallel connection of multiple devices, with slave address 0x08+module ID)			-
	I/O (Output complementary electrical level)				-
Baud rate	UART: 115.2Kbps ~ 3000Kbps (default 921.6Kbps)				115200
Baud rate	CAN: 100K, 250K, 500K, 1M (default 1M)	I2C: Up to 400Kbps			-
Cascade quantity	UART interface supports up to 8 cascades, CAN interface supports up to 7 cascades	Up to 8 can be connected in parallel through I2C
Resistant to ambient light	Weak, about 10K LUX, only supports indoor use	Approximately 100K LUX illumination (suitable for both indoor and outdoor use)			100K Lux
Product power consumption	290mW (UART active output, long-distance mode power supply voltage 5.0V, current 58mA)	250mW (UART active output, power supply voltage 5.0V, current 50mA)		100mW (UART active output, long-distance mode power supply voltage 5.0V, current 20mA)	170mW (UART active output, power supply voltage 5.0V, current 34mA)
Product weight	2.7g	7.5g		1g	3.6g
Length, Width and Height	35.58mm × 12mm × 8.05mm	22.7mm × 28mm × 13.6mm		18.8mm ×12.0mm × 10.3mm	35.5 x 16.2 x 13.5mm

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Protocol Parsing

UART Communication Process

The default configuration of the serial port is: 8-bit data bit, 1-bit stop bit, no parity check, no flow control, and the default baud rate is 115200.
This protocol specifies that MINIF outputs distance data in ASCII format through UART, and provides ASCII format descriptions to ensure data reliability and parsing consistency.
The protocol consists of Header, Distance, Separator, Status, and Tail.
- Among them, Header, Separator and Tail are fixed values, please refer to the table below;
- Distance and Status are valid distance values and status;
The protocol contains the following parts:

Header + Distance + Separator + Status + Tail

Overview of protocol

Frame structure	Byte length	Description
Head	1	Frame header
Distance	1-5	Distance value
Separator	2	Separator
Status	1-3	Frame status
Tail	1	Frame tail

Example

Raw data:

20 33 32 37 2C 20 00 0A

Parsing table:

Data frame	Example (HEX)	ASCII characters
Head	20	Space
Distance	33 32 37	327
Separator	2C 20	,space
Status	00	0
Tail	0A	\n

That is, the output distance value of this measurement is 327, in units of mm; A status of 0 indicates that the distance is valid. Among them,

the frame header, separator, and frame tail are all fixed values.

Dimensions

Working with Raspberry Pi

For the installation and use of the Raspberry Pi system, you can refer to this link.
After successful boot, configure the Raspberry Pi environment

Download Demo

wget https://files.waveshare.com/wiki/TOF-MINIF-Range-Sensor/TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo.zip
unzip TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo.zip
cd TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo/

UART Demo

Enable Raspberry Pi UART

Enter the command in the Raspberry Pi terminal: sudo raspi-config nonint do_serial 2
Select NO in the first pop-up window, YES in the second one, and OK for the final one.

Hardware Connection

Refer to the following diagram for connection:

Run C Demo

cd ~/TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo/Raspberry/c/
make
./main

The terminal will output the relevant information, as shown below:

Run Python Demo

cd ~/TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo/Raspberry/python/example
python main.py

The terminal will output the relevant information, as shown below:

Working with Pico

For Pico environment setup and basic usage, please refer to this link.
After setting up the environment, you can connect the sensor and download the Demo

Hardware Connection

Refer to the following diagram for connection:

Arduino Pico Demos

Go to TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo\Pico\Arduino\TOF_URAT_Demo and double-click on the TOF_UART_Demo.ino file
Select development board:

Select the port of the Pico, and then compile and upload it
After the upload is completed, open the serial port monitor, and the relevant information will be output, as shown below:

Micropython Demos

Go to TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo\Pico\micropython and double-click on the TOF_UART_Demo.py file
Select development board:

Select the port of the Pico, and then run the demo
The shell will output the relevant information, as shown below:

C Demo

Go to TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo\Pico\c and open this folder with VS Code
In the Pico tool, import this project:

After import is successful, click Compile to compile. After compilation is successful, put Pico into boot mode and copy the UF2 firmware to the RP2040 disk
Opening the serial port debugger will output relevant information, as shown in the following figure:

Working with ESP32S3

For ESP32S3 environment setup and basic usage, please refer to this link.
After setting up the environment, you can connect the sensor and download the Demo

Hardware Connection

Refer to the following diagram for connection:

Arduino esp32 Demos

Go to TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo\ESP32S3\Arduino\TOF_URAT_Demo and double-click on the TOF_UART_Demo.ino file
Select development board:

Select the port of the ESP32S3, and then compile and upload it
After the upload is completed, open the serial port monitor, and the relevant information will be output, as shown below:

Micropython Demos

Go to TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo\ESP32S3\micropython and double-click on the TOF_UART_Demo.py file
Select development board:

Select the port of the ESP32S3, and then run the demo
The shell will output the relevant information, as shown below:

Working with Arduino

For Arduino environment setup and basic usage, please refer to this R4 link, R3 is installed by default.
After setting up the environment, you can connect the sensor and download the Demo

Arduino Demos

Hardware Connection

Refer to the following diagram for connection:

Run Demo

Go to TOF_MINIF_Range_Sensor_Demo\Arduino\TOF_URAT_Demo and double-click on the TOF_UART_Demo.ino file
Select development board:

Select the port of the development board, and then compile and upload it
After the upload is completed, open the serial port monitor, and the relevant information will be output, as shown below: