LightRanger Click

How does it work?

LightRanger Click is based on the TSL2583, a Time-of-Flight distance ranging sensor from STMicroelectronics, combining proximity ranging and ambient light level measurement capabilities into a single package. The VL6180X is based on ST’s patented FlightSense™ technology, which allows absolute distance to be measured independently of target reflectance. Instead of estimating the distance by measuring the amount of light reflected from the object (which is significantly influenced by color and surface), the VL6180X precisely measures the time the light takes to travel to the nearest object and reflect back to the sensor up to 10cm (ranging beyond 10cm is dependent on conditions).

Combining an IR emitter, a range sensor, and an ambient light sensor in a three-in-one package, the VL6180X is designed for low-power operation and saves the end-user optical and mechanical design optimizations. This board can also measure the intensity of light with which it is illuminated up to 100kLux. The VL6180X does not need a specific Power-Up sequence but requires a voltage of 2.8V for its VCSEL and power supply block to work correctly. Therefore, a small regulating LDO, the AP7331, provides a 2.8V out of chosen mikroBUS™ power rail.

LightRanger Click communicates with MCU using the standard I2C 2-Wire interface with a maximum clock frequency of 400kHz, fully adjustable through software registers. Since the sensor for operation requires a power supply of 2.8V, this Click board™ also features the PCA9306 and SN74LVC1T45 voltage-level translators. The I2C interface bus lines are routed to the voltage-level translators allowing this Click board™ to work with both 3.3V and 5V MCUs properly. Also, it can be enabled or disabled through the EN pin routed to the CS pin of the mikroBUS™ socket; hence, offering a switch operation to place the VL6180X in a hardware standby state and uses an interrupt pin, the INT pin of the mikroBUS™ socket, used for measurement ready and threshold interrupts.

This Click board™ can operate with both 3.3V and 5V logic voltage levels selected via the LOGIC SEL jumper. Therefore, both 3.3V and 5V MCUs can use the communication lines. This Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used, as a reference, for further development.

Specifications

Pinout diagram

This table shows how the pinout on LightRanger Click corresponds to the pinout on the mikroBUS™ socket (the latter shown in the two middle columns).

Notes	Pin					Pin	Notes
	NC	1	AN	PWM	16	NC
	NC	2	RST	INT	15	INT	Interrupt
Enable	EN	3	CS	RX	14	NC
	NC	4	SCK	TX	13	NC
	NC	5	MISO	SCL	12	SCL	I2C Clock
	NC	6	MOSI	SDA	11	SDA	I2C Data
Power Supply	3.3V	7	3.3V	5V	10	5V	Power Supply
Ground	GND	8	GND	GND	9	GND	Ground

Onboard settings and indicators

LightRanger Click electrical specifications

Software Support

We provide a library for the LightRanger Click as well as a demo application (example), developed using MikroElektronika compilers. The demo can run on all the main MikroElektronika development boards.

Package can be downloaded/installed directly from NECTO Studio Package Manager(recommended), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on Mikroe github account.

Library Description

This library contains API for LightRanger Click driver.

Key functions

• This function writes a byte of data to given address.

• This function reads register and calculates the light level in lux.

• This function reads range result from register.

Example Description

This example collects data from the sensor and logs it to the terminal.

 void application_task ( void ) 
 { 
     uint8_t range_value; 
     float lux_value; 

     lightranger_start_single_shot_range_mode( &lightranger ); 

     lightranger_poll_range( &lightranger ); 
     lightranger_interrupts_clear( &lightranger ); 

     range_value = lightranger_get_distance( &lightranger ); 
     log_printf( &logger, "Proximity : %u mmrn", ( uint16_t ) range_value ); 

     lux_value = lightranger_get_ambiant_light( &lightranger, LIGHTRANGER_CMD_GAIN_1X ); 
     log_printf( &logger, "Ambient Light: %.2f luxrn", lux_value ); 

     log_printf( &logger, "*******************************************rn" ); 
     Delay_ms( 500 ); 
 }

The full application code, and ready to use projects can be installed directly from NECTO Studio Package Manager(recommended), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on Mikroe github account.

Other Mikroe Libraries used in the example:

• MikroSDK.Board
• MikroSDK.Log
• Click.LightRanger

Additional notes and informations

Depending on the development board you are using, you may need USB UART click, USB UART 2 Click or RS232 Click to connect to your PC, for development systems with no UART to USB interface available on the board. UART terminal is available in all MikroElektronika compilers.

mikroSDK

This Click board™ is supported with mikroSDK – MikroElektronika Software Development Kit. To ensure proper operation of mikroSDK compliant Click board™ demo applications, mikroSDK should be downloaded from the LibStock and installed for the compiler you are using.

For more information about mikroSDK, visit the official page.