Node-RED VL53L0X

VL53L0X is a Time-of-Flight (ToF) ranging sensor. It is produced by STMicroelectronics: http://www.st.com/en/imaging-and-photonics-solutions/vl53l0x.html

The carriers for the sensor can be found here:

1. Pololu
2. Adafruit
3. AliExpress

This package contains a Node-RED Node interface for interacting and retrieving the range distance with the VL53L0X sensor.

Raspberry PI I2C interface

Communicating to the sensor is done over I2C. I2C must be enabled on the Raspberry PI. See the Raspberry Pi SPI and I2C Tutorial for instructions on how to enable I2C.

Node-RED VL53L0X Node

The Node-RED VL53L0X Node has a few parameters that must be configured:

1. Bus: This is the bus number the VL53L0X is connected to. The default is ic2-1.
2. Bus Address: This is the address of the VL53L0X. The VL53L0X has an address of 41 (0x29) by default.
3. Poll Interval: This is how often the distance in millimeters is read from the VL53L0X
4. Name: (optional)

start or stop must be passed into the node to start or stop the polling. Push msg = {payload : start | stop} to start | stop the flow.

Implementation Notes

• The distance in mm is returned as part of the payload.
• Only doing minimal init and running in "default mode" which is good to about 1200 mm.
• Calibration routines are not executed on the VL53L0X. A simple calibration tweak routine on the range data is used instead.
• Using continuous ranging measurements.