Sensor and sensing solutions company, Terabee, has announced the latest addition to their line of lightweight, small-size, low-cost distance and ranging sensors for robotics, drones and automation.
The new sensor, called TeraRanger Evo, weighs only 9g (12g with communication board) but can make distance readings at up to 60m range! Quite impressive for a distance sensor using LEDs rather than laser!
Ease of use has always been a key feature of TeraRanger sensors and Evo is no different. There are no calibrations, compensations or data translations to do, so the sensor is essentially plug and play, streaming distance values in digital format. Adding to the ease of use is the clever (and all-new) two-part construction where the black colored optical sensor module simply clips to the yellow colored backboard for power management and communications. Currently two backboards are available; USB or UART/I2C, but Terabee says the option is there to build others, be it WiFi, bluetooth, LoRA, Sigfox or any other.
With this sensor we’ve taken both ease of use and performance to another level and for a system based on LED’s rather than laser, we are very proud of what we have achieved. End users and OEM’s have responded really well to the new design. The interchangeable backboards are really convenient, and for OEM’s there is the option to buy only the optical part of the sensor and embed power and communications management in their own boards to increase the cost-efficiency.
Greg Watts, Commercial Manager, Terabee
By using near-infrared LED’s rather than laser, TeraRanger Evo also benefits from a 2 degree field-of-view, so that, rather than measuring distance based on a very small point of light, the sensor measures over an area.
For many applications this is a significant advantage and provides a more appropriate and stable datastream. It also means that you can detect small targets, or hazards, that a laser might miss, like an electrical cable in the path of a robot, a slatted fence, or irregular shaped objects. These are all typical use cases where our customers tell us they get better results from TeraRanger than they did from their lasers.
Greg Watts, Commercial Manager, Terabee
Measuring just 29x29x32 milimetres, Terabee is committed to creating small-sized, lightweight and low-cost sensors with best-in-class performance. TeraRanger Evo is priced at €125 including the backboard, with the potential for very low pricing in volumes, and is available to purchase from https://www.terabee.com/portfolio-item/teraranger-evo-infrared-distance-sensor/.
A short video introducing the sensor and its features is also available: https://www.terabee.com/portfolio-item/teraranger-evo-infrared-distance-sensor/#video