Ultrasonic ToF (Time-of-Flight) Sensors

Catalog

Product Spotlights

The compact ultrasonic sensor module detects objects using ultrasonic waves, which are transmitted and received with only one piezoelectric disc.

TDK SmartBug™, intelligent multi-sensor IoT module, now available worldwide

Worldwide availability of MEMS-based “sonar on a silicon chip” ultrasonic ToF sensors

Tech Notes

Products & Technologies

Product Overview

TDK’s SmartSonic™ MEMS Ultrasonic Time-of-Flight Sensors

TDK’s ultrasonic Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors integrate a MEMS PMUT (Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer) with an ultra-low power SoC (System on Chip) in a miniature reflowable package.
These sensor solutions are capable of ranging to targets of any composition up to 5 meters in any lighting condition, making them ideal for a variety of applications including: obstacle avoidance, presence detection, robotics, security & surveillance, AR/VR, drones, liquid level sensing, smart home/building, and general IoT.

Product Overview

TDK RoboKit1 SmartRobotics™ Platform

The TDK Robokit1 combines sensors, processors, and actuators on a single board, making it an ideal robotics platform for quick prototyping and development. RoboKit1 integrates key product offerings such as 6-axis IMU, industrial IMU modules, capacitive barometric pressure sensor, digital I²S microphone, temp sensor, ultrasonic Time of Flight (ToF) sensors, magnetometer, and motor controller on a single PCB.
It also comes equipped with ARM® Cortex®-M7, multiple interfaces, and is compatible with multiple processor platforms such as Raspberry Pi and ASUS Tinker Board. RoboKit1 is not just another dev board—it is the comprehensive TDK solution showcase!

Applications & Cases

Sensors for New Mobility

【How electrification and autonomous driving are expanding the role of sensor technologies within automotive designs】

The automotive production landscape is changing. The proliferation of electronic devices and sensors in modern car design has grown exponentially in recent years. It will expand further as the industry continues its transition toward e-mobility and autonomous driving. The core technologies featured in electric vehicles expand the realm into which sensors are deployed. Also, combustion engine vehicle gas sensors have shifted away from exhaust gas monitoring toward internal air quality (IAQ) measurement.

Application Note

Sensors for Drones

TDK offers a full suite of sensors that are perfectly suited for drones of all types from consumer/prosumer models to industrial units.

In just a few years, drones have become indispensable in one application after another, including such diverse areas as agriculture, real estate and cinematography. For all this success, drones still have almost unlimited potential given their suitability for a wide variety of uses including delivery, inspection, search & rescue, monitoring, and mapping, to name just a few.

Fundamental to drone utility is sensor technology. Drones rely on diverse sets of sensors for two broad purposes. First for their own functionality, notably flight and navigation, and second, for their ancillary capabilities – cameras for vision, motion detectors to sense activity, heat sensors to detect temperature, and so on.

Application Note

How service robots make sense of their surroundings

Service robots play an increasingly vital role in society, from transportation and warehouse logistics to home entertainment and security. Regardless of their application, they need to sense changes in their surroundings in real-time to ensure safety while providing a positive user experience. To illustrate how various sensor technologies from TDK’s SmartSensor family can be applied in service robots, this article focuses on a robotic vacuum cleaner (RVC).
Early versions of robotic vacuums had very little intelligence, randomly bumping their way around the home and sometimes missing areas as they did not know where they had been. Often, they would unwittingly become trapped or run out of charge mid-sweep. And, as their dust box is comparatively small to a regular vacuum cleaner, if full, they could be sweeping but not collecting anything up. Over the years, with the innovative use of sensors and motor controllers, vacuum cleaning robots have become much smarter, overcoming these issues.

Solution Guides

Solution Guide

Sensors solutions that enable advanced control of service robots

Service robots are widely used in various situations such as logistics / transport, security, cleaning, housework, hobbies / entertainment and care / assistance. Since service robots are used in a wide variety of situations, it is necessary to fulfil many requirements such as smooth communication with humans (HMI), ensuring safety and responding to changes in the real time. In service robots, the role of a sensor is very important. In this article, we will take a vacuum cleaner robots as an example.

Technical Support Tools

Developer Kits 「SmartSonic™ Platform」(InvenSense Brand)

InvenSense Developers Corner

Related Information

Application Guides

TDK Product Features

TDK’s ultrasonic Time-of-Flight(ToF) sensors utilize a compact ultrasonic transducer to send out an ultrasonic pulse, and then listen for echoes returning from targets in the sensor’s field-of-view(FoV). The built-in processing unit calculates the time of flight of the ultrasonic pulse and shares this information with the external control unit. The external control unit determines by this information the distance to the objects in the field of view of the sensor. Unlike optical distance sensors, ultrasonic technology are a highly reliable detection method because ultrasonic can detect transparent objects such as glass. These ToF sensors are intended for consumer electronics, AR/VR, robotics, drones, IoT, automotive, and industrial markets. TDK offers a series of products according to the intended use, such as small packaged products, ultra-low power consumption, and resistant to dust and water.