New pmd flexx2 Time-of-Flight Sensor Packs 38,000 3D Pixels Into a Gumstick-Size Dev Kit
Powered by Infineon’s IRS2381C REAL3 sensor, this ToF kit ships in February starting at $399 per unit.
Depth-sensing specialist pmdtechnologies (pmd) has announced the result of its partnership with California-based Emcraft Systems: a next-generation development kit for three-dimensional time-of-flight (ToF) sensing, dubbed the flexx2.
"The flexx2 builds on the success of the now-discontinued 'PicoFlexx,' that already brought pmd’s 3D depth-sensing technology to the hands of thousands of developers worldwide," says pmd's Mitchell Reifel of the company's new product. "Countless exciting and industry-changing projects are built upon the flexibility and reliability of the 3D Development Kits and make use of the high-quality depth data from Infineon’s IRS2381C REAL3 Time-of-Flight Image Sensor and pmd’s powerful SDK."
The new kit has a 224×172 resolution for 38,528 3D pixels across a 56×44 degree field-of-view (FoV) — in a device measuring, its creators claim, just 72.1×19.2×10.2mm (around 2.84×0.76×0.4") including case. The sensor can run at up to 45 frames per second, and offers precise measurements from 10cm to 4m (around 4" to 13.1').
The flexx2 launches in two variants, cased and uncased. The former is ready-to-run with a 940nm VCSEL laser emitter fully certified; the latter is uncertified, and designed for production of devices prototyped using the cased variant. Both versions support pmd's Royale software development kit, which comes with support for MATLAB, OpenCV, and both Robot Operating System (ROS) and ROS 2.
Pricing for the sensor has been set at $399 in individual quantities, with volume discounts kicking in at 20 or more units. Hardware is expected to ship in February, with interested parties asked to sign up to the waitlist on the company website.
