Benewake TFA170-L LiDAR Sensors
Preface
This user manual contains the introduction, use, and maintenance of TFA170-L LiDAR. Please read this manual carefully before formal use, and strictly follow the steps described in the manual during use to avoid product damage, property loss, personal injury, or/and violation of product warranty terms. If you encounter problems that cannot be solved during use, please contact Benewake staff for assistance.
Contact Details
Official website: en.benewake.com
Contact number: 400-880-9610
For technical questions, please contact: support@benewake.comFor sales inquiries or to request a brochure, please contact: bw@benewake.com
Headquarter Address
Benewake (Beijing) Co., Ltd. 3rd Floor, Haiguo Jiaye Sci-Tech Park, Haidian District, Beijing, China
Copyright Notice
This User Manual is copyright © of Benewake. Please do not modify, delete, or translate the description of this manual contents without official written permission from Benewake.
Disclaimer
The TFA170-L product is constantly being improved, and its specifications and parameters will undergo iterative changes. Please refer to the official website for the latest version.
Product Overview
This chapter mainly introduces the measuring principle, technical specifications, structural description, equipment coordinates field view distribution of the TFA170-L LiDAR.
Measuring principle
TFA170-L is a typical Pulse Time of Flight (PToF) sensor. TFA170-L emits an arrow pulse laser, which is collimated by the transmitting lens, which enters the receiving system after being reflected by the measured target and is focused on the APD detector by the receiving lens. The time between the transmitted signal and the received signal is calculated through the circuit amplification and filtering, and the distance between TFA170-L and the measured target can be calculated through the speed of light.
Technical Specifications
Table. 1: Technical specifications
| Performance Parameter | |
| Detection Range① | 0.1-170m@90% reflectivity 0.1-70m@10% reflectivity |
| Accuracy② | ±10cm(<10m), 1%(≥10m) |
| Distance resolution | 1cm |
| Default frame rate③ | 50Hz |
| Ambient light resistance | 100KLux |
| Laser Parameters | |
| Light source | EEL |
| Central wavelength | 905nm |
| FoV | <0.5° |
| Eye safety | Class 1 Eye-safe [EN60825] |
| Mechanical/Electrical | |
| Average power consumption | ≤1W |
| Peak current④ | 120mA@12V |
| Power supply | DC 12±10%V |
| Operating temperature | -20℃ ~ +60℃ |
| Storage temperature | -20℃ ~ +80℃ |
| Dimensions | TYP. 31.0 x 30.2 x 19.2mm³ |
| Weight | ~10g |
| Connector | 1.25mm-4P |
| Protection Level | N/A |
| Communication Protocol | |
| Communication Interface | RS-232 |
NOTICE
- The range is based on 25℃, 85KLux conditions, and any changes in environmental conditions may cause changes in the measurement results.
- The accuracy is based on 25℃ indoors and 90% reflectivity condition and any changes in environmental conditions may cause changes in the measurement results.
- The frame rate will be between 1Hz and 1000Hz. 50Hz is the default frame rate. The default frame rate can be customized within the range.
- The peak current is measured at room temperature.
Structural Appearance
The overall appearance of the LiDAR is as shown in the figure below:
FoV
The FoV (field of view) is the angle covered by the LiDAR sensor. The horizontal FoV is 0.4° and the vertical FoV is 0.04°.
NOTICE
0.4° and 0.04° are theoretic values. Because the manufacturing error and the installing error exist, there is a divergence between actual and theoretic values.
Device Installation
This section introduces the mechanical installation and connection information of TFA170-L LiDAR.
Mechanical installation
As shown in the following figure. The model of the installation screwis M2.
Connector
The connector is 1.25mm-4P, appearance and definition are shown:
Table. 2: Interface connector pin definitions.
| PIN | Definition |
| 1 | VCC |
| 2 | GND |
| 3 | RS232_TX |
| 4 | RS232_RX |
Communication Protocols
By definition, RS-232 is a hardware communication protocol that uses synchronous serial communication with configurable speed. Asynchronous means there is no clock signal to synchronize the output bits from the transmitting device going to the receiving end.
Communication protocol
The device does not contain any power switch. Data can be transmitted after the power adapter is connected and connected to the computer via a network cable.
Table. 3: Characteristics of RS-232 Interface
| Character | Value | Configurability |
| Baud rate | 115200 | Configurable |
| Data bit | 8 | Non-configurable |
| Stop bit | 1 | Non-configurable |
| Parity | None | Non-configurable |
NOTE
The baud rate can be set to 9600, 14400, 19200, 38400, 56000, 57600, 115200, 128000, 230400, 256000, 460800, 500000, 512000, 600000, 750000, and 921600. If other the value was set, TFA170-L will set it to 115200.
Data protocol
A standard data frame consists of 30 bytes of hexadecimal numbers. The details are shown as follows:
Table. 4: Data transfer Protocol.
| No. byte | Definition | Remark | Default |
| 0 | Frame Header | Fixed value: 0x59 | 0x59 |
| 1 | Frame Header | Fixed value: 0x59 | 0x59 |
|
2 |
Frame Length |
Length of this data transfer frame. Number of bytes. Frame header and CRC checksum are included. |
0x1E |
| 3 | Frame ID | 0x00: Data transfer frame 0x20: Self-test frame | 0x00 |
| 4 | RefDist_L |
Distance, uint16_t |
cm |
| 5 | RefDist_H | ||
| 6 | ConLvl | Confidence level of reference distance. | % |
| 7 | Status | Status of LiDAR, e.g., Overtemperature warning, etc. | / |
| 8 | Temp_L |
Temperature |
Raw data |
| 9 | Temp_H | ||
| 10 | OrgDist1_L |
Original Distance #1 |
Raw data |
| 11 | OrgDist1_H | ||
|
12-13 |
PulseWidth1_L | The pulse width of the echo pulse of original distance #1 |
/ |
| PulseWidth1_H | |||
|
14-15 |
OrgDist2_L |
Original Distance #2 |
Raw data |
| OrgDist2_H | |||
|
16-17 |
PulseWidth2_L | The pulse width of the echo pulse of original distance #2 |
/ |
| PulseWidth2_H | |||
|
18-19 |
OrgDist3_L |
Original Distance #3 |
Raw data |
| OrgDist3_H | |||
| 20 | PulseWidth3_L | The pulse width of the echo pulse of the original | / |
| 21 | PulseWidth3_H | distance #3 | |
|
22-23 |
APDV_L | APD voltage, a basic value used to evaluate the status of LiDAR |
/ |
| APDV_H | |||
| 24 | Reserved1 | Reserved byte #1 | 0x00 |
| 25 | Reserved2 | Reserved byte #2 | 0x00 |
| 26 | Reserved3 | Reserved byte #3 | 0x00 |
| 27 | Reserved4 | Reserved byte #4 | 0x00 |
| 28 | CRC_L | Lower byte of Checksum | / |
| 29 | CRC_H | Higher byte of Checksum | / |
Custom configuration
TFA170-L realized several configuration parameters. These parameters, such as data format, and frame rate, could be modified by certain commands. All the parameters will be stored in Flash after configured successfully and customers don’t need to configure again when restarting. Please change the parameter according to certain requirements and do not frequently try irrelevant instructions. Please configure the product according to the requirements of the datasheet and don’t sendunstatedcommand.
Table. 5: Description of TFA170-L Command
| 21 | PulseWidth3_H | distance #3 | |
|
22-23 |
APDV_L | APD voltage, a basic value used to evaluate the status of LiDAR |
/ |
| APDV_H | |||
| 24 | Reserved1 | Reserved byte #1 | 0x00 |
| 25 | Reserved2 | Reserved byte #2 | 0x00 |
| 26 | Reserved3 | Reserved byte #3 | 0x00 |
| 27 | Reserved4 | Reserved byte #4 | 0x00 |
| 28 | CRC_L | Lower byte of Checksum | / |
| 29 | CRC_H | Higher byte of Checksum | / |
Table. 6: General Parameter Configuration and Description
| Obtain firmware e version. |
5A 04 01 5F |
5A 07 01 VA VB VC SU |
The version number r VC.B.A |
/ |
| System reset | 5A 04 02 60 | 5A 05 02 00 61 | / | / |
| Change frame rate |
5A 06 03 LL HH SU |
Same as command |
/ |
50 FPS |
|
Output control |
On: 5A 05 07 01
67 Off: 5A 05 07 00 66 |
Same as command |
/ |
Enabl ed |
| Modify baud rate |
5A 08 06 H1 H2 H3 H4 SU |
Same as command |
/ |
115200 |
|
Enable checks um |
On: 5A 05 08 01
68 Off: 5A 05 08 00 67 |
Same as command |
/ |
Enabl ed |
| Restore default settings |
5A 04 10 6E |
5A 05 10 00 6F 5A 05 10 01 70 |
Success
Failed |
/ |
| Save setting | 5A 04 11 6F | 5A 05 11 00 70 | Same as | / |
CAUTION
Do not send the command that is not in the list above.
NOTE
To send certain commands to TFA170-L, these steps should be followed:
- Change the value of a parameter to HEX
- Put the HEX value in a certain command
- Calculate the checksum, put low 8-bits into the command
- For example, changing the baud rate to 460800, first, changing 460800 to HEX, we can get 0x00 07 08 00, then we can get this command-5A 08 06 0008070077.
2024 Benewake (Bei j ing) Co., Ltd. · All rights reserved · REV: 12 /07 /2024
Documents / Resources
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Benewake TFA170-L LiDAR Sensors [pdf] User Manual TFA170-L LiDAR Sensors, TFA170-L, LiDAR Sensors, Sensors |
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Benewake TFA170-L LiDAR Sensor [pdf] User Manual TFA170-L LiDAR Sensor, TFA170-L, LiDAR Sensor, Sensor |