News: Optoelectronics
26 October 2021
Kaadas leverages ams OSRAM dToF sensor to deliver intelligent e-locks
ams OSRAM of Premstaetten/Graz, Austria and Munich, Germany is partnering with e-lock provider Kaadas of Shenzhen, China to introduce the latest intelligent e-locks. Providing distance information as an input to the facial recognition system, ams OSRAM’s TMF8801 direct time-of-flight (dToF) sensor is incorporated into Kaadas’ series of new e-locks (including the K20 and K20 Max).
As an entry-level product for smart homes and as a core element of future smart home security systems, the e-lock has become an indispensable component of the smart home ecosystem, says ams OSRAM. Following the early development of smart locks and their introduction to the market, today factors such as performance, safety, multi-functionality and intelligence have become critical attributes for e-lock products, the firm adds.
With an integrated vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) infrared emitter, multiple SPAD (single-photon avalanche photodiode) light detectors, time-to-digital converter, and on-chip microcontroller for histogram processing, the direct ToF time measurement methodology used in the TMF8801 delivers higher accuracy and true-distance measurements, compared with distance averaging employed with an indirect ToF system, says ams OSRAM.
The TMF8801 has a sunlight rejection filter that as a result provides what is claimed to be excellent sunlight immunity capability with accurate ranging even in full sunlight. Meanwhile, it provides a high dynamic range with a measurement range of 20mm to 2500mm, which outperforms its ToF peers, it is reckoned. Either indoors or outdoors, the TMF8801 recognizes the presence of a person in diverse lighting conditions.
Leveraging the TMF8801’s high ranging accuracy characteristics, ams OSRAM and Kaadas developed optimized algorithms to prevent the false triggering of the sensor in the e-lock caused by the detection of a person passing by the front of the door.
“The TMF8801 provides more accurate distance measurements to help Kaadas achieve more reliable, effective and energy-efficient e-lock solutions,” says ams OSRAM’s marketing manager Barry Guo. “It can be used for user presence detection to automatically wake up or put the system into a low-power sleep mode based on the presence or absence of a user,” he adds.
“ams OSRAM TMF8801’s precise ranging and excellent sunlight immunity capability make our e-lock work well in a variety of application scenarios,” says Xian Li, executive VP at Kaadas.
ams OSRAM showcasing sensor portfolio at Sensors Converge 2021
