[Dprglist] Pimoroni PAA5100JE Optical Flow Sensor (Robot News 1/3)

[Murray Altheim]

Hi,

I won't be able to attend tomorrow's video conference, but I'll send three
messages to the mailing list, providing all the Robot News I have that's
fit to print. Here's the first installment.

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I've got some good news from Pimoroni regarding what will be designated
the PAA5100JE (no name yet), an SPI-based "Breakout Garden" board from
Pimoroni. Following forum messages from myself, Karim and someone named
Ashley Foxcroft:

   https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/request-new-floor-tracking-sensor-based-on-pmw3901-breakout/14360

I received a message from Hel Gibbons of Pimoroni that indicates they've
decided to go ahead and produce a Breakout Garden board similar to their
existing PWM3901 Optical Flow Sensor (range: ~80mm to infinity) but using
the short range PixArt sensor, whose range is 15 to 35mm.

I'm really looking forward to having a chance to play with this one. The
PixArt PAA5100JE-Q Optical Tracking Chip is described as:

     The PAA5100JE-Q is PixArt Imaging's latest optical navigation chip
     designed to enable navigation with working range of 15 mm to 35 mm
     over various surfaces. It is housed in a 28-pin land-grid-array
     (LGA) package that provides X-Y motion information. Aided by external
     illumination [two built-in LEDs on the Pimoroni board --ma], it is
     most suitable for motion and surface detection in robot application.

     Key Features

       * Working range of 15 to 35 mm
       * No lens focusing required during lens mounting process
       * Power consumption of 6 mA typical @ run mode (chip only)
       * 16-bits motion data registers
       * Motion detect pin output
       * Internal oscillator – no clock input needed

     Applications

       * Devices that require near field motion detection, e.g Robot Cleaners

There is of course no price yet but I note that Pimoroni's existing PMW3901
Optical Flow Sensor Breakout sells for £18.90:

   https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/pmw3901-optical-flow-sensor-breakout

Since it is very similar to the PWM3901 it probably will be priced in
the same ballpark.

The photo I received from Pimoroni showing the fabrication board for
their prototypes can be found on the NZPRG wiki at:

    https://service.robots.org.nz/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=OpticalFlowSensor

Cheers,

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim <murray18 at altheim dot com>                       = =  ===
http://www.altheim.com/murray/                                     ===  ===
                                                                    = =  ===
     In the evening
     The rice leaves in the garden
     Rustle in the autumn wind
     That blows through my reed hut.
            -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu