efector pmd 3d from ifm electronic is an industrial 3D sensor that can detect scenes and objects in three dimensions at a glance. The novel PMD (photonic mixer device) time-of-flight measurement sensing technology has been integrated into a full vision chip matrix of 64x48 pixels. Each pixel of this chip matrix evaluates its distance to the object, resulting in 3072 distance values, the image of the object on the matrix and the respective distance values corresponding to a 3D image. The geometrical characteristics of the object or the scene can be read from these values.
This means the object and the sensor can be stationary, line scanning followed by complex post-imaging processing is simply not involved.
The integrated time of flight measurement based on pmd technology allows evaluation of geometrical characteristics such as volume, distance, level or surface area. The applications are easy to resolve, thanks to embedded firmware. All the user has to do is select the type of evaluation and set the parameters. The device is independent of, and unaffected by, external lighting conditions, having its own powerful built-in infrared illumination.