AlexRad45/2DX4

The 2DX4 Final Project Lidar system is an integrated 3D scanning system that is capable of measuring and recording distances in multiple 360 degree planes along a perpendicular axis and processing the recorded data to produce a 3D visualization of the space that was mapped. The fairly simple system consists of a microcontroller, a stepper motor and a time-of-flight sensor. The microcontroller is responsible for managing all operations in the system from controlling the stepper motor and powering components to transmitting the data from the sensor to the computer. The only thing the microcontroller does not do is handle the 3D visualization of our data. The stepper motor allows for the system to have a 360 degree range of motion, allowing the mounted time-of-flight sensor to capture and record distance measurements in the full vertical plane. The VL53L1X ToF sensor emits pulses of infrared light, determining distances by measuring the time the laser pulses take to be reflected back to the detector. The sensor calculates the distance using this timing data and based on its configuration settings, it then transmits this distance data to the microcontroller through I2C. The system connects to a pc using a USB cable, the pc is running the python code for visualization. The microcontroller transmits data to the PC via UART, sending status messages and distance measurements. The data is then visualized using the included python script.

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