What is Optical TOF sensor (Time of Flight Sensor)

Huawei P30 and Huawei P30 Pro will be announced in a next few hours. As the letter P represent Photography, Huawei has put the best effort to produce a better photography smartphone. According to leaked documents, Huawei P30 and Huawei P30 Pro will come with TOF sensor. Similar to to what Honor View 20 has. The rumoured Samsung Galaxy A90 is so reported to have TOF sensor. Which I believe to be optical TOF.

So.. What is Optical TOF sensor (Time of Flight Sensor)

Basically Optical TOF sensor consist of light transmitter and a light receiver.The time difference or time delay from transmitting to a certain object and then reflected back to receiving sensor will then used to determine the object distance.

Now, the benefits of using Optical TOF sensor.

1. Independance of target color and reflectivity.
2. High data rate.
3. Ambient light cancellation.
4. Unaffected by humidity, air pressure and temperture.
Source Texas Instruments

If we look at the benefits listed above, basically TOF sensor will give high accuracy to determine object distance. It also work perfectly under uncertain weather condition.

In photography, Optical TOF sensor sensor will assist the camera to focus fast and accurate especially in a low light.