Ambient Light Sensors

ST offers innovative ambient light sensors (ALS) that provide, in optimized package size, accurate information on ambient light, like the Illuminance (lux) level, the color temperature or the light flicker frequency.

In addition to our VL6180X that combines ambient light sensing (ALS) with a Time-of-Flight (ToF) range sensor and an IR emitter in a single module, ST introduces the new VD6283TX, a miniature full-color sensor with advanced light flicker frequency extraction.

Benefits of ST’s ambient light sensors

Accurate lux, correlated color temperature (CCT) and distance measurement information (depending upon product)
Easy integration with miniature or all-in-one modules
Low power consumption
Competitive system cost

What are ambient light sensors?

ST ambient light sensors offer, in optimized packages, photopic or color filters with precise responses that convert ambient light into Lux values with high-accuracy performance.

Full-color sensors provide a complete optical sensing solution combining the computation of the correlated color temperature (CCT) and the extraction of flickering frequencies of artificial lights, effectively removing the “banding effect” often visible on camera screens.

Combining ambient light sensor with an IR emitter and ST’s patented FlightSense™ Time-of-Flight technology, the 3-in-1 combo sensors are easy to integrate and save the end-product maker long and costly optical and mechanical design optimizations.

Benefits of the miniature VD6283TX full-color sensor

Scheduled for release in 3Q21, the full-color VD6283TX ALS is the smallest 6-channel color sensor the market with 1.83 x 1.0 x 0.55 mm package. Light measurement is fast and accurate thanks to an individual ADC and readout circuitry for each color channel (Red, Green, Blue, IR, Clear and Visible). The VD6283TX uses hybrid color filters with precise responses allowing accurate computation of the correlated color temperature (CCT) and Lux information that can be used for display brightness management or scene light correction. Additionally, the VD6283TX can extract light flickering frequencies from 100 Hz to 2 kHz, including LED square signals.

Developer resources

ST ambient light sensors are supplied with a complete documentation package, example source code and a software APIs (application programming interface) which is compatible with a range of microcontrollers and processors. The application software development and the physical integration into customers’ devices is easy thanks to the X-NUCLEO expansion and breakout boards which are compatible with the STM32 ODE environment and STM32CubeMX graphical user interface and initialization code generator.