The same 3D sensing technology, which is more advantageous, TOF or structured light?

The principle of 3D structured light is to emit a diffracted light spot to an object, and the sensor receives the deformed light spot to judge the depth information according to the deformation of the light spot. The energy density of the diffraction spot emitted by it will decrease after a certain distance, which is not suitable for long-distance depth information acquisition.

TOF technology emits not speckle, but a surface light source, so the optical information of TOF will not be greatly attenuated within a certain distance, and the pixel of TOF photosensitive element is very large, reaching 10μm, which is enough for light collection. Theoretically, as long as the power of the transmitter is increased, the TOF will be used far away.

Time-of-flight three-dimensional induction technology

As mentioned earlier, at last year's MWC, vivo showed off-screen fingerprints. After a year, vivo once again demonstrated black technology: TOF 3D sensing technology in Shanghai MWC. It is also unlocked, but TOF 3D sensing technology is really different this time.

TOF 3D sensing technology, like 3D structured light, is three-dimensional and can obtain fine depth information, so it is more secure. However, compared with structured light, the effective depth information point of TOF 3D is as high as 3 million, which is 10 times that of 3D structured light.

Moreover, compared with the bangs with wide 3D structured light, the overall module of TOF 3D induction technology is smaller, so its bangs area will be correspondingly smaller.

In addition, TOF 3D sensing technology is farther than 3D structured light recognition, and vivo claims that it can be extended to 3 meters, which greatly expands the use scenarios, such as 3D fitting, 3D photography, MR somatosensory games and other remote application scenarios.

In addition, more importantly, TOF 3D is more mass-produced. IPhone X is sold in the name of the highest-priced iPhone in history, and naturally it has been complained by countless consumers. Part of the reason for the high price of iPhone X is that 3D structured light is difficult to mass-produce, but TOF 3D does not have this problem, and it is much less difficult to mass-produce, so the price of mobile phones equipped with TOF 3D will be more close to the people, so that more consumers can enjoy this technology.

Finally, TOF 3D has another advantage. Its requirement for baseline is basically zero, so it is more flexible in the design of body ID, which provides more possibilities for future mobile phone forms.

So TOF has more advantages.