Product Manual of TF02-Pro

SJ-PM-TF02-Pro Product Manual Alpha Benewake (Beijing) Co. Ltd.

Specified Product

Product model: TF02-Pro

Product name: TF02-Pro LiDAR (Medium range sensor)

Manufacturer

Company name: Benewake (Beijing) Co. Ltd.

Address: No.28, Xinxi Road, Haidian District, Beijing, PRC

Copyright

The Copyright of this document is protected. All the rights involved herein belong to Benewake (Beijing) Co. Ltd.
Any copy activity of this document, no matter in whole or in part, should be in conformity of the Copyright Law.
The actives of Modification, omission or translation of this document are not allowed unless a written permission
from Benewake (Beijing) Co. Ltd.

All rights reserved © Benewake (Beijing) Co. Ltd.

Product Certification

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Foreword
Dear users,

Thanks for choosing Benewake products, and it’s our pleasure to help you to solve any technical question.

In the purpose of offering a better operation experience to you, we hereby write this manual for an easier
and simpler operation of our product, hoping to better solve the common problems you maybe meet.

This operation manual covers the product operation introduction and common problem solutions, but it is
really hard to covers all the problems you maybe meet. So, if you have any further questions or problems,
please feel free to consult our technical support service ([email protected]). We will do our best to
solve any problem related to the product. If you have any other good advice or suggestion, welcome to visit
our official website and offer us your feedback there (http://en.benewake.com/contact_us), and we are
looking forwards to your participation.

We are Benewake who dedicated to making the best “Robotic Eyes” worldwide!

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Table of Contents
1 Attentions ............................................................................................................................................ 5

1.1 About this Manual...................................................................................................................... 5

1.2 Usage of Product ........................................................................................................................ 5

1.3 Conditions with Potential Malfunction ...................................................................................... 5

2 Physical Interface ................................................................................................................................ 6

2.1 Description about Line Sequence............................................................................................... 6

2.2 Electrical Characteristics ........................................................................................................... 6

3 Appearance and Structure.................................................................................................................. 7

4 Communication Protocol and Data Formats ..................................................................................... 8

4.1 Serial port Communication Protocol ......................................................................................... 8

4.2 Data Output Format of Serial port ............................................................................................ 8

4.3 Descriptions of default Output Data .......................................................................................... 9

4.4 I2C data communication ............................................................................................................ 9

4.5 Timing sequence description of I²C mode ................................................................................. 9

4.6 I/O mode description ................................................................................................................ 10

5 Quick Test.......................................................................................................................................... 10

5.1 Tools required for Product Test ............................................................................................... 10

5.2 Test Procedures ........................................................................................................................ 10

6 Descriptions on User-defined Parameter Configuration.................................................................. 12

6.1 Command Convention ............................................................................................................. 12

6.2 General Parameter Configuration and Description ................................................................ 12

7 Remote upgrading............................................................................................................................. 14

8 Malfunction: Causes and Troubleshooting ....................................................................................... 15

9 Q&A .................................................................................................................................................. 17

Attachment 1: Introduction of TF Series PC software ............................................................................. 18

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1 Attentions
1.1 About this Manual

 This manual provides all the essential information during the usage of this product.

 Please carefully read this manual and make sure that you fully understand everything herein.

1.2 Usage of Product

 The maintenance of this product should be done by the professional technician, and the product
can only work with the factory spare part for ensuring the performance and safety.

 This product itself has no polarity and over-voltage protection. Please properly connect and supply
power as described in this manual.

 Operating temperature of this product is between -20℃~60℃. Do not use it beyond this
temperature range to prevent malfunction.

 Storage temperature of this product is between -30℃~80℃. Do not store it beyond this
temperature range to prevent malfunction.

 For ensuring the product performance, do not open the product shell or remove the IR-pass filter.

1.3 Conditions with Potential Malfunction

 Detecting object with high reflectivity, such as the mirror or the smooth floor tile, may cause a
system malfunction.

 The product will malfunction if there is any transparent object between it and the detecting object,
such as glass or water.

 The product will be subject to risk of failure if its transmitting or receiving len is covered by the
dust. Please keep the lens clean.

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2 Physical Interface
2.1 Description about Line Sequence

Type of external connecting terminal of TF02-Pro is 1.25-4p(Molex510210400).

Table 1 The Function and Connection Description of each pin

Color Function Comment

Red +5V Power supply
White RXD/SDA Receiving/Data
Green TXD/SCL Transmitting/Clock
Black GND Ground

2.2 Electrical Characteristics

This product has no overvoltage nor polarity protection, so please make sure that connection and power
supply are normal.

Table 2 Major Electrical Parameters of TF02-Pro

Description Parameter value

Supply voltage 5V~12V

Average current ≤200mA
Peak current 300mA
Average power ≤1W
Communication level LVTTL（3.3V）

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3 Appearance and Structure

It is recommended to use M2.5 round Phillips screws for installation.

Please remove the protective film of the optical lens before use. The lens of front panel of LiDAR
cannot be covered. Please keep it clean.

The surface of optical lens is the ranging zero of LiDAR.

Figure 1: Constructional Drawing of TF02-Pro (unit: mm)

The detection angle of TF02-Pro is 3°. At different distances, the size of the spot, namely the edge
length of the detection range, is different, as shown in Figure 2. Side length of the detection range at
different distances (the detection range is a square), as shown in Table 2. Therefore, it is noted that the
side length of the target object generally should be longer than that of the TF02 detection range; if the
side length of the detected object is shorter than that of the detection range, the output (Dist) from
TF02 will be a value between the actual distance values of the two objects.

Spot

diameter

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of detection Angle

Table 3: Edge length of spot detection range

Distance(m) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 15 20 22

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Edge length of
5 10 16 21 26 31 37 42 47 52 79 105 115
detection range (cm)

4 Communication Protocol and Data Formats

4.1 Serial port Communication Protocol

TF02-Pro adopts the serial port data communication protocol, as given in Table 4.

Table 4: Data Communication Protocol of TF02-Pro——UART

Communication interfce UART

Default baud rate 115200
Data bit 8
Stop bit 1
Parity check None

4.2 Data Output Format of Serial port

TF02-Pro is available with two formats of data output, namely, the standard data output format and the
character string data format, both of which are switchable with command.

Standard data output format (default):

Data structure: each data frame contains 9 bytes, including the distance value, signal strength,
temperature of chip and data check byte (Checksum), etc. Data format is hexadecimal (HEX). Data codes
are detailed in Table 5.

Table 5: Data Format and Code Explanation

Byte0 -1 Byte2 Byte3 Byte4 Byte5 Byte6 Byte7 Byte8

0x59 59 Dist_L Dist_H Strength_L Strength_H Temp_L Temp_H Checksum
Data code explanation
Byte0 0x59, frame header, same for each frame
Byte1 0x59, frame header, same for each frame
Byte2 Dist_L distance value low 8 bits
Byte3 Dist_H distance value high 8 bits
Byte4 Strength_L low 8 bits
Byte5 Strength_H high 8 bits
Byte6 Temp_L low 8 bits
Byte7 Temp_H high 8 bits
Byte8 Checksum is the lower 8 bits of the cumulative sum of the number of the first 8 bytes

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 Character string data format

The data output is in the format of character string and its unit is m(meter). For example, if the
measurement distance is 1.21m, the string 1.21 will be output, followed by the escape character \r\n.

4.3 Descriptions of default Output Data

Dist(Distance)：Represents the output of the distance value detected by TF02-Pro, with the unit in cm by
default. This value is interpreted into the decimal value in the range of 0-4500. When the signal strength is
lower than 60, the detection is unreliable, TF02-Pro will set distance value to 4500.

Strength: Represents the signal strength with the default value in the range of 0-65535. After the distance
mode is set, the longer the measurement distance is, the lower the signal strength will be; the lower the
reflectivity is, the lower the signal strength will be.

Temp(Temperature): Represents the chip temperature of TF02-Pro. Degree centigrade = Temp / 8 -256

4.4 I2C data communication

TF02-Pro also supports I2C data communication interface, as shown in the table below:

Table 6: TF02-Pro data communication protocol——I²C

Interface I²C
Max transmission rate 400kbps
Mater/slave mode Slave mode
Default address 0x10
Address range 0x01~0x7F

4.5 Timing sequence description of I²C mode

Different from the serial mode, the I2C communication is initiated by the master. TF02-Pro as the slave,
can only send and receive data passively. After the sending the config-frame from the master to the slave,
one needs to wait for a period for the command to be processed. Then read feedback operation, the
suggested waiting period is 100ms. Data are detailed in Table 7.

Table 7: Timing sequence of the I2C mode

Start Addr W A Byte0 A --- ByteN A Stop Wait 100ms Start Addr R A Byte0 A --- ByteN A Stop

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4.6 I/O mode description

I/O output mode is supported and could be enabled by related command. See detail in chapter 6.4.
Command open mode(Mode),critical distance(Dist) and hysteresis zone(Zone) could be configurable:

Mode: 0 (data output mode), 1(I/O mode, low level near and high level far); default value is 0.

Dist: critical value, near end value in hysteresis zone, unit is cm, default number is 0.

Zone: hysteresis zone range, unit is cm; default value is 0 (there is no hysteresis zone).

The hysteresis zone could be set by this command, when output is near zone level, output will be switched
to far zone level if measured result is higher than far end point; when output is far zone level, output is
switched to near zone level if measured result is lower than near end point. (high level: 3.3V, low level: 0V.

5 Quick Test
5.1 Tools required for Product Test

TTL – USB
TF02-Pro USB cable PC PC Software
converter

5.2 Test Procedures

① Download the Test software

Please download the Test software of TF02-Pro at our official website (en.benewake.com).

Caution: please shut down any anti-virus software before uncompressing the PC software. Otherwise,
maybe the software is deleted as virus. The software is only runnable under Windows environment for
the time being. Please refer to Attachment 1 - Product manual of TF Test software.

② Connection of the hardware

Connect “TF02-Pro”, “TTL - USB board” and “USB cable”. Make sure there is no loose connection.
Then connect “USB cable” with “PC”.

③ Connection to the Test software and data output

④ Open the PC software and select “① TF02-Pro” and select automatically recognized occupied serial

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port (here it is “② COM9”), as shown in Figure 3.

⑤ Then click “CONNECT”. Upon successful connection, The continuous images of the output data will
be displayed in area “④ TIME LINE CHART” on the right. Besides, the real-time data of the Current
measure distance (Dist), effective data points per second (Effective Points) and signal strength
(Strength) will be displayed in area “⑥ REAL TIME DATA” below.

Figure 3: PC software Interface and Display

Notes:
a) If no data is available in area “④TIME LINE CHART”, please check the line connection and line
sequence. When TF02-Pro is successfully powered on, there will be a red indicator light inside
transmitting lens viewing from the front.
b) The value of distance output Dist may vary with the output unit, which is cm by default. If the
unit of distance is changed to the unit-mm with specific command, and the PC software will be
unable to identify it, and so the unit of “④TIME LINE CHART” will still be cm. For example,
the actual TF02-Pro measurement is 1m, the distance value of TF02-Pro is 1000 in mm, the value
read by the PC software also is 1000, but the unit will not change and still display cm.

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6 Descriptions on User-defined Parameter Configuration

The function of user-defined configuration of product parameters is hereby enabled for more flexible
settlement of your problems by TF02-Pro. User may modify original parameters by sending relevant
commands, such as output data format and frame rate, etc.

Please modify product configuration depending upon your actual demands. Do not frequently try irrelevant
commands to prevent incorrect sending of command which many cause unnecessary loss. Please make sure
to make the configuration as the commands listed herein. Do not send unstated command.

6.1 Command Convention

1) Multi-bytes data or command frame is transmitted in little endian format.

For example, decimal number 1000 can be transferred to 0x03E8 in hexadecimal. Then it will be saved in the data
or command frame as:
0x5A 0x06 0x03 0xE8 0x03 0x4E

1) Command: data instruction frame sent from PC to LiDAR.

2) Response: data instruction frame uploaded from LiDAR to host computer or other terminal

6.2 General Parameter Configuration and Description

Before setting the relevant parameters of TF02-Pro, user needs to establish the connection between TF02-
Pro and PC at first. User can send the relevant configuration-related instructions to the product via TF02-
Pro PC software or other serial port debugging software. All commands are compatible with both the UART
mode and the I2C mode. Important: Configure the parameters in the following three steps.

a) Enter configuration mode and send: AA 55 F0 00 01 00 00 02.

Response: AA 55 F0 00 01 00 00 02, which means successful transmission.

b) Configuration of product parameters：see Table 8;

c) Exit configuration mode and send: AA 55 F0 00 00 00 00 02.

Response: AA 55 F0 00 00 00 00 02, which means successful transmission.

Table 8: General Parameter Configuration and Description

Parameters Command Response Remark Default setting

Obtain Version V
firmware AA 55 F0 00 00 00 00 A0 AA 55 F0 00 00 XX YY ZZ XX.YY.ZZ
version

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No need to enter
System reset AA 55 F0 00 FF FF FF FF AA 55 F0 00 FF FF FF FF configuration /
mode
①
Frame rate 5A 06 03 LL HH 00 5A 06 03 LL HH SU 1-1000Hz 100Hz
5A 05 07 01 00 5A 05 07 01 67 Timer trigger √
Trigger
5A 05 07 00 00 5A 06 03 5A 05 07 00 66 5A 06 03 Instruction trigger
format /
64 00 00 64 00 C7
Effective in
instruction trigger
mode, no need to
Trigger AA 55 F0 00 XX 00 00 42
AA 55 F0 00 XX 00 00 42 enter configuration
detection & Data frame
mode；
XX
coverage[01,64]
Standard 9 bytes
5A 05 05 01 65 5A 05 05 01 65 √
(cm)
Output format 5A 05 05 02 66 5A 05 05 02 66 String format(m) /
Standard 9 bytes
5A 05 05 06 6A 5A 05 05 06 6A /
(mm)
②
Set baud rate
Example:
9600(DEC)=2580
Baud rate 5A 08 06 H1 H2 H3 H4 00 5A 08 06 H1 H2 H3 H4 SU 115200
（HEX）,H1=80,
H2=25,H3=00,H4
=00
Disable data
Enable/Disabl 5A 05 07 00 66 5A 05 07 00 66 /
output
e output
5A 05 07 01 67 5A 05 07 01 67 Enable data output √
Communicatio 0（UART）
n interface 5A 05 0A MODE 00 / 1（I2C） UART
setup
Modify slave Modify
5A 05 0B ADDR 00 Original instruction 0x10
address of I2C I2C_slave_addr
Obtain Data 5A 05 00 01 60 Data Frame(9bytes-cm) Only works in I2C
/
Frame 5A 05 00 06 65 Data Frame(9bytes-mm) mode

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Open or close I/O
output mode
MODE:
0--standard data
mode
I/O mode 5A 09 3B MODE DL DH 0（Standard
/ 1--I/O,near high
enable ZoneL ZoneH 00 data format）
and far low
2--I/O,near low
and far high
Zone:hysteresis
zone
Restore 5A 05 10 00 6E Succeeded
factory 5A 04 10 6E
settings 5A 05 10 01 6F Failed

Note: ‘SU’represents checksum.

① The default update rate is 100Hz. The customized update rate should be calculated by the formula:
1000/n (n is positive integer). Increasing frame rate will decrease the data stability.

② Only standard baud rates (9600/14400/19200/56000/115200/460800/921600) are supported. When

setting a high update rate, a high baud rate is recommended to ensure data security.

7 Remote upgrading
TF02-Pro supports the remote upgrade. When the user’s product cannot satisfy the current application
requirements and Benewake official website has relevant firmware upgrades, the user may upgrade the
product firmware via remotely upgrading the PC software. Please contact us to get the Updater.

Figure 4: Firmware Upgrade PC software of TF02-Pro

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The tools for the firmware upgrade of TF02-Pro are mostly the same as the Quick Test, which requires one
TTL-USB board to connect the TF02-Pro with PC.

Upon successful connection, open the Updater.exe. Select right port, here is “①COM54” .Input the right
baud rate in “② 115200” and click “③ CONNECT” to connect the TF02-Pro with the Updater. Click
“④ Open Bin” to choose the updating firmware, whose directory will be showed in the textbox above.
Then click “⑤ Download Bin” to start upgrading. The information of upgrading will be showed in “⑥”.
Note: Remote upgrade of the host computer and firmware files need to be placed in the pure English path.

8 Malfunction: Causes and Troubleshooting

(1) Distance value occasionally will abruptly change into 4500 beyond the range during normal
operation.

Cause: The different test environments (reflectivity of detected object, disturbance of ambient light, etc.)
will affect the signal strength of TF02-Pro. For a reliable and stable measurement data, the algorithm
elimination is internally used for TF02-Pro. In case of the insufficient signal strength, TF02-Pro will output
4500. This value is not measurement data of TF02-Pro, which is only used to remind the user that such data
is unreliable.

Troubleshooting: please use such value as the trigger signal of some unreliable data, and it will ensure that
your system can use other reliable data for further assessment and decision-making if there are some
unreliable data.

(2) Significant error between the output distant value of LiDAR and actual distance

Cause ①: Incorrect interpretation of the data communication protocol of TF02-Pro.

Troubleshooting: check data communication interpretation means. In case of such error, please check the
data format to adjust interpretation means.

Cause ②：Due to the physical principles of TF02-Pro, the above phenomenon is likely to occur if the
detection object is the material with high reflectivity (such as mirror, smooth floor tile, etc.) or transparent
substance (such as glass and water, etc.)

Troubleshooting: Please avoid use of this product under such circumstance in practice.

Cause ③: The IR-pass filters are blocked.

Troubleshooting: please use dry dust-free cloth to gently remove the foreign matter

(3) No data output

Cause: The product will be strictly inspected before leaving our factory, ensuring that all the shipped

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products can work normally. However, some abnormal working matters maybe still occur because of
incidents during the transportation or use.

Troubleshooting: Check whether the power supply is normal; check whether the voltage is within rated
voltage range. If power supply is normal, there will be a red light inside the transmitting lens of TF02-Pro.

Check TF02-Pro with correct connection sequence and reliable connection.

Check whether the data interpretation is correct. Please carry out the interpretation as per the data format
specified herein.

If the problem persists, please contact our technical support.

(4) There is no data output when LiDAR is connected to PC software.

Cause ①: The PC software only supports the Windows operation system for the time being

Troubleshooting: Use the PC supporting Windows operation system.

Cause ②: TTL - USB board is poorly connected.

Troubleshooting: Check the TTL -USB board with the correct and reliable connection with TF02-Pro and
PC.

Cause ③: Driver of serial port is not correctly installed.

Troubleshooting: Plug and unplug USB cable again. Try to reinstall the driver or directly download and
install a driver from the internet.

If the PC software still work abnormally, please contact our technical support.

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9 Q&A
Q1: Is TF02-Pro available with 3.3V or other power supply voltage?

A1: Sorry, it is not available for the time being. The Standard power supply of TF02-Pro is 5V~12V. If you
have any further requirement, please contact our sales person to consult a customization design matter.

Q2: TF02-Pro will heat up after operating for a while. Is it broken?

A2: This is the normal operating condition of the product. The temperature of the chip and circuit board
will slightly up after a continuous operation, which is a normal case.

Q3: Can TF02-Pro be connected with Arduino or Raspberry Pi for use?

A3: Yes, it can. TF02-Pro adopts serial communication protocol so that it can connect to any control board
supporting serial port communication.

Headquaters: Sales cooperation：

C o n t ac t u s

TEL：010-57456983 Email：[email protected]

Email：[email protected] Technical support：

Email：[email protected]
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Attachment 1: Introduction of TF Series PC software

This PC software only supports the Windows operating system. It is suitable for any products of TF series,
but the output of those products is limited to the serial port communication protocol. Detailed operations
are as below.

① ④

Figure 5: Interface of TF Series PC software

1 Product Type/Serial Port Control Zone [SETTINGS]

Product Type: connect the LiDAR via TTL-USB board to the PC. As shown in the figure, select ‘TFmini’.

Serial port (COM): select the right serial port number corresponding to the LiDAR. Baud rate is set to
115200 as default.

CONNECT/DISCONNECT: Click [CONNECT] button to establish the connection with LiDAR. Click
[DISCONNECT] button to terminate the connection.

2 Function Zone [FUNCTION]

Pix Mode: check the checkbox to enable Pix mode. Uncheck the checkbox will set TF02-Pro to default
output format. In Pix mode, the frame rate (Effective Points) calculated by test software is unreliable.

FREEZE/CLEAR: After clicking [FREEZE], time-line chart in zone [4] will stop updating. On clicking

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[CLEAR], the plotted curve in [4] will be cleared.

Frame Rate: choose frame rate from the drop box, setting will be made immediately.

Drawing/Pt: upon receipt of every N frames, the PC software will draw one point on the chart [4] the
average of the N data. N can be modified depending upon the actual requirement (the value is preferable to
be ≥10 to prevent the PC software from lagging). After entering the value, press “Enter” key on the
keyboard to enable the setting.

Command: Input the commands in hexadecimal format in the text box and click the [SEND] button above
to send the command.

3 Data Recording Zone [DATA RECORDING]

Input the name of data file in the textbox. Press [RECORD] button to start recording data and click the
[FINISHED] button to stop recording. Click [FOLDER] button to open the folder where the data file is
saved.

Note: when the frame rate of LiDAR is too high, like 1000Hz, the time stamp will be asymmetric due
to the massive data stream.

4 Time Line Chart Zone [TIME LINE CHART]

The PC software will draw the continuous distance measurement curves based on the received data, where
y-coordinates represent the current distance data while x-coordinates represent effective data.

5 Real-time Data Display Zone [REAL-TIME DATA]

Dist: Distance, cm by default.

Dist(Echo): parameter of TF03. With TF02-Pro, the default value is 0.

Effective Points (per sec): indicates effective points refreshed by TF per second (equals to frame rate).

Strength (Signal strength): in pix mode, TF02-Pro will not output strength value, so the Strength is 0 by
default.

6 Operating Environment and Precautions

Operating Environment: this software can only run on Windows system, Win7 and above. The .Net
Framework 4.5.2 is needed to use this software.

Precautions: Please do not directly connect the product with frame rate more than 500Hz to test
software, which will make the UI unresponsive.

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