Adafruit VL53L5CX NoST

Arduino driver for the ST VL53L5CX 8x8 multizone time-of-flight sensor — without the ST Ultra-Lite Driver (ULD) C code.

This library uses only the firmware and configuration blobs from ST, with all I2C communication handled through Adafruit BusIO. The DCI (Device Configuration Interface) protocol is implemented directly in C++.

Features

• 4x4 and 8x8 resolution ranging
• Configurable ranging frequency (1–60 Hz)
• Configurable integration time (2–1000 ms)
• Sharpener percentage control
• Target order (closest / strongest)
• Ranging mode (continuous / autonomous)
• Power mode control (sleep / wakeup)
• I2C address change

Why NoST?

The official ST VL53L5CX ULD is a C library with its own I2C abstraction layer (platform.c), custom buffer management, and ~1200 lines of init/config code. This library replaces all of that with a clean C++ class using BusIO's Adafruit_I2CDevice, making it:

• Easier to read and maintain
• Compatible with BusIO's maxBufferSize() for automatic I2C chunking
• Smaller code footprint (single .cpp/.h vs 5+ ST source files)

Requirements

• 32-bit microcontroller (ESP32, SAMD, nRF52, RP2040, etc.)
• NOT compatible with AVR (firmware blob is ~86KB)
• Adafruit BusIO

Quick Start

#include "Adafruit_VL53L5CX_NoST.h"

Adafruit_VL53L5CX_NoST sensor;

void setup() {
  Wire.begin();
  Wire.setClock(400000);
  sensor.begin(0x29, &Wire);
  sensor.setRangingFrequency(15);
  sensor.startRanging();
}

void loop() {
  if (sensor.isDataReady()) {
    int16_t distances[16];
    sensor.getRangingData(distances);
    // distances[] now contains mm values for each zone
  }
}

License

MIT — see LICENSE

Firmware blobs (vl53l5cx_buffers.h) are copyright STMicroelectronics, provided AS-IS.