# Detailed information about the PAA5100JE
**URL:** https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/detailed-information-about-the-paa5100je/17946
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [September 24, 2021, 9:19am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/detailed-information-about-the-paa5100je/17946 "2021-09-24T09:19:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lukas77](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/lukas77)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2021, 9:19am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/detailed-information-about-the-paa5100je/17946/1 "2021-09-24T09:19:24Z")
Hello,
I would like to have more detailed information about the PIXART PAA5100JE.
I bought the sensor a while back and I am now trying to measure a distance with it. However, since the sensor only delivers sensor related movement numbers it is impossible to know the actual distance in mm without the field of view and the sensors resolution in pixels.
The field of view should be 42° as stated on your product page. However, I cannot find any information about the resolution!
It would be very nice if this information could be provided.
I am currently using the following Formular to calculate the actual distance. If there is any fault in this Formular or there is another way to calculate the distance please let me know.
[distanceMovedFormula|570x60](https://forums.pimoroni.com/uploads/short-url/drvWmVa2v6fa9RSxAhaH7WKI553.png)
With kind regards,
Lukas!
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### Author:  [@maltheim](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/maltheim)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2021, 7:57am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/detailed-information-about-the-paa5100je/17946/2 "2021-10-07T07:57:31Z")
Hi Lukas, I’m not sure if this will be any help, but I’ve blogged about the PAA5100JE here:
> **[The PAA5100JE Near Optical Flow Sensor – NZPRG](https://robots.org.nz/2021/07/09/the-paa5100je-near-optical-flow-sensor/)**
In short, because the sensor can’t know the distance to the surface it’s measuring you’ll never be able to have it return an actual distance value. The way I’ve managed to circumvent that problem is by repeatedly moving the sensor across a known distance (I used 1m) and then average the values. The numbers you get will vary depending on the floor surface, but are reasonably accurate for any given surface.
I can’t off the top of my head remember (I was working with this in June), but if you look into the Python code for the device you can actually get access to the black and white image coming off of its camera. I’ve fed those images to a streaming output and onto a web page, so I believe you could simply count the rows and columns - it’s not very high resolution at all.
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### Author:  [@lukas77](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/lukas77)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/detailed-information-about-the-paa5100je/17946/3 "2021-10-12T13:08:54Z")
Hello Maltheim,
thank you very much for your kind response. I solved the distance problem with a time of flight sensor. Since the provided datasheet of the PAA5100JE does not give much information I reached out to PIXART and was able to get more detailed information, thus solving my problem. I would suggest the same to anybody that is serious about using this sensor.
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### Author:  [@Ash2002](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/Ash2002)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2021, 1:15am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/detailed-information-about-the-paa5100je/17946/4 "2021-11-17T01:15:11Z")
Hi Lukas77,
I am also trying to use the PAA5100JE with a TOF sensor, using Arduino (c,c++), any chance you could help since you solved the problem? Many thanks…
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### Author:  [@lukas77](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/lukas77)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2021, 9:20am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/detailed-information-about-the-paa5100je/17946/5 "2021-11-17T09:20:40Z")
Hey,
sadly I am not allowed to give more intel on this topic since I signed an NDA. Like I mentioned, you can get more information when contacting PIXART directly.
With kind regards,
Lukas