Adafruit
Adafruit APDS9960 Proximity, Light, RGB, and Gesture Sensor
The Adafruit APDS9960 is a multi-function sensor that combines proximity detection, ambient light sensing, RGB colour sensing and gesture recognition in a si...
Get notified when back in stock
The Adafruit APDS9960 is a multi-function sensor that combines proximity detection, ambient light sensing, RGB colour sensing and gesture recognition in a single I2C breakout. It uses an integrated IR LED and four directional photodiodes to detect reflected IR energy, enabling both distance measurement and directional gesture recognition.
The breakout includes a 3.3V regulator and level shifting for use with 3.3V or 5V microcontrollers. A configurable interrupt pin can fire when proximity or colour thresholds are exceeded.
Key Features
- Gesture Recognition – Detects left, right, up and down gestures (more complex gestures possible with additional code)
- Proximity Detection – 8-bit resolution distance measurement up to a few centimetres
- RGB Colour Sensing – Measures red, green, blue and clear light levels
- Ambient Light Sensing – General light intensity measurement
- Integrated IR LED – Built-in IR emitter and driver for proximity and gesture sensing
- Configurable Interrupt – Fires on proximity or colour threshold events
- I2C Interface – Simple two-wire communication
- Wide Voltage Range – 3–5V with on-board regulator and level shifting
Ideal For
- Touchless gesture control interfaces
- Proximity-activated displays or lights
- Colour detection and sorting
- Ambient light-responsive projects
Package Contents
- 1× Adafruit APDS9960 Proximity, Light, RGB and Gesture Sensor Breakout
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- 3.3V regulator
- A 3.3V regulator is a power circuit that provides a steady 3.3 volts for parts that need that supply voltage. On a breakout board, it can let the sensor run safely even when the connected microcontroller or power source uses a higher voltage.
- breakout
- A breakout board carries a small or fine-pitched component and brings its connections out to standard, breadboard- and header-friendly pins. Describing a part as a breakout means it can be wired into a project without soldering directly to the component's tiny contacts.
- I2C
- I2C is a two-wire communication bus used by many sensors and small modules. It matters because several I2C devices can share the same two wires, but each device needs a compatible address and your controller must support I2C.
- LED
- A light-emitting diode (LED) is a small electronic component that emits light when current flows through it in the correct direction. Because it only conducts one way, its polarity matters, and a through-hole LED must be soldered the correct way around to light up.
- RGB
- Short for red, green and blue, the three primary colours of light that are mixed in varying amounts to make a wide range of colours. In electronics RGB can refer to an LED or pixel that blends these three colours, or to a colour signal or interface that carries separate red, green and blue channels.
Find this product in
Brands
Related Tutorials
Free guides on learn.littlebird.com.au
