The microcontroller-based concept was chosen because I wanted to scale the sensor system later to suit other applications. Here is the diagram of my Arduino infrared close proximity sensor. As you can ...

Image: Arduino. The bundled Modulinos include an adjustable knob, a strip of dimmable LEDs, a movement sensor, a time-of-flight distance sensor, a buzzer, a thermometer and humidity sensor, ...

The sensor can be pointed at an object, and the Arduino can sense the brightness of that one point. In order to compile an actual image, [Jordan] needs to obtain readings of multiple points.