LIDARs are a ToF sensing system but use a rotating sensor or some other motion to capture many points at a time over a field of view. Imagine taking the sensor

LIDARs are a ToF sensing system but use a rotating sensor or some other motion to capture many points at a time over a field of view. Imagine taking the sensor in the Microsoft article and having several of them on something that scans back and forth across a field of view. Some LIDARs do use phase shift as described. Others can use a pulse of light and measure that directly, while others use frequency modulation. Phase shift is just one way to measure distance using light.