According to one aspect of an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, an imaging device or system (10), e.g., a mammography imaging system or device, includes a distance and location sensing system (201) on the imaging system (10) to provide accurate distance and position information from one or more sensing device(s) (200) constituting the system (201) that measure the elapsed time between the emission of the wave or radiation from the sensing device (200) and the detection of the reflected wave or radiation. Examples of the types of sensing devices include ultrasound sensing devices, MEMS radar devices and time-of-flight (ToF) sensing devices (206). The distance information can be employed to determine the relative positions to produce a distance map illustrating the position and shape of any objects (52) sensed within the zone by the sensing device(s), to determine the rate of change of the positions, i.e., the speed, of the objects relative to one another for use in controlling movement of various components of the imaging system, and to determine the shape of the object and changes in the shape of the object.