Spot Tracking and TDC Sharing in SPAD Arrays for TOF LiDAR

Autor: Vincenzo Sesta, Fabio Severini, Federica Villa, Rudi Lussana, Franco Zappa, Ken Nakamuro, Yuki Matsui
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Sensors, Vol 21, Iss 9, p 2936 (2021)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1424-8220
DOI: 10.3390/s21092936
Popis: Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a widespread technique for 3D ranging and has widespread use in most automated systems that must interact with the external environment, for instance in industrial and security applications. In this work, we study a novel architecture for Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) arrays suitable for handheld single point rangefinders, which is aimed at the identification of the objects’ position in the presence of strong ambient background illumination. The system will be developed for an industrial environment, and the array targets a distance range of about 1 m and a precision of few centimeters. Since the laser spot illuminates only a small portion of the array, while all pixels are exposed to background illumination, we propose and validate through Monte Carlo simulations a novel architecture for the identification of the pixels illuminated by the laser spot to perform an adaptive laser spot tracking and a smart sharing of the timing electronics, thus significantly improving the accuracy of the distance measurement. Such a novel architecture represents a robust and effective approach to develop SPAD arrays for industrial applications with extremely high background illumination.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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