3D sensor for indirect ranging with pulsed laser source

D. Bronzi; S. Bellisai; F. Villa; C. Scarcella; A. Bahgat Shehata; A. Tosi; G. Padovini; F. Zappa; S. Tisa; D. Durini; S. Weyers; W. Brockherde

doi:10.1117/12.974504

24 October 2012 3D sensor for indirect ranging with pulsed laser source

D. Bronzi, S. Bellisai, F. Villa, C. Scarcella, A. Bahgat Shehata, A. Tosi, G. Padovini, F. Zappa, S. Tisa, D. Durini, S. Weyers, W. Brockherde

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8541, Electro-Optical and Infrared Systems: Technology and Applications IX; 85410T (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.974504
Event: SPIE Security + Defence, 2012, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

The growing interest for fast, compact and cost-effective 3D ranging imagers for automotive applications has prompted to explore many different techniques for 3D imaging and to develop new system for this propose. CMOS imagers that exploit phase-resolved techniques provide accurate 3D ranging with no complex optics and are rugged and costeffective. Phase-resolved techniques indirectly measure the round-trip return of the light emitted by a laser and backscattered from a distant target, computing the phase delay between the modulated light and the detected signal. Singlephoton detectors, with their high sensitivity, allow to actively illuminate the scene with a low power excitation (less than 10W with diffused daylight illumination). We report on a 4x4 array of CMOS SPAD (Single Photon Avalanche Diodes) designed in a high-voltage 0.35 μm CMOS technology, for pulsed modulation, in which each pixel computes the phase difference between the laser and the reflected pulse. Each pixel comprises a high-performance 30 μm diameter SPAD, an analog quenching circuit, two 9 bit up-down counters and memories to store data during the readout. The first counter counts the photons detected by the SPAD in a time window synchronous with the laser pulse and integrates the whole echoed signal. The second counter accumulates the number of photon detected in a window shifted with respect to the laser pulse, and acquires only a portion of the reflected signal. The array is readout with a global shutter architecture, using a 100 MHz clock; the maximal frame rate is 3 Mframe/s.

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D. Bronzi, S. Bellisai, F. Villa, C. Scarcella, A. Bahgat Shehata, A. Tosi, G. Padovini, F. Zappa, S. Tisa, D. Durini, S. Weyers, and W. Brockherde "3D sensor for indirect ranging with pulsed laser source", Proc. SPIE 8541, Electro-Optical and Infrared Systems: Technology and Applications IX, 85410T (24 October 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.974504

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