Comparison of flash lidar detector options

McManamon, Paul; Banks, P.S.; Beck, Jeffrey; Fried, Dale G.; Huntington, Andrew S.; Watson, Edward

doi:10.1117/1.oe.56.3.031223

Cited by 68 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Hence, flash lidars have proven to be useful in specific applications such as tactical military imaging scenarios where both the sensor platform and the target move during the image capture, a situation also common in vehicles. Other advantages include the elimination of scanning optics and moving elements and potential for creating a miniaturized system [80,81]. This has resulted in the existence of systems based on flash lidars effectively being commercialized at present in the automotive market [82].…”

Section: (A) Flash Imagersmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of Lidar Imaging Systems for Autonomous Vehicles

2019

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Lidar imaging systems are one of the hottest topics in the optronics industry. The need to sense the surroundings of every autonomous vehicle has pushed forward a race dedicated to deciding the final solution to be implemented. However, the diversity of state-of-the-art approaches to the solution brings a large uncertainty on the decision of the dominant final solution. Furthermore, the performance data of each approach often arise from different manufacturers and developers, which usually have some interest in the dispute. Within this paper, we intend to overcome the situation by providing an introductory, neutral overview of the technology linked to lidar imaging systems for autonomous vehicles, and its current state of development. We start with the main single-point measurement principles utilized, which then are combined with different imaging strategies, also described in the paper. An overview of the features of the light sources and photodetectors specific to lidar imaging systems most frequently used in practice is also presented. Finally, a brief section on pending issues for lidar development in autonomous vehicles has been included, in order to present some of the problems which still need to be solved before implementation may be considered as final. The reader is provided with a detailed bibliography containing both relevant books and state-of-the-art papers for further progress in the subject.

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Section: (A) Flash Imagersmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of Lidar Imaging Systems for Autonomous Vehicles

2019

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“…MEMS sensors use the mirror to transmit the laser in the same way as scanning sensors, but the mirror is operated vertically, horizontally, or in all directions [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Flash sensors transmit one large-area laser, such as with a digital camera, and receive the laser reflected by the object in an array sensor, which is expressed in one frame [ 20 , 21 ]. OPA sensors use a method in which an optical phase modulator controls a phase of the laser through the lens and transmits the laser in various directions [ 22 , 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accuracy–Power Controllable LiDAR Sensor System with 3D Object Recognition for Autonomous Vehicle

Lee

Choi

et al. 2020

Sensors

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Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors help autonomous vehicles detect the surrounding environment and the exact distance to an object’s position. Conventional LiDAR sensors require a certain amount of power consumption because they detect objects by transmitting lasers at a regular interval according to a horizontal angular resolution (HAR). However, because the LiDAR sensors, which continuously consume power inefficiently, have a fatal effect on autonomous and electric vehicles using battery power, power consumption efficiency needs to be improved. In this paper, we propose algorithms to improve the inefficient power consumption of conventional LiDAR sensors, and efficiently reduce power consumption in two ways: (a) controlling the HAR to vary the laser transmission period (TP) of a laser diode (LD) depending on the vehicle’s speed and (b) reducing the static power consumption using a sleep mode, depending on the surrounding environment. The proposed LiDAR sensor with the HAR control algorithm reduces the power consumption of the LD by 6.92% to 32.43% depending on the vehicle’s speed, compared to the maximum number of laser transmissions (Nx.max). The sleep mode with a surrounding environment-sensing algorithm reduces the power consumption by 61.09%. The algorithm of the proposed LiDAR sensor was tested on a commercial processor chip, and the integrated processor was designed as an IC using the Global Foundries 55 nm CMOS process.

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“…Therefore, absorption of a single photon in its depletion region may result in an avalanche breakdown and a digital-like signal. 15 With recent advances in integrated single photon avalanche photodiode (SPAD), this approach has shown great potential in three-dimensional (3D) imaging, especially in near-range applications. 16 However, dark current and background-induced noise, which may completely block the receiver, is a problem in receivers of this type.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the linear detection mode, the photodetector, which is usually an APD or PIN, is biased below the breakdown voltage and produces current pulses proportional to the received optical power. 15,19 In these receivers, the background illumination does not block signal detection but instead adds extra noise to the input of the receiver. The dominant noise source, especially at low signal levels, is nevertheless the noise due to the receiver electronics itself, which defines the limit of sensitivity in many cases, especially around 900-nm wavelength region where the dark current noise of the APD is lower than 1550-nm wavelength.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-speed wide dynamic range linear mode time-of-flight receiver based on zero-crossing timing detection

Baharmast

Kostamovaara

2020

Opt. Eng.

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We present an accurate laser radar receiver with a wide dynamic range intended for ranging applications based on an event-based approach, in which a receiver-time-to-digital converter is used to extract the timing information from the reflected echo. The receiver is based on LC resonance pulse shaping at the input so that the unipolar pulse detected by the avalanche photodiode is converted to a bipolar signal, and the first zero-crossing of this converted signal is marked as the only timing point. One important aspect of the proposed scheme is that it does not need any postcompensation or gain control for achieving a wide dynamic range. The receiver chip was fabricated in a 0.35-μm standard CMOS technology, and a laser radar platform was developed to verify the functionality of the proposed receiver channel. The measured accuracy of the receiver is AE3.5 cm within a dynamic range of more than 1:250,000 using 3-ns FWHM pulses when target materials with different reflectivities are used in the measurements. The single-shot precision of the receiver (σ value) is ∼5 cm for a minimum SNR of ∼10. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Comparison of flash lidar detector options

Cited by 68 publications

References 20 publications

An Overview of Lidar Imaging Systems for Autonomous Vehicles

An Overview of Lidar Imaging Systems for Autonomous Vehicles

Accuracy–Power Controllable LiDAR Sensor System with 3D Object Recognition for Autonomous Vehicle

High-speed wide dynamic range linear mode time-of-flight receiver based on zero-crossing timing detection

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