We present a new method to acquire the 3-D information from a Single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD)-based direct-Time-of-Flight (d-ToF) imaging system which does not require the construction of a histogram of timestamps and can withstand high-flux operation regime. The proposed acquisition scheme emulates the behavior of an SPAD detector with no distortion due to dead time, and extracts the ToF information by a simple average operation on the photon timestamps ensuring ease of integration in a dedicated sensor and scalability to large arrays. The method is validated through a comprehensive mathematical analysis, whose predictions are in agreement with a numerical Monte Carlo model of the problem. Finally, we show the validity of the predictions in a real d-ToF measurement setup under challenging background conditions well beyond the typical pile-up limit of 5% detection rate up to a distance of 3.8 m.

Histogram-less LiDAR through SPAD response linearization

Tontini, Alessandro;Mazzucchi, Sonia;Passerone, Roberto;Broseghini, Nicolò;Gasparini, Leonardo
2023-01-01

Abstract

We present a new method to acquire the 3-D information from a Single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD)-based direct-Time-of-Flight (d-ToF) imaging system which does not require the construction of a histogram of timestamps and can withstand high-flux operation regime. The proposed acquisition scheme emulates the behavior of an SPAD detector with no distortion due to dead time, and extracts the ToF information by a simple average operation on the photon timestamps ensuring ease of integration in a dedicated sensor and scalability to large arrays. The method is validated through a comprehensive mathematical analysis, whose predictions are in agreement with a numerical Monte Carlo model of the problem. Finally, we show the validity of the predictions in a real d-ToF measurement setup under challenging background conditions well beyond the typical pile-up limit of 5% detection rate up to a distance of 3.8 m.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11582/344127
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