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Advanced Photon Counting Techniques VI

DOI: 10.1117/12.920407

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Low-power 20-meter 3D ranging SPAD camera based on continuous-wave indirect time-of-flight

Proceedings article published in 2012 by S. Bellisai, L. Ferretti, F. Villa, A. Ruggeri ORCID, S. Tisa, A. Tosi, F. Zappa
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Three dimensional (3D) image acquisitions is the enabling technology of a great number of applications; culture heritage morphology study, industrial robotics, automotive active safety and security access control are example of applications. The most important feature is the high frame-rate, to detect very fast events within the acquired scenes. In order to reduce the computational complexity, Time-of-Flight algorithms for single sensor cameras are used. To achieve high-frame rate and high distance measurement accuracy it is important to collect the most part of the reflected light using sensor with very high sensitivity, allowing the implementation of a low-power light source. We designed and developed a single-photon detection based 3D ranging camera, capable to acquire distance image up to 22.5 m, with a resolution down to one centimeter. The light source used in this prototype employs 8 laser diodes sinusoidally modulated. The imager used in the application is based on Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) fabricated in a standard CMOS 0.35 μm technology. The sensor has 1024 pixels arranged in a 32×32 squared layout, with overall dimensions of 3.5 mm×3.5 mm. The camera acquires 3D images through the continuous-wave indirect Time of Flight (cw-iTOF) technique. The typical frame-rate is 20 fps while the theoretical maximum frame-rate is 5 kfps. The precision is better than 5 cm within 22.5 m range, and can be effectively used in indoor applications, e.g. in industrial environment.