System and method of three-dimensional imaging

A system, comprising:

• an illumination subsystem having a light source configured to emit a light pulse that does not pass through any modulator in the illumination subsystem;
• a sensor subsystem comprising:
• a receiving lens having a predetermined image plane and a predetermined pupil plane, the receiving lens configured to receive a portion of the light pulse reflected or scattered by a scene, whereby outputting a received light pulse portion;
• a modulator, located along an optical axis of the sensor subsystem behind the receiving lens, configured to modulate as a function of time an intensity of the received light pulse portion to form a modulated received light pulse portion, wherein the modulator is not located in the image plane or pupil plane of the receiving lens;
• and
• at least one array of light sensors, in optical communication with the modulator, configured to:
• generate non-modulated image pixel intensities based on a non-modulated received light pulse portion;
• and
• generate modulated image pixel intensities in response to the modulated received light pulse portion;
• and
• a processor subsystem configured to obtain three-dimensional image range data by calculating time of flight (TOF) measurements regarding the light pulse based on the modulated image pixel intensities and the non-modulated image pixel intensities.