Optimized time of flight vision camera for a multi-camera environment

A vision camera located within a camera housing and configured to measure time-of-flight at N capture phases, wherein N is an integer of at least 2, the vision camera comprising:

• an electronic control circuit (C-MOD) configured to receive a carrier clock signal having a camera-defined carrier frequency (fp), and configured to produce a modulation clock signal (fe) at the carrier frequency;
• a light emission source (S-LED), modulated by the modulation clock signal (fe), configured to emit a series of light pulses (SE) towards a target scene, wherein a duration (Tp) of a pulse and an interval between two successive pulses (Toff0) define a duty cycle of less than or equal to 50%;
• and
• an image array sensor (CI) configured to receive the modulation clock signal and capture image samples corresponding to the N image capture phases (ST0, ST1, ST2, ST3) per integration period (TINT), wherein the N capture phases are synchronized with the light pulses emitted by the source, and wherein the integration period corresponds to a time period of the carrier clock signal,
• wherein the electronic control circuit comprises a modulation circuit (MOD) configured to generate the modulation clock signal by applying a camera-specific pulse position modulation function (k (t)) to the carrier clock signal,
• wherein the pulse position modulation function is a synthesized periodic signal having a frequency lower than the carrier frequency such that the pulses of the modulation clock signal (fe) have a constant pulse duration (Tp) equal to ½ (fp), and a variable time interval (Toff) between two successive pulses, and
• wherein the variable time interval (Toff) is modulated by the modulation function (k(t)), such that the variable time interval (Toff) is at least equal to the pulse duration, thereby defining a variable modulation clock duty cycle which is less than or equal to 50%.