Method and arrangement for measuring the distance to an object
AssigneeEcole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
InventorCristiano Niclass
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Arrangement (10) for measuring the distance to an object, comprising: a photonic source for illuminating said object using a continuous modulated photonic wave, a solid-state image sensor, comprising an array of avalanche photodiodes and a plurality of circuits for processing signals output by said avalanche photodiodes to yield data depending on the photonic wave reflected by said object onto said photodiodes. The circuit may comprise a multiplexer at the pixel level arranged so as to accumulate the signal output by the avalanche photodiode during different sub-periods in different storage devices.
Claims29
An arrangement (10) for measuring the distance to an object, comprising:
- a photonic source for illuminating said object using a continuous modulated photonic wave,
- a solid-state image sensor, comprising an array with WXH avalanche photodiodes with W≧1 and H≧1 and a circuit for processing signals output by said avalanche photodiodes to yield data depending on the photonic wave reflected by said object onto said photodiodes.
A method for measuring the distance to an object, comprising the steps of:
- illuminating said object with a continuous modulated photonic wave,
- determining said distance from signals delivered at the outputs of avalanche photodiodes arranged in an array on a solid-state sensor.
A circuit comprising:
- an integrated array of WXH avalanche photodiodes with W≧1 and H≧1.
- a circuit connected to said array for generating signals depending on the phase and/or amplitude of a continuous photonic wave received by each photodiodes.
A solid-state image sensor comprising:
- an array of avalanche photodiodes;
- a plurality of counters connected to the output of said photodiodes for accumulating the photocharges received during a plurality of successive sampling intervals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.