Optoelectronic sensor and method of operation of an optoelectronic sensor

An optoelectronic sensor including:

• an emitter arranged for emitting an electromagnetic radiation;
• a receiver arranged for receiving an electromagnetic radiation, said receiver comprising:
• one or more photodetectors arranged for receiving electromagnetic radiation and transforming the electromagnetic radiation, into a first and/or into a second electric signal;
• a first and a second amplifier, arranged for amplifying independently from one another the first and/or said second signal so as to generate a first and/or a second amplified signal, the first amplified signal being independent from the second amplified signal, and vice-versa;
• an analog/digital converter arranged for receiving the first and/or said second amplified signal in a first and a second input, respectively, and for providing a first and/or a second digital signal;
• a hardware accelerator configured to receive the first and/or second digital signal and process the first and/or second digital signal performing a mathematical function on one of the first or second digital signal or between the first and second digital signal in order to generate a processed signal;
• and
• a processor suitable for receiving the processed signal from said hardware accelerator.

A method for canceling the noise signal in an optoelectronic sensor, said method comprising:

• receiving an electromagnetic radiation;
• transforming the electromagnetic radiation into a first current signal;
• when the electromagnetic radiation is received while a pulse signal is not being emitted:
• transforming the current signal into a voltage signal in a first stage;
• generating a feedback current signal as a function of the voltage signal;
• adding the feedback current signal to the first current signal to generate an input result signal;
• and
• entering the input result signal to the first stage in order to cancel the contributions of the low frequency components of the first current signal in the voltage signal emitted by the first stage;
• when said electromagnetic radiation is received while emitting a pulse signal then:
• transforming the current signal into a voltage signal in a first stage;
• emitting a constant current signals;
• adding the constant current signal to the first current signal;
• and
• entering the input result signal to the first stage.

An optoelectronic sensor including:

• a receiver arranged for receiving to receive an electromagnetic radiation, the receiver comprising a photodetector arranged for transforming the received electromagnetic radiation into a received electric signal and a variable gain amplification stage between a minimum gain (Gmin) and a maximum gain (Gmax) suitable for amplifying the received electric signal;
• an emitter arranged to emit-an electromagnetic radiation;
• a detector circuit arranged to process the received and amplified electric signal and to compare the received, amplified, and processed electric signal with a detection threshold;
• a regulation element configured to regulate the sensitivity of the sensor having a regulation range subdivided into a number of consecutive zones m, the first zone relating to a sensor sensitivity starting from the minimum usable sensitivity for the optoelectronic sensor and the m-th zone relating to a sensitivity terminating at a maximum usable sensitivity for the optoelectronic sensor;
• the gain of said amplifier stage being selected by selecting a point in a zone of the regulation range of the regulation element;
• the regulation range being implemented in a manner so that for every point in each zone j of the regulation range, the selected gain is constant and equal to:
• Gj=αGj−1
• where Gmax=Gm=αmG1=αm−1G1 and α is a predetermined number greater than zero;
• and the regulation range being configured in a manner that by moving a selected point in said regulation range inside the j-th zone in the direction from the starting point adjacent to the (j−1)-th zone towards the end point adjacent to the (j+1)-th zone, the corresponding detection threshold set in the detection circuit is moved from the maximum threshold that can be set to the minimum threshold that can be set, where the maximum threshold that can be set is equal to the minimum threshold that can be set multiplied by the number α.