Orbiting and In-Situ Lidars for Earth and Planetary Applications

Yu, Anthony W.; Troupaki, Elisavet; Li, Steven X.; Coyle, D. Barry; Stysley, Paul R.; Numata, Kenji; Fahey, Molly; Stephen, Mark; Chen, Jeffrey R.; Yang, Guangning; Micalizzi, Frankie; Merritt, Scott A.; Lafon, Robert E.; Wu, Shuying; Yevick, Aaron; Jiao, Heming; Poulios, Demetrios; Mullin, Matthew; Bai, Ying Xin; Lee, Jane; Konoplev, Oleg A.; Vasilyev, Aleksey

doi:10.1109/igarss39084.2020.9323088

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The ranging sensor, one of the most precise techniques for 3D ranging and distance measurements, has attracted considerable attention in recent decades due to its extremely high performance and promising applications in automated systems interacting with the external environment, spanning across the consumer, industrial, and automotive fields [ 1 , 2 ]. Due to the fact that silicon single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) are solid-state detectors capable of single-photon sensitivity in the visible and near-infrared spectrum, which can be manufactured in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processes together with on-chip analog or digital circuitry, SPADs are the best candidates for 3D ranging applications [ 3 , 4 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A dToF Ranging Sensor with Accurate Photon Detector Measurements for LiDAR Applications

Wang²,

et al. 2023

Sensors

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Direct time-of-flight (dToF) ranging sensors based on single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) have been used as a prominent depth-sensing devices. Time-to-digital converters (TDCs) and histogram builders have become the standard for dToF sensors. However, one of the main current issues is the bin width of the histogram, which limits the accuracy of depth without TDC architecture modifications. SPAD-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems require new methods to overcome their inherent drawbacks for accurate 3D ranging. In this work, we report an optimal matched filter to process the raw data of the histogram to obtain high-accuracy depth. This method is performed by feeding the raw data of the histogram into the different matched filters and using the Center-of-Mass (CoM) algorithm for depth extraction. Comparing the measurement results of different matched filters, the filter with the highest depth accuracy can be obtained. Finally, we implemented a dToF system-on-chip (SoC) ranging sensor. The sensor is made of a configurable array of 16 × 16 SPADs, a 940 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), an integrated VCSEL driver, and an embedded microcontroller unit (MCU) core to implement the best matched filter. To achieve suitably high reliability and low cost, the above-mentioned features are all packaged into one module for ranging. The system resulted in a precision of better than 5 mm within 6 m with 80% reflectance of the target, and had a precision better than 8 mm at a distance within 4 m with 18% reflectance of the target.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A dToF Ranging Sensor with Accurate Photon Detector Measurements for LiDAR Applications

Wang²,

et al. 2023

Sensors

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“…Soon after the invention of the laser, the 'giant pulse' laser was experimentally demonstrated by McClung and Hellwarth [1]. Ever since its invention, Q-switching has remained the common technique for generating pulses of very high energy which found applications in range nding and sensing, micromachining, and medicine among others [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. In the eye safe spectral window of the extendedshort-wave infrared >1.7 µm, which is important for biological imaging, environmental monitoring, spectroscopy, free space communications and even recently envisaged local area networks (where ber loss is acceptable) [12][13][14][15], a high energy pulsed laser can play a key role.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Q-switched lasers are used in laser surgery for precise cutting of biological tissue, such as in ophthalmic and spinal surgery [5][6][7][8]. They are used in the food, semiconductor and electronics industries for humidity control, and in differential absorption LIDAR for mapping wind, water and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere [5,[9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chip-scale, CMOS-compatible, high energy passively Q-switched laser

Singh

Lorenzen

Sinobad

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Chip-scale, high-energy optical pulse generation is becoming increasingly important as we expand activities into hard to reach areas such as space and deep ocean. Q-switching of the laser cavity is the best known technique for generating high-energy pulses, and typically such systems are in the realm of large bench-top solid-state lasers and fiber lasers, especially in the long wavelength range >1.8 µm, thanks to their large energy storage capacity. However, in integrated photonics, the very property of tight mode confinement, that enables a small form factor, becomes an impediment to high energy application due to small optical mode cross-section. In this work, we demonstrate complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible, rare-earth gain based large mode area (LMA) passively Q-switched laser in a compact footprint. We demonstrate high on-chip output pulse energy of >150 nJ in single transverse fundamental mode in the eye-safe window (1.9 µm), with a slope efficiency ~ 40% in a footprint of ~9 mm2. The high energy pulse generation demonstrated in this work is comparable or in many cases exceeds Q-switched fiber lasers. This bodes well for field applications in medicine and space.

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“…L IGHT Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a widespread technique for 3D ranging and distance measurements and has many applications in automated systems interacting with the external environment, e.g., in industrial and security environments [1]- [5]. Silicon Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) are solid-state detectors capable of singlephoton sensitivity in the visible and near-infrared spectrum that can be manufactured in CMOS processes together with on-chip analog or digital circuitry, to devise rugged, low-cost and monolithic imagers [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Range-Finding SPAD Array With Smart Laser-Spot Tracking and TDC Sharing for Background Suppression

Sesta

Pasquinelli

Federico

et al. 2022

IEEE Open J. Solid-State Circuits Soc.

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We present the design and experimental characterization of a CMOS sensor based on Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes for direct Time-Of-Flight single-point distance ranging, under high background illumination for short-range applications. The sensing area has a rectangular shape (40 × 10 SPADs) to deal with the backscattered light spot displacement across the detector, dependent on target distance, due to the non-confocal optical setup. Since only few SPADs are illuminated by the laser spot, we implemented a smart laser-spot tracking within the active area, so to define the specific Region-Of-Interest (ROI) with only SPADs hit by signal photons and a smart sharing of the timing electronics, so to significantly improve Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of TOF measurements and to reduce overall chip area and power consumption. The timing electronics consists of 80 Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) shared among the 400 SPADs with a self-reconfigurable routing, which dynamically connects the SPADs within the ROI to the available TDCs. The latter have 78 ps resolution and 20 ns Full-Scale Range (FSR), i.e., up to 2 m maximum distance range. An on-chip histogram builder block accumulates TDC conversions so to provide the final TOF histogram. We achieve a precision better than 2.3 mm at 1 m distance and 80% target reflectivity, with 3 klux halogen lamp background illumination and 2 kHz measurement rate. The sensor rejects 10 klux of background light, still with a precision better than 20 mm at 2 m.INDEX TERMS Light detection and ranging (LiDAR), laser rangefinder, time-of-flight (TOF), time-todigital converter (TDC), single photon avalanche diode (SPAD), background light rejection.VINCENZO SESTA was born in Ribera, Italy, in 1991. He received the master's degree in electronics engineering and the Ph.D. degree in information technology from the Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, in 2016 and 2020, respectively, where he is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering. His research activity focuses on the design and development of time-to-digital converters and timing electronics CMOS circuits for arrays of silicon SPADs.KLAUS PASQUINELLI was born in Seriate, Italy, in 1994. He received the bachelor's and M.Sc. degrees in electronics engineering from the Politecnico di Milano in 2016 and October 2018, respectively, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in information technology. His research interests include the design, development, and testing of systems with single-photon avalanche diodes matrices and digital silicon photomultiplier.

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Orbiting and In-Situ Lidars for Earth and Planetary Applications

Cited by 6 publications

References 27 publications

A dToF Ranging Sensor with Accurate Photon Detector Measurements for LiDAR Applications

A dToF Ranging Sensor with Accurate Photon Detector Measurements for LiDAR Applications

Chip-scale, CMOS-compatible, high energy passively Q-switched laser

Range-Finding SPAD Array With Smart Laser-Spot Tracking and TDC Sharing for Background Suppression

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