METHODS AND DEVICES FOR GENERATING A REPRESENTATION OF A 3D SCENE AT VERY HIGH SPEED
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a 3D landscape real-time imager. It also relates to methods for operating such an imager. Such an imager comprises: —at least one illuminating part which is designed to scan at least a portion of the landscape at a given range and having an ultra-short laser pulse source emitting at least one wavelength, and an optical rotating block, with a vertical axis of rotation, and controlled such that given packets of pulses are shaped in a pattern of rotating beams sent toward the said at least partial landscape; —at least one receiving part which comprises a set of SPAD detector arrays, each arranged along a vertical direction and rotating at a given speed in synchronism with the optical rotating block of the illuminating part, the detection data of the SPAD detector arrays being combined to acquire 3D imaging data of the said at least partial landscape in a central controller.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1-22. -22. (canceled)
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23. A method for producing a representation of a scene by means of a sensor array, comprising:
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illuminating the scene by means of a series of light pulses, wherein an arrival time of each of the light pulses is measured as a timestamp; collecting light reflected or scattered by the scene to at least a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) sensor array comprising at least one SPAD detector cell, on the basis of the pulses from said predetermined series of light pulses such that a reference time is determined first and then the time of flight of each event detected at each SPAD detector cell is counted from the determined reference time, the said reference time being unique for at least a train of a predetermined series of light pulses; generating 1D, 2D and/or 3D representation of the illuminated scene by processing the electrical signals generated by each SPAD detector cell on the basis of the counted time of flight of the events; such that said representation allows to detect movements in the scene and/or to achieve high resolution 1D, 2D and/or 3D images. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 37)
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32. Method for making a SPAD detector array to be used in a method for producing a representation of a scene by means of a sensor array and comprising:
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illuminating the scene by means of a series of light pulses, wherein an arrival time of each of the light pulses is measured as a timestamp; collecting light reflected or scattered by the scene to at least a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) sensor array comprising at least one SPAD detector cell, on the basis of the pulses from said predetermined series of light pulses such that a reference time is determined first and then the time of flight of each event detected at each SPAD detector cell is counted from the determined reference time, the said reference time being unique for at least a train of a predetermined series of light pulses; generating 1D, 2D and/or 3D representation of the illuminated scene by processing the electrical signals generated by each SPAD detector cell on the basis of the counted time of flight of the events; such that said representation allows to detect movements in the scene and/or to achieve high resolution 1D, 2D and/or 3D images, said method for making a SPAD detector array comprising the steps of; making a first layer comprising a substrate; and
thenmaking a second layer comprising a plurality of single SPAD cells and using a semiconductor body, at least some SPAD cells having also local analog and/or timing signal processing and also digital signal processing. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36)
said second SPAD sensor layer being formed under a μ
-Czochralski method.
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34. Method according to claim 33, wherein said SPAD cell comprises at least a single photon avalanche diode and the method comprises:
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a step of forming a surrounding cathode under the limit of the grain boundary of said Ge layer; a step of forming a central pad region forming an anode with p+/n+ region at the central hole.
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35. Method according to claim 34, wherein said central hole has been formed to be a photon detection device by setting its horizontal and/or vertical dimensions to absorb and register a single photon at said wavelength range.
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36. Method according to claim 33, wherein said SPAD detector cell comprises at least a CMOS transistor formed with:
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an gate electrode implemented onto the central hole forming a channel region of said CMOS transistor; an source electrode formed onto a p+/n+ region at a first side of said channel region; and an drain electrode formed onto a p+/n+ region at a second side of said channel region; said CMOS transistor belonging to a local digital and/or analog signal processing device built on said SPAD detector cell.
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38. A single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detector array, wherein it comprises at least a SPAD detector cell having at least a SPAD diode and further comprising at least one of the following devices:
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a quenching circuit; a pulse conditioner; at least one time-to-digital converter; a local digital signal processor; a blanking/filtering circuit controlled by said local digital signal processor; a statistical processing circuit comprising at least one counter of the detected events at the SPAD diode, and a D-latch and a multiplier connected to an inverse calculus and eventually to a local correcting circuit; a digital time and/or space averaging circuit; a digital nonlinear averaging circuit; a time/space data compression circuit. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. Device for the representation of a scene, wherein it comprises:
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at least an illuminating device of said scene providing at least a series of ultrashort power laser pulses with time-related positions under control of a controller, the illuminating device comprising preferably at least a mode-locked laser source connected to an erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier; and at least a single photon avalanche diode detector array arranged to detect the reflected light from a scene from at least said series of ultrashort laser pulses of said illuminator.
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45. Device for the representation of a scene, wherein it comprises:
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at least an illuminating device of said scene providing at least a series of ultra short power laser pulses with time-related positions under control of a controller, the illuminating device comprising two laser sources of different specific wavelength preferably mode-locked; and at least two SPAD detector arrays, preferably comprising single photon avalanche diodes arranged each to detect independently the reflected light of a specific wavelength from a scene from at least said series of ultra short laser pulses of said illuminators.
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Specification