Multiple-field-of-view scannerless optical rangefinder in high ambient background light
First Claim
1. A multiple-field-of-view scannerless optical rangefinder operating in pulsed Time-Of-Flight operation for use in high ambient background light, the rangefinder comprising:
- an optical emitter for emitting a train of light pulses, said train of light pulses having a broad field-of-illumination (FOI), said optical emitter having a LED light source and driver electronics;
a multi-channel optical receiver (MCOR) for detecting optical return signals, said MCOR including an array of PIN photodiodes, each detection channel of said multi-channel optical receiver having a photodetector with a photosensitive surface, an instantaneous field of view of each said detection channel having a horizontal and a vertical extent determined by dimensions of each respective said photosensitive surface and being adapted to output a channel return signal waveform, an overall field-of-view (FOV) of said multi-channel optical receiver encompassing each said instantaneous field of view, said field-of-illumination encompassing said over-all field-of-view, said multi-channel optical receiver having analog front-end electronics for conditioning said channel return signal waveforms, said MCOR outputting conditioned channel return signal waveforms;
an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) for receiving and converting said conditioned channel return signal waveforms from said MCOR into digital format;
a control and processing unit (CPU) operatively connected to said optical emitter, said MCOR and said ADC,for generating a pulse trigger signal to trigger said optical emitter into emitting said train of pulses,for sending a synchronization trigger signal to said MCOR for starting said detection of said optical return signals, andfor processing said conditioned channel return signal waveforms in digital format;
a data interface for receiving processed channel return signal waveforms from said CPU and preparing output data;
wherein a peak present in any of said optical return signal waveforms is a signature of an object located within said instantaneous field of view.
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Abstract
A multiple-field-of-view scannerless optical rangefinder operating in pulsed Time-Of-Flight operation for use in high ambient background light is described. The rangefinder comprises an optical emitter having a LED light source and driver electronics, emitting a train of light pulses having a broad field-of-illumination (FOI); a multi-channel optical receiver (MCOR) for detecting optical return signals, an overall field-of-view (FOV) encompassing each channel instantaneous FOV, the FOI encompassing the overall FOV, the multi-channel optical receiver having analog front-end electronics; an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) for receiving and converting the waveforms into digital format; a control and processing unit (CPU) for generating a pulse trigger signal, sending a synchronization trigger signal to the MCOR for starting the detection of the optical return signals, and for processing the waveforms in digital format; a data interface; wherein a peak present in any of waveforms is a signature of an object located within the instantaneous FOV.
196 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A multiple-field-of-view scannerless optical rangefinder operating in pulsed Time-Of-Flight operation for use in high ambient background light, the rangefinder comprising:
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an optical emitter for emitting a train of light pulses, said train of light pulses having a broad field-of-illumination (FOI), said optical emitter having a LED light source and driver electronics; a multi-channel optical receiver (MCOR) for detecting optical return signals, said MCOR including an array of PIN photodiodes, each detection channel of said multi-channel optical receiver having a photodetector with a photosensitive surface, an instantaneous field of view of each said detection channel having a horizontal and a vertical extent determined by dimensions of each respective said photosensitive surface and being adapted to output a channel return signal waveform, an overall field-of-view (FOV) of said multi-channel optical receiver encompassing each said instantaneous field of view, said field-of-illumination encompassing said over-all field-of-view, said multi-channel optical receiver having analog front-end electronics for conditioning said channel return signal waveforms, said MCOR outputting conditioned channel return signal waveforms; an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) for receiving and converting said conditioned channel return signal waveforms from said MCOR into digital format; a control and processing unit (CPU) operatively connected to said optical emitter, said MCOR and said ADC, for generating a pulse trigger signal to trigger said optical emitter into emitting said train of pulses, for sending a synchronization trigger signal to said MCOR for starting said detection of said optical return signals, and for processing said conditioned channel return signal waveforms in digital format; a data interface for receiving processed channel return signal waveforms from said CPU and preparing output data; wherein a peak present in any of said optical return signal waveforms is a signature of an object located within said instantaneous field of view. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A scannerless optical rangefinder, comprising:
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a. an optical emitter for emitting an optical interrogation signal distributed over a field of illumination; b. a multi-channel optical receiver (MCOR), for detecting an optical return signal over a field of view that is encompassed in the field of illumination and providing a return signal waveform; c. an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for receiving and converting a return signal waveform from the MCOR into digital format; d. a control and processing unit (CPU) operatively connected to said optical emitter and said MCOR, for controlling emission of the optical interrogation signal and for processing the digital waveform output from the ADC to detect objects within the field of view; the MCOR including a blind zone free array of photoresponsive elements, each photoresponsive elements characterized by a dimensionality and a saturation level selected so as to enable detection by the CPU of an object in the field of view when that object generates a contribution to the optical return signal that has a peak power of 0.5 to 15 nanowatts in the presence of a solar background contribution to the optical return signal of 80 to 800 nanowatts in a pass band of 80-nm and centered at 940-nm. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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Specification