The present invention relates to alternative equipment for solar energy prospecting with a focus on low cost, low complexity in installation, operation and maintenance, and high reliability. A low-cost solarimetric station consists of compact equipment capable of providing global irradiance measurements and estimates for direct and diffuse components, as well as hemispheric photographs, with acceptable levels of uncertainty. The pyranometer periodically provides global irradiance information to the system, and the camera records photos of the sky. Using machine learning algorithms, and based on that information, the equipment provides estimates for direct and diffuse irradiance components. The equipment has other meteorological sensors, GPS, and wireless communication facilities. The equipment has an energy supply and management system consisting of a photovoltaic module, charge controller, and battery, which provide the energy necessary for the station to operate.

This application provides a single-photon detection apparatus, including a phase-reversed reflection branch, a single-photon sensing device, and a phase-unreversed reflection branch, an input signal is divided into two input signals, and the two input signals respectively arrive at the phase-reversed reflection branch and the single-photon sensing device; the phase-reversed reflection branch is configured to perform phase-reversed reflection processing on a received input signal, to obtain a phase-reversed signal; the single-photon sensing device is configured to send a received input signal to the phase-unreversed reflection branch, and is further configured to: sense a photon, generate photon information, and output a first branch signal; the phase-unreversed reflection branch is configured to perform phase-unreversed reflection processing on the input signal that passes through the single-photon sensing device, to obtain a second branch signal; and the first branch signal is superimposed with the second branch signal, to obtain the photon information.

A compound sensor system includes a first sensor, a second sensor, a memory that stores a module, and a processor coupled to the first sensor, the second sensor, and the memory. The first sensor is configured to detect a parameter that indicates a likelihood of having a user enter or leave a target area, and, in response, send a first command signal to the processor. The processor is configured to receive the first command signal from the first sensor and send a second command signal to the second sensor based on receiving the first command signal. The second sensor is configured to operate at a sleep mode and switch to an active mode upon receiving the second command signal, and during the active mode the second sensor is configured to determine if the user enters or leaves the target area.

Technology described herein includes a method that includes receiving, at one or more processing devices at one or more locations, one or more image frames; receiving, at the one or more processing devices, one or more signals representing outputs of one or more light sensors of a device; estimating, by the one or more processing devices based on the one or more image frames, one or more illuminance values; determining, by the one or more processing devices, that a degree of correlation between (i) a first illuminance represented by the one or more illuminance values and (ii) a second illuminance represented by the one or more signals fails to satisfy a threshold condition; and in response to determining that the degree of correlation fails to satisfy the threshold condition, determining, by the one or more processing devices, presence of an adverse condition associated with the device.

A wireless battery-powered daylight sensor for measuring a total light intensity in a space is operable to transmit wireless signals using a variable transmission rate that is dependent upon the total light intensity in the space. The sensor comprises a photosensitive circuit, a wireless transmitter for transmitting the wireless signals, a controller coupled to the photosensitive circuit and the wireless transmitter, and a battery for powering the photosensitive circuit, the wireless transmitter, and the controller. The photosensitive circuit is operable to generate a light intensity control signal in response to the total light intensity in the space. The controller transmits the wireless signals in response to the light intensity control signal using the variable transmission rate that is dependent upon the total light intensity in the space. The variable transmission rate may be dependent upon an amount of change of the total light intensity in the space. In addition, the variable transmission rate may be further dependent upon a rate of change of the total light intensity in the space.

A display panel and a control method thereof are provided. The method includes steps of: providing a display panel; receiving light through a TFT photosensitive sensor and converting the light into an electrical signal, wherein the light includes at least one of ambient light and reflected light; converting the electrical signal into at least one of fingerprint information, proximity sensing information, and ambient light monitoring information through a driving chip; and providing an action signal to a display module according to at least one of the fingerprint information, the proximity sensing information, and the ambient light monitoring information to control action of the display module. The application uses a same sensor to implement optical fingerprint, ambient light monitoring, and proximity sensing functions.

A device may determine at least one metric related to a plurality of laser pulses associated with a Q-switched laser. The device may determine a statistical metric for the at least one metric related to the plurality of laser pulses. The device may determine that the statistical metric satisfies a threshold level of deviation of the at least one metric related to the plurality of laser pulses from a baseline value for the at least one metric. The device may indicate laser degradation of the Q-switched laser based on determining that the statistical metric satisfies the threshold.

Various embodiments of the present invention relate to: an electronic device capable of measuring illuminance by using an optical sensor and providing information on the measured illuminance to a user; and an operating method therefor. The electronic device according to various embodiments of the present invention comprises: a light emitting unit; a sensor having a light receiving unit; and a processor, wherein the processor is set so as to: sense a first illuminance outside the electronic device by using the sensor; emit light by using the light emitting unit when the first illuminance belongs to a predetermined range; confirm whether an external object is nearby by using the sensor based on at least the light emitted using the light emitting unit; determine the first illuminance as the illuminance outside the electronic device when the external object is not nearby; and estimate a second illuminance corresponding to the first illuminance by using a selected method based on at least context information related to the electronic device when the external object is nearby.

A subwavelength gold hole/disk array that when coupled with a ground plane induces extraordinary transmission through the hole/disk array and zero back reflection. The hole/disk array functions as a “light funnel” in couling incident radiation into the cavity with about 100% efficiency over a narrow resonant bandwidth, which results in frequency-selective perfect (˜100%) absorption of the incident radiation. Such an optical frequency-selective absorber enables flexible scaling of detector response to any wavelength range by pattern dimensional changes, enabling uncooled frequency selective detection and “color” imaging in the infrared domain. Methods and applications are disclosed.

A photon counting device includes a plurality of pixels each including a photoelectric conversion element configured to convert input light to charge, and an amplifier configured to amplify the charge converted by the photoelectric conversion element and convert the charge to a voltage, an A/D converter configured to convert the voltages output from the amplifiers of the plurality of pixels to digital values; and a conversion unit configured to convert the digital value output from the A/D converter to the number of photons by referring to reference data, for each of the plurality of pixels, and the reference data is created based on a gain and an offset value for each of the plurality of pixels.