A light detection and ranging (lidar) receiver may include a first photodiode, a first amplifier connected to the first photodiode, and a first analog-to-digital converter (ADC) connected to an output of the first amplifier. The lidar receiver may include a second photodiode, a second amplifier connected to the second photodiode, and a second ADC connected to the second amplifier. The lidar may include a processor connected to an output of the first ADC and an output of the second ADC and a direct-current-to-direct-current converter connected to an output of the processor and to the first photodiode and the second photodiode. The processor may determine, based on the output of the first ADC and the output of the second ADC, a first bias to apply to the first photodiode and a second bias to apply to the second photodiode.

A time of flight sensor includes at least one pixel, including: an epitaxially-grown Ge-based photosensitive structure including an upper portion and a trunk portion, a Si-based photocurrent collecting structure, a dielectric material layer arranged at least between the upper portion of the photosensitive structure and the photocurrent collecting structure, wherein the trunk portion of the photosensitive structure is arranged within an aperture in the dielectric material layer, and at least one n-contact configured to collect electrons of a photocurrent and at least one p-contact configured to collect holes of the photocurrent, the at least one n-contact and p-contact arranged in the photocurrent collecting structure.

Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media. In one example of the present disclosure, a ToF sensor includes an array of pixels and processing circuitry. At least one pixel of the array of pixels is configured to generate a depth signal. The processing circuitry is configured to determine a phase value from the depth signal and perform phase filtering on the phase value.

A radar data processing method, a terminal device, and a computer-readable storage medium are provided. The method includes: obtaining a target receiving unit group corresponding to an emission unit; obtaining echo data received by the target receiving unit group; converging the echo data to obtain a convergence result; and determining a distance of a target object based on the convergence result.

A radar data processing method, a terminal device, and a computer-readable storage medium are provided. The method includes: obtaining a target receiving unit group corresponding to an emission unit; obtaining echo data received by the target receiving unit group; converging the echo data to obtain a convergence result; and determining a distance of a target object based on the convergence result.

Method and apparatus for generating and processing pulses in a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system. In some embodiments, an emitter outputs phase modulated continuous wave (PMCW) light sequences encoded with a selected encoding scheme such as a pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS). An analog processing circuit processes reflected light sequences from a target illuminated by the PMCW light sequences by performing analog extraction of a doppler component and analog encoding correlation prior to digitalization of the received signal. The analog processing circuit can include a plurality of demodulation stages each multiplying the input signals by positive and negative magnitudes of a scalar value at times corresponding to signal transitions of different associated doppler clock frequencies. A threshold circuit applies suitable thresholding, after which the signals can be digitized by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for further processing in the digital domain to obtain range information associated with the detected target.

Method and apparatus for generating and processing pulses in a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system. In some embodiments, an emitter outputs phase modulated continuous wave (PMCW) light sequences encoded with a selected encoding scheme such as a pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS). An analog processing circuit processes reflected light sequences from a target illuminated by the PMCW light sequences by performing analog extraction of a doppler component and analog encoding correlation prior to digitalization of the received signal. The analog processing circuit can include a plurality of demodulation stages each multiplying the input signals by positive and negative magnitudes of a scalar value at times corresponding to signal transitions of different associated doppler clock frequencies. A threshold circuit applies suitable thresholding, after which the signals can be digitized by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for further processing in the digital domain to obtain range information associated with the detected target.

A Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) apparatus includes a detector having a first pixel and a second pixel configured to output respective detection signals responsive to light incident thereon, and receiver optics configured to collect the light over a field of view and direct first and second portions of the light to the first and second pixels, respectively. The first pixel includes one or more time of flight (ToF) sensors, and the second pixel includes one or more image sensors. At least one of the receiver optics or arrangement of the first and second pixels in the detector is configured to correlate the first and second pixels such that depth information indicated by the respective detection signals output from the first pixel is correlated with image information indicated by the respective detection signals output from the second pixel. Related devices and methods of operation are also discussed.

An integrated circuit may include a ranging receiver that includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) having a time-variant sampling or data rate. Notably, the sampling rate may be increased when a return signal is detected by the ranging receiver. For example, the return signal may be detected using a matched filter (such as a correlation of the return signal and a target signal) and a comparator having a time-variant threshold. The time-variant threshold may be decreased as a function of time after a transmit signal is output in order to track the channel response, such as a decrease in the return signal amplitude for objects at larger ranges. Alternatively or additionally, the sampling rate may be increased based at least in part on a predefined function (such as a closed-form expression or a stepwise function, e.g., a stairstep function) after the transmit signal is output.

A computer-implemented method as well as a system for determining intensity values of pixels of distance data of the pixels generated by a simulation of a 3D scene, including an assignment of a first confidence value to each of the first initial values of the pixels and/or a second confidence value to each of the second intensity values of the pixels, and including a calculation of third, in particular corrected, intensity values of the pixels, using the confidence values assigned to each of the first intensity values and/or second intensity values. The invention also relates to a computer-implemented method for providing a trained machine learning algorithm as well as to a computer program.