A time delay of arrival (TDOA) between a time that a light pulse was emitted to a time that a pulse reflected off an object was received at a light sensor may be determined for saturated signals by using an edge of the saturated signal, rather than a peak of the signal, for the TDOA calculation. The edge of the saturated signal may be accurately estimated by fitting a first polynomial curve to data points of the saturated signal, defining an intermediate magnitude threshold based on the polynomial curve, fitting a second polynomial curve to data points near an intersection of the first polynomial curve and the intermediate threshold, and identifying an intersection of the second polynomial curve and the intermediate threshold as the rising edge of the saturated signal.

A distance measuring device and a method for determining a distance are provided. The method includes: illuminating an object with a sequence of the light pulses, capturing one arriving light pulse corresponding to an intensity T.sub.e,l within a first integration gate, and outputting a signal value U.sub.1, capturing another arriving light pulse corresponding to the intensity T.sub.e,l within a second integration gate, and outputting a signal value U.sub.2, capturing one arriving light pulse corresponding to an intensity I.sub.e,h within the first integration gate and outputting a signal value U.sub.3, capturing the other arriving light pulse corresponding to the intensity I.sub.e,h within the second integration gate and outputting a signal value U.sub.4, and calculating the distance between the distance measuring device and the object based on U.sub.1, U.sub.2, U.sub.3, and U.sub.4.

A measuring device (1) according to the present disclosure is provided. The measuring device (1) includes a plurality of light receiving elements and a recognition unit (111). The plurality of light receiving elements are arranged on a first substrate (P1), and output signals when receiving light emitted from a light source and reflected by a measurement object. The recognition unit (111) is arranged on a second substrate (P3) different from the first substrate (P1), and recognizes information regarding a distance to the measurement object based on the output signals of the plurality of light receiving elements by using a machine learning model.

Time of Flight (ToF) depth image processing methods. Depth edge preserving filters are disclosed with superior performance to standard edge preserving filters applied to depth maps. In particular, depth variance is estimated and used to filter while preserving depth edges. In doing so, filter strength is calculated which can be used as an edge detector. A confidence map is generated with low confidence at pixels straddling a depth edge, and which reflects the reliability of the depth measurement at each pixel.

A method for determining, in an optical detection system, a distance to a target region includes obtaining first and second light pulses from a signal generator within the optical detection system and obtaining samples of the respective first and second light pulses, where the samples having a first temporal resolution. The method also includes generating a reference waveform having a second temporal resolution by combining the samples of the respective first and second light pulses, where the second temporal resolution being higher than the first temporal resolution. The method further includes obtaining a reflection of a third light pulse from the target region and determining an arrival time of the reflection of the third light pulse using the reference waveform.

In some implementations, a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system includes a transmitter configured to transmit an optical signal that is output from a laser and modulated based on a modulating signal, a receiver configured to receive a returned optical signal in response to transmitting the optical signal, and a processor. The processor is configured to produce a first optical signal based on the returned optical signal and a first version of the modulating signal, produce a second optical signal based on the returned optical signal and a second version of the modulating signal, generate a digital signal based on the first optical signal and the second optical signal, determine a Doppler frequency shift of the returned optical signal based, at least in part, on the digital signal, and provide data indicative of the Doppler frequency shift to a vehicle.

A laser scanner can include a light source to output laser pulses, and an optical sensor to generate analog signals, having a first dynamic range, from light of the laser pulses that is reflected by an object. A logarithmic amplifier can amplify the analog signals to have a second dynamic range that is smaller than the first dynamic range. An analog to digital converter can convert the analog signals to digital signal samples having a signal sample rate. A template can represent an expected return reflection signal, and can have a template sample rate that is higher than the signal sample rate. A processor can perform a cross-correlation between the digital signal samples and the template, determine a time-of-flight value based at least in part on the cross-correlation, and determine a distance to the object based at least in part on the time-of-flight value.

A lidar system may include a programmable configuration memory, configured to receive configuration values for controlling histogramming operations performed by the lidar system. The lidar system may also include an array controller, configured or programmed or set to read the configuration values and send control signals according to the configuration values in the programmable configuration memory. The lidar system may also include a sensor array, where the sensor array includes a plurality of pixels. Each pixel in the plurality of pixels may include a photosensor, summation circuitry, and a memory device. Each of the plurality of pixels may be configured to generate histogram data by collecting photon counts during a plurality of time bins for each of a plurality of laser cycles.

A light emitting device includes a light emitting unit that includes a light emitting element having a function of a thyristor; and a drive unit that performs, before a period in which light emitted from the light emitting unit is used, control such that a predetermined current or larger flows in the thyristor of the light emitting unit.

The invention relates to an analog-to-digital converter (1), comprising:

an analog input for receiving an analog signal;
a first time-to-digital converter (7); and a histogram block (10), wherein the first time-to-digital converter (7) scans the analog signal based on a ramp signal, and delivers an output (20, 25) to the histogram block (10), which, based thereon, generates a time-correlated histogram (21, 26, 30).