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.

Optical systems and methods for object detection and location. One example of an optical system includes a laser radar optical source positioned to emit a pulsed laser beam, a non-mechanical beamsteering device positioned to scan the beam in a linear scan over a first area of a scene, a laser radar detector positioned to receive and integrate a reflection of the beam, a read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) configured to provide a first read-out signal based on the integrated reflection, and a controller configured to receive the first read-out signal, determine a range to the first area based on a time of flight of the pulsed laser beam, and identify a presence of an object within the scene based on a signal level of the first read-out signal, the first signal level corresponding to a reflectivity of a portion of the object within the first area of the scene.

A light reception array unit receives light irradiated from an irradiation unit and reflected from an object, and outputs in parallel a pulse signal respectively output from a plurality of light reception units. A timer unit measures an elapsed time since an input of an irradiation timing signal. A response acquisition unit acquires a number of responses, which is a number of the light reception units outputting the pulse signal, at each fixed cycle timing, and outputs an adjusted number of responses obtained by subtracting a bias value from the number of responses or dividing the number of responses by the bias value. An address of a memory is associated with a timer value measured by the timer unit. A histogram generation unit integrates and stores, in a memory address specified from a timer value, the adjusted number of responses as data at that address.

A light-receiving apparatus has M (M is greater than 2) light-receiving elements corresponding to one pixel, and controller circuitry configured to control a bias voltage of the M light-receiving elements in accordance with a condition that the number of light-receiving elements of the M light-receiving elements simultaneously detecting light within a first period is less than N (N is an integer equal to or greater than 2 and less than M).

Embodiments of the disclosure provide an optical sensing system, a range estimation system for the optical sensing system, and a method for the optical sensing system. The exemplary optical sensing system includes a transmitter configured to emit a laser pulse towards an object. The optical sensing system further includes a range estimation system configured to estimate a range between the object and the optical sensing system. The range estimation system includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to generate a plurality of pulse samples based on the laser pulse returned from the object. The returned laser pulse has a substantially triangular waveform including a rising edge and a falling edge. The range estimation system further includes a processor. The processor is configured to generate synthesized pulse samples on the substantially triangular waveform based on the pulse samples. The processor is further configured to determine an arrival time of the returned laser pulse based on the ADC generated pulse samples and the synthesized pulse samples. The processor is also configured to estimate a range between the object and the optical sensing system based on the arrival time of the returned laser pulse.

The invention relates to a flight time sensor (10) comprising:—a lighting device (11) comprising a light source (12) which emits a source beam (13) in the direction of a scene (3) comprising an object (4) which is capable of reflecting the source beam;—a detector (15) comprising a matrix (16) of photo-sensitive pixels (16A) which receive a portion (18) of the source beam reflected by the object; and—an electronic unit (19) which is configured:—to generate a modulation signal and to control the device by means of this signal so that the source beans has a source light power which is modulated temporally;—to process electric signals which are supplied as a function of time by the detector, each electric signal representing a fraction of the source light power reflected in the direction of a pixel; and—to deduce from the electric signals a characteristic distance (D.sub.obj) between the object and the device. According to the invention, the unit is configured, when the object is detected as being at a characteristic distance smaller than a predetermined threshold distance, to control the device in order to reduce the average source light power.

A method for operating a LIDAR device using a control unit. At least one radiation source is activated to generate pulsed beams and the pulsed beams are emitted into a scanning area. The beams that are reflected or backscattered in the scanning area are received by a receiving optical system and guided onto a detector. An amplitude profile of a reference pulse is emulated by the pulsed beams of the at least one radiation source. It is possible to generate and emit multiple pulsed beams temporally quickly one after the other. The pulsed beams have an increasingly ascending and subsequently once again descending amplitude as a function of time. The pulsed beams have a pulse duration, which is shorter than a pulse duration of the reference pulse. The pulsed beams are temporally spaced apart from one another by breaks.

A range detection system is disclosed. The range detection system includes an optical source configured to emit an optical pulse toward an object, where the emitted optical pulse includes a peak intensity occurring at a first time, and where the emitted optical pulse is reflected from the object, whereby a reflected optical pulse is generated. The range detection system also includes an optical detector configured to receive the reflected optical pulse and to generate an electronic signal encoding the received reflected optical pulse, and a processor, configured to receive the electronic signal and to detect a leading edge occurring at a second time, detect a trailing edge occurring at a third time, and calculate an estimated time of a peak intensity of the reflected optical pulse based at least in part on a difference between the second time and the third time.

An example device to determine a distance of a target includes: an emitter to emit light pulses according to a device-identifying spatial pattern; a detector to detect light forming an incoming spatial pattern; and a processor interconnected with the emitter and the detector, the processor configured to: determine whether the incoming spatial pattern is valid based on the device-identifying spatial pattern; and when the incoming spatial pattern is valid, determine the distance of the target based on the incoming spatial pattern.

In an automotive collision avoidance sensor system installed at both the fore and aft of a vehicle, there is provided an output lens, an input lens, and a transmit laser. The transmit laser is adapted to transmit a pulsed beam through the output lens to impact roadway, surrounding vehicles or objects fore, aft, port and starboard of the vehicle, with return signals from the roadway, surrounding vehicles or objects reflecting off the input lens. A sensor of the system adapted collects the return signals from the input lens to convert them into output voltages and signals, and has a data processor configured to analyze the output voltages and signals so as to calculate real-time 3-dimensional situation awareness measurements and safety metrics which are constantly measured and updated to prevent possible collision.