A pixel circuit for background light suppression includes: a 2-tap pixel circuit including first and second pixel capacitors, first and second storage switches, and first and second transfer switches; an in-pixel sigma delta circuit including a plurality of switching switches and a storage capacitor for storing charge transferred from the first and second pixel capacitors; an adaptive sigma delta controller configured to determine switching states of the plurality of switching switches according to a first state of the first pixel capacitor, or a second state of the second pixel capacitor, or both; and a chopping controller configured to instruct the storage switches and the transfer switches of the 2-tap pixel circuit to be selectively switched according to an output of the adaptive sigma delta controller.

A lidar system is described for a vehicle for scanning a surrounding area of the vehicle using laser beams, including a transmitting device having a laser beam source which is designed to emit laser beams into the surrounding area of the vehicle, a receiving device having at least one detector for detecting the laser beams reflected in the surrounding area and having at least one first filter that is connectible in front of the detector, wherein the at least one first filter is designed as an intensity filter for specifically absorbing background radiation. A method for operating a lidar system and a computer program are also described.

A three-dimensional image element and an optical radar device that have low cost and are capable of detecting a distance to a measurement object at a close distance before a final result of counting the number of pulses is acquired are realized. A pixel storage element has a plurality of binary counters that integrate the number of electrical pulses at mutually different timings and the reading of data by a signal processing circuit and the integration are able to be performed in parallel.

An electronic distance meter comprises a coupler located between a laser source and a target and adapted to divert a portion of measurement light emitted by the laser source into a calibration portion connected to a photodetector and comprising an attenuator between said coupler and said photodetector for varying the luminance value of the light passing through the calibration portion, said calibration portion having a known length and said processor being configured to perform distance measurements through the calibration portion at a variety of luminance values achieved by said attenuator to derive calibration values from said distance measurements and said known length, said processor being further configured to use said calibration values for determining a target distance based on a return pulse signal.

A distance measurement processing device according to an embodiment includes an information acquisition circuit and a reliability-degree generation circuit. The information acquisition circuit acquires a two-dimensional distance image having a measured distance as a pixel value and signal information concerning a signal value corresponding to the measured distance image. The reliability-degree generation circuit sets, for each of the pixels of the two-dimensional distance image, each of the pixels as a center pixel and generates a reliability degree based on information concerning the pixels having distance values equal to or smaller than a predetermined value from a distance value of the center pixel among the pixels contiguous within a predetermined range from the center pixel and a signal value corresponding to the center pixel.

According to a method for filtering measurement data of a sensor system (2), light pulses (5) reflected in the environment of the sensor system (2) are captured by means of an array (7) of optical detectors (8, 9, 10). A multiplicity of measurement signals (11, 12) are generated by means of the array (7) based on the captured light pulses. A computing unit (3) identifies a first measurement signal (11) whose pulse energy is greater than a specified minimum energy, wherein the first measurement signal (11) was generated by a first detector (8). A second measurement signal (12) is compared with the first measurement signal (11) by means of the computing unit (3), wherein the second measurement signal (12) was generated by a second detector (9), which is at a distance from the first detector (8) that is less than or equal to a specified maximum distance. The computing unit discards at least a part of the second measurement signal depending on a result of the comparison.

A method for operating a multifunction laser radar system including receiving a target state corresponding to parameters of a target, selecting a mode of operation from a plurality of modes of operation for the laser radar system based on the target state, receiving returns reflected by the target via the laser radar system operating in the selected mode of operation, processing the returns to calculate at least one target measurement, and determining a filtered target state based on the at least one target measurement.

A method for optical distance measurement is proposed which comprises the emission of a plurality of measurement pulses, the reflection of emitted measurement pulses at at least one object and the receipt of reflected measurement pulses. A sequence of measurement pulses is emitted, wherein the sequence comprises temporal pulse spacings between temporally successive measurement pulses, and wherein each measurement pulse of the sequence has a temporal pulse width of T(Pulse). The pulse spacings form a first set, wherein the first set is defined by {T(delay)+i*T(Pulse): i is an element of the natural numbers between 0 and j}, wherein for all values of i it holds that: T(delay)+i*T(Pulse)<(2T(delay)+2T(Pulse)), wherein the first set only comprises one element for all values of i between 0 and j, respectively, and wherein T(delay) defines a pulse spacing base unit.

A method of detecting optical crosstalk in a LIDAR system includes selectively activating and deactivating light sources of a light source array; triggering a measurement of the field of view (FOV) during which at least one targeted region of the FOV is illuminated by the light source array and at least one non-targeted region of the FOV is not illuminated by the light source array; generating electrical signals based on at least one reflected light beam being received by a photodetector array, where the photodetector array comprises a targeted pixel group corresponding to the at least one targeted region of the FOV and a non-targeted pixel group corresponding to the at least one non-targeted region of the FOV; and detecting optical crosstalk that appears at at least one portion of the non-targeted pixel group based on electrical signals from the targeted pixel group and the non-targeted pixel group.

The present disclosure provides a proximity sensor. The proximity sensor includes a light emitting unit, a light receiving unit, a transimpedance amplifier, a capacitor, an amplifying unit, a converting unit and an integrating unit. The light emitting unit irradiates a detection target with light. The light receiving unit detects a reflected light from the detection target. The transimpedance amplifier receives an output of the light receiving unit. The capacitor receives an output of the transimpedance amplifier. The amplifying unit amplifies a difference between an output voltage of the capacitor when a charge corresponding to an ambient light is stored and the output voltage of the capacitor when charges corresponding to the ambient light and the reflected light are stored. The converting unit converts an output of the amplifying unit into a current signal and outputs the current signal. The integrating unit integrates an output of the converting unit.