In an optical detection system, features of interest can be identified from ADC circuitry data prior to inter-circuit communication with downstream object or target processing circuitry. In this manner, a volume of data being transferred to such downstream processing circuitry can be reduced as compared to other approaches, simplifying the receive signal processing chain and providing power savings. First-tier signal processing circuitry to identify features of interest can be located on or within a commonly-shared integrated circuit package with ADC circuitry, and downstream processing circuitry for object processing or range estimation can be fed with a data link meeting less stringent requirements than a link between the ADC circuitry and first-tier signal processing circuitry.

A light source unit, a light receiving unit that includes a distance image sensor in which a plurality of pixels each including a photoelectric conversion device generating electric charge corresponding to incident light and a plurality of electric charge accumulating units accumulating the electric charge and dividing and accumulating the electric charge among the electric charge accumulating units at a predetermined accumulation timing are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix pattern, a distance image processing unit that is configured to acquire a distance from a subject present in the space that is an imaging target, and a timing determining unit that is configured to determine the accumulation timing in the measurement time interval on the basis of an electric charge amount in each of the electric charge accumulating units in an inspection time interval in which the light pulse is not emitted at the accumulation timing are provided.

An optical distance measuring device includes a light-emitting unit emitting light, a light-receiving unit having a light-receiving pixel for receiving incident light and outputting a detection-signal corresponding to received-light intensity of the incident light, and a controller acquiring a detection-signal corresponding to received-light intensity of reflected light, which corresponds to the emitted light reflected by an object, from the light-receiving unit that has received the reflected light as the incident light, to detect a distance to the object by using the detection-signal corresponding to the received-light intensity. When a first object and a second object at distance which is N times a distance to the first object on an extension of a straight line connecting the measuring device and the first object are detected, and the second object is determined to be a pseudo object corresponding to the first object, the controller removes a detection result of the second object.

An optical receiver includes a parasitic current compensation circuit having a reference diode, a sense avalanche photodiode (APD), at least one DC voltage source, and a measurement node. The at least one DC voltage source is configured to generate a first DC bias voltage that varies over time and drives the reference diode, and generates a second DC bias voltage that varies over time and drives the sense APD. A reference parasitic current travels through the reference diode based on the first DC bias voltage. A sense current travels through the sense APD based on the second DC bias voltage and exposure of the sense APD to a light signal. The measurement node receives a sense photocurrent, which is generated by the sense APD in response to the exposure of the sense APD to the light signal, the sense photocurrent including the sense current less the reference parasitic current.

This application provides a signal processing method and a related apparatus, and in particular, relates to a laser radar. The method includes: reflecting first laser light to a detection area at a first angle by using a scanning-type reflection module; determining a first converged electrical signal based on at least two electrical signals from at least two detection units; determining at least one target distance corresponding to the detection area based on time information of the at least one characteristic signal; determining at least one detection unit group based on the at least one target distance and the first angle; and determining at least one piece of echo information in the detection area based on a first electrical signal obtained based on at least one electrical signal from a first detection unit group in the at least one detection unit group.

[Problem]

To provide a signal generation apparatus that is used in a ToF camera system especially adopting an indirect system and can suppress occurrence of erroneous distance measurement caused by distance measurement of a same target by a plurality of cameras with a simple configuration.

[Solving means]

There is provided a signal generation apparatus including a first pulse generator configured to generate a pulse to be supplied to a light source that irradiates light upon a distance measurement target, a second pulse generator configured to generate a pulse to be supplied to a pixel that receives the light reflected by the distance measurement target, and a signal generation section configured to generate a pseudo-random signal for inverting a phase of signals to be generated by the first pulse generator and the second pulse generator.

Techniques are described for reducing the memory load associated with point cloud data. An example method includes transmitting a light pulse, detecting, by a light detector, a plurality of returns of the light pulse, producing a point cloud comprising a plurality of points associated with the plurality of returns, and generating a reduced set of points associated with the plurality of returns by removing a subset of the plurality of points from the point cloud. The reduced set of points can then be used by autonomous vehicle systems to efficiently map a surrounding environment without significantly reducing accuracy.

A method and apparatus for improving laser beam ranging capability of a LiDAR system and a storage medium are provided. The method includes: acquiring a first current signal output by a receiving sensor and a second current signal output by a reference sensor; determining a cancellation residue based on the first current signal and the second current signal; determining whether glare noise exists in echo lights based on the cancellation residue; and adjusting a bias voltage at a receiving end of the LiDAR system in a case that the glare noise exists in the echo lights.

In a solid-state imaging element that measures a distance on the basis of a light receiving timing of reflected light, the shortest distance that can be measured is shortened. A photoelectric conversion region generates charges through photoelectric conversion. A multiplication region multiplies the generated charges. An output electrode outputs the multiplied charges. A detection circuit detects the presence or absence of photons contained in reflected light with respect to radiation light on the basis of the charges output from the output electrode. An additional electrode discharges the charges from the photoelectric conversion region in a case where a predetermined potential is applied to the additional electrode. A control circuit applies the predetermined potential to the additional electrode at a radiation timing when the radiation light is radiated.

Disclosures of the present invention describe an optical proximity sensor, which is particularly designed to have functionality of canceling an ambient light noise and/or an optical crosstalk noise by using light-to-frequency conversion technique, and comprises: a controlling and processing circuit, a lighting unit, a light receiving unit, an analog adder, a first DAC unit, a second DAC unit, and a light-to-digital conversion (LDC) unit. In the controlling of the controlling and processing circuit, the first DAC unit and the second DAC unit would respectively generate a first compensation current signal and a second compensation current signal to the analog adder, such that a noise signal of ambient light and a noise signal of optical crosstalk existing in an optical current signal of object reflection light would be canceled by the two compensation current signals in the analog adder.