An optical testing apparatus is used in testing an optical measuring instrument that provides incident light from a light source to an incident object and receives reflected light of the incident light at the incident object. The apparatus includes an incident light receiving section, a light signal providing section, an imaging section, and an optical axis misalignment deriving section. The incident light receiving section receives incident light. The light signal providing section provides a light signal to an incident object after a predetermined delay time since the incident light receiving section has received the incident light. The imaging section images the incident light. The optical axis misalignment deriving section derives misalignment of the optical axis of the incident light with respect to the incident light receiving section based on misalignment between the incident light receiving section and the imaging section as well as an imaging result with the imaging section.

An optical testing apparatus is used in testing an optical measuring instrument that provides incident light from a light source to an incident object and receives reflected light of the incident light at the incident object. The apparatus includes an incident light receiving section, a light signal providing section, an imaging section, and an optical axis misalignment deriving section. The incident light receiving section receives incident light. The light signal providing section provides a light signal to an incident object after a predetermined delay time since the incident light receiving section has received the incident light. The imaging section images the incident light. The optical axis misalignment deriving section derives misalignment of the optical axis of the incident light with respect to the incident light receiving section based on misalignment between the incident light receiving section and the imaging section as well as an imaging result with the imaging section.

A distance-measuring apparatus includes a light emitter to emit light with modulated frequency to an object, a light receiver to receive the light that is emitted from the light emitter and returns as reflected by the object, and a controller to measure, based on radiation intensity of received light by the light receiver, a length of time between a time at which the light is emitted by the light emitter and a time at which the light is received by the light receiver to obtain a distance to the object. The controller performs a first measurement in which the light emitter emits the light at a first modulation frequency to measure the length of time by the time at which the light is received by the light receiver a first plurality of times.

A distance-measuring apparatus includes a light emitter to emit light with modulated frequency to an object, a light receiver to receive the light that is emitted from the light emitter and returns as reflected by the object, and a controller to measure, based on radiation intensity of received light by the light receiver, a length of time between a time at which the light is emitted by the light emitter and a time at which the light is received by the light receiver to obtain a distance to the object. The controller performs a first measurement in which the light emitter emits the light at a first modulation frequency to measure the length of time by the time at which the light is received by the light receiver a first plurality of times.

An optical measurement device includes at least a multi-frequency laser configured to simultaneously generate a frequency-fixed carrier and at least one frequency-modulated subcarrier, an optical branching element, a dual frequency beat signal generator, a difference signal generator, and an arithmetic processing unit. Either the carrier or the subcarrier within the output light of the multi-frequency laser is used as first measurement light and either the carrier or the subcarrier having a frequency different from that of the first measurement light is used as second measurement light. The dual frequency beat signal generator separates and outputs a first complex beat signal derived from the first measurement light and a second complex beat signal derived from the second measurement light. The difference signal generator outputs a difference signal between the first complex beat signal and the second complex beat signal.

Provided is a phase difference calculation device including a first light amount acquisition unit that acquires a first light amount of reflected light of light applied in a first time window and received in the first time window and a second light amount of the reflected light received in a second time window, a time window shift control unit that shifts the first and second time windows and a third time window in the negative direction of the time axis to set fourth, fifth, and sixth time windows, and shifts the fourth, fifth, and sixth time windows in the negative direction of the time axis until no reflected light is received in the fourth time window, a second light amount acquisition unit that acquires a third light amount of the reflected light received in the sixth time window, and a phase difference calculation unit that calculates a phase difference between the light and the reflected light on the basis of a first corrected light amount obtained by adding the third light amount to the first light amount and a second corrected light amount obtained by subtracting the third light amount from the second light amount.

Provided is a phase difference calculation device including a first light amount acquisition unit that acquires a first light amount of reflected light of light applied in a first time window and received in the first time window and a second light amount of the reflected light received in a second time window, a time window shift control unit that shifts the first and second time windows and a third time window in the negative direction of the time axis to set fourth, fifth, and sixth time windows, and shifts the fourth, fifth, and sixth time windows in the negative direction of the time axis until no reflected light is received in the fourth time window, a second light amount acquisition unit that acquires a third light amount of the reflected light received in the sixth time window, and a phase difference calculation unit that calculates a phase difference between the light and the reflected light on the basis of a first corrected light amount obtained by adding the third light amount to the first light amount and a second corrected light amount obtained by subtracting the third light amount from the second light amount.

An optoelectronic sensor for determining the distance of an object in a monitoring area has a light transmitter for transmitting transmitted light, a light receiver for generating a received signal from remitted light remitted by the object, and a control and evaluation unit configured to modulate the transmitted light with at least a first frequency and a second frequency, to determine a phase offset between transmitted light and remitted light for the first frequency and the second frequency, and to determine a light time of flight. The control and evaluation unit is configured to determine a first amplitude and a second amplitude for the first frequency and the second frequency from the received signal and to detect whether the transmitted light impinges on an edge in the monitoring area on the basis of an evaluation of the first amplitude and the second amplitude.

Disclosed is a time-of-flight sensing apparatus and method. In one embodiment, a system for time-of-flight (TOF) sensing, comprising: a detector array comprising a plurality of single-photon avalanche detectors (SPADs); and a control circuit comprising at least two digital control arrays coupled to the detector array, a counter array coupled to the at least two digital control arrays, and a logical control unit coupled to the counter array and the at least two digital control arrays, wherein the detector array is configured to receive at least one reflected light pulse from a target, wherein a first digital control array, the counter array, and the logical control unit of the control circuit are configured to receive at least one avalanche pulses from each of the plurality of SPADs to determine a first distance between the detector array and the target in a first TOF mode, and wherein a second digital control array, the counter array, and the logical control unit of the control circuit are configured to receive the at least one avalanche pulse from the each of the plurality of SPADs to determine a second distance between the detector array and the target in a second TOF mode.

The present technique relates to an imaging element and a distance measurement module capable of reducing parasitic capacity._A distance measurement module includes: a first wiring that connects predetermined transistors in first adjacent pixels to a via formed in one of first adjacent pixels and connected to a wiring formed in another layer; and a second wiring that connects predetermined transistors in second adjacent pixels to a via formed in a pixel that is adjacent to one of second adjacent pixels and connected to a wiring formed in another layer, in which the first wiring is connected to a redundant wiring. The present technique can be applied to a distance measurement sensor that performs distance measurement, for example.