Extraneous-light resistant multipixel range sensor based on a low-power correlating pixel-circuit

Abstract

This work covers a correlation-based, optical time-of-flight matrix range sensor which is able to suppress ambient light up to 150klx full-electronically and autonomously in each single pixel. The CMOS-compatible sensor features 16×16 pixels and permits distance measurements with a standard deviation of 1cm (5cm) up to 1m (3.2m), while the linearity error is within ±2cm for the entire measurement range within a measurement time of 50ms per distance point. A 0.9W LED source is used to illuminate the field of view with near-infrared light, which is modulated at 10MHz. In this design, the current consumption could be reduced from 100µA to 2µA per pixel, while increasing the distance measurement performance at the same time.