An 80 60 Flash Lidar Sensor With Inpixel Deltaintensity Quaternary Search Histogramming Tdc

• doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2022.3202247
• title: An 80 × 60 Flash LiDAR Sensor With In-Pixel Delta-Intensity Quaternary Search Histogramming TDC
• publisher: IEEE
• isbn:
• issn: 1558-173X
• rank: 1445
• access_type: LOCKED
• content_type: Journals
• abstract: This article presents a flash light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor featuring an in-pixel histogramming time-to-digital converter (hTDC) based on a delta-intensity quaternary search (DIQS) technique. The proposed 12-b DIQS hTDC is a two-step converter consisting of a 6-b coarse hTDC and a 7-b fine hTDC with 1-b redundancy. The DIQS hTDC synthesizes depth maps with three subframes from the coarse mode and a single subframe from the fine mode, achieving 100-ps resolution without a clock frequency of a few gigahertz. The DIQS repeats dividing the time range of a current step into four periods and finding the location where a target object is placed by comparing the number of events in each period, which is similar to the binary search method but doubles its operating speed. Two time-of-flight (ToF) bits are consecutively determined in every coarse step, and seven ToF bits are estimated by the indirect ToF technique with photon counts. An up–down counter is employed to reduce the memory size by half and enable the delta-intensity technique that can extend the dynamic range by suppressing the uniform background light. The prototype LiDAR with an $80\times60$ pixel array was fabricated in a 110-nm CMOS image sensor (CIS) process and fully characterized. The maximum detectable range is measured to 45 m with a success rate of 100% at night and 60% under 70-klux background light. The depth accuracy and precision are 2.5 and 1.5 cm from 3 to 4.5 m indoor, respectively, and the precision is maintained to 1.8 cm for the target located at a 1.5-m distance under 60-klux background light. Inherent time-gating and differential signaling of the DIQS hTDC effectively suppress common-mode noise, accomplishing real-time acquisition of depth images with 30 frames/s in a 9-m range at 30-klux background light.
• article_number: 9882175
• pdf_url: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=9882175
• html_url: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9882175/
• abstract_url: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9882175/
• publication_title: IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits
• conference_location:
• conference_dates:
• publication_number: 4
• is_number: 9926114
• publication_year: 2022
• publication_date: Nov. 2022
• start_page: 3200
• end_page: 3211
• citing_paper_count: 10
• citing_patent_count: 0
• download_count: 2249
• insert_date: 20220909
• index_terms:
  • ieee_terms:
    • Laser radar
    • Single-photon avalanche diodes
    • CMOS image sensors
  • author_terms:
    • 3-D imager
    • CMOS depth sensor
    • delta intensity
    • histogramming
    • light detection and ranging (LiDAR)
    • quaternary search
    • single-photon avalanche diode
    • time-of-flight (ToF)
    • time-to-digital converter (TDC)
  • dynamic_index_terms:
    • Light Detection And Ranging
    • Lidar
    • Time-to-digital Converter
    • Dynamic Range
    • Accuracy And Precision
    • Target Object
    • Depth Map
    • Function Of Depth
    • Depth Images
    • Photon Counting
    • Operation Speed
    • Background Light
    • Clock Frequency
    • Binary Search
    • Pixel Array
    • Accumulation Mode
    • Coarse Mode
    • Aitken Mode
    • Coarse-mode
    • Common-mode Noise
    • Pulse Width
    • Pulsewidth Modulation
    • Pulsewidth
    • Pulse Width Modulation
    • Frame Rate
    • Point Cloud
    • Point Clouds
    • Entailment
    • Logical Consequence
    • Decision Logic
    • Logical Conclusion
    • Halogen Lamp
    • Halogen Light
    • Single-photon Avalanche Diode
    • Single Photon Avalanche Diode
    • Time Bins
    • Dark Count Rate
    • Laser Shots
    • Emitted Power
    • Least Significant Bit
    • Low Bit
    • Phase-locked Loop
    • Phase Locked Loop
    • Shot Noise
    • Poisson Noise
    • Shot-noise
    • Extensive Dynamics
    • Pulse Signal
• authors:
  • Author Name: Seonghyeok Park
    Affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea
    Author URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37088803052
    ID: 37088803052
    Order: 1
    Author Affiliations:
    • Department of Electrical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea
  • Author Name: Bumjun Kim
    Affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea
    Author URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37088800727
    ID: 37088800727
    Order: 2
    Author Affiliations:
    • Department of Electrical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea
  • Author Name: Su-Hyun Han
    Affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea
    Author URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37086598577
    ID: 37086598577
    Order: 3
    Author Affiliations:
    • Department of Electrical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea
  • Author Name: Jun-Hee Cho
    Affiliation: SolidVue, Suwon, South Korea
    Author URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37089338372
    ID: 37089338372
    Order: 4
    Author Affiliations:
    • SolidVue, Suwon, South Korea
  • Author Name: Jung-Hoon Chun
    Affiliation: Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea
    Author URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37272877300
    ID: 37272877300
    Order: 5
    Author Affiliations:
    • Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea
  • Author Name: Jaehyuk Choi
    Affiliation: SolidVue, Suwon, South Korea
    Author URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37066872300
    ID: 37066872300
    Order: 6
    Author Affiliations:
    • SolidVue, Suwon, South Korea
    • Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea
  • Author Name: Seong-Jin Kim
    Affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea
    Author URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/38183923800
    ID: 38183923800
    Order: 7
    Author Affiliations:
    • Department of Electrical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea

Image Sensor

• sensor_type: CMOS
• resolution: 80×60 pixels
• dynamic_range: 42 dB
• pixel_size: 75 × 75 µm
• dark_current: 240 cps at room temperature and a 2.5-V excess bias

Optical Data

• focal_length: not specified
• aperture: not specified
• field_of_view: 8.1°×10.8°
• distortion: not specified

Performance Metrics

• frame_rate: 30 frames/s
• power_consumption: 274 mW

Applications & Benefits

• cell_imaging: not specified
• benefits: Real-time acquisition of depth images, effective background light suppression, high depth accuracy and precision under background light.

Supporting Organizations

• supported_by: Ministry of Science and ICT & Future Planning (MSIT), Korea, under Grant NRF-2021R1A2C2012045; K-Fabless Program through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), Korea, under Grant 20015989.

Manuscript Details

• publication_date: Nov. 2022

Relevancy Score

• score: 10

Processed JSON Filename

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