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Single-Photon Detectors for Time-of-Flight Range Imaging

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Single-Photon Imaging

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Optical Sciences ((SSOS,volume 160))

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Abstract

We live in a three-dimensional (3D) world and thanks to the stereoscopic vision provided by our two eyes, in combination with the powerful neural network of the brain we are able to perceive the distance of the objects. Nevertheless, despite the huge market volume of digital cameras, solid-state image sensors can capture only a two-dimensional (2D) projection, of the scene under observation, losing a variable of paramount importance, i.e., the scene depth. On the contrary, 3D vision tools could offer amazing possibilities of improvement in many areas thanks to the increased accuracy and reliability of the models representing the environment. Among the great variety of distance measuring techniques and detection systems available, this chapter will treat only the emerging niche of solid-state, scannerless systems based on the TOF principle and using a detector SPAD-based pixels. The chapter is organized into three main parts. At first, TOF systems and measuring techniques will be described. In the second part, most meaningful sensor architectures for scannerless TOF distance measurements will be analyzed, focusing onto the circuital building blocks required by time-resolved image sensors. Finally, a performance summary is provided and a perspective view for the near future developments of SPAD-TOF sensors is given.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    More detailed and broader overviews over optical ranging principles can be found in the references [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

  2. 2.

    Prof. S. Cova, Prof. F. Zappa (Politecnico di Milano), Prof. E. Charbon (TUDELFT, EPFL), Dr. R. K. Henderson (The University of Edinburgh).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Prof. G.-F. Dalla Betta and Dr. L. Pancheri for useful discussion and support in reviewing this chapter, and to all the researchers involved in the MEGAFRAME project (www.megaframe.eu) which contributed in developing many of the ideas here contained. The authors express gratitude in particular to Prof. E. Charbon and Dr. R. Henderson for their valuable contributions in the field of CMOS SPADs.

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  1. Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via Sommarive 18, 38123, Trento, Italy

    David Stoppa & Andrea Simoni

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Correspondence to David Stoppa .

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    Albert JP Theuwissen

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Stoppa, D., Simoni, A. (2011). Single-Photon Detectors for Time-of-Flight Range Imaging. In: Seitz, P., Theuwissen, A. (eds) Single-Photon Imaging. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol 160. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18443-7_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18443-7_12

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