P. Keränen and J. Kostamovaara, "$256\times8$ SPAD Array With 256 Column TDCs for a Line Profiling Laser Radar," in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 66, no. 11, pp. 4122-4133, Nov. 2019. doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2019.2923263

### 256 x 8 SPAD array with 256 column TDCs for a line profiling laser radar

Saved in:
Author: Keränen, Pekka1; Kostamovaara, Juha1
Organizations: 1Circuits and Systems Research Unit, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland
Format: article
Version: published version
Access: open
Online Access: PDF Full Text (PDF, 3.2 MB)
Language: English
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2019
Publish Date: 2019-12-09
Description:

# Abstract

A receiver circuit for pulsed time-of-flight line profiling laser radar has been designed in 0.35μm CMOS technology. The receiver consists of a line detector array with 256×8 SPADs with a pitch of 41.6μm. The diameter of the SPAD’s active area is 25.6μm, which gives a fill factor of 0.35. Each column has 8 SPADs and a TDC with a range and resolution of 640 ns and 20 ps, respectively. The TDCs are based on the Nutt interpolation method where cyclic converters are utilized as fine converters. A compact demonstrator system has been built with a horizontal FOV of about 37°, which gives a column-wise angular resolution of about 0.15°. This solid-state system uses a pulsed laser diode with cylindrical transmitter optics to illuminate the full FOV of the receiver with a single laser pulse. The system can measure distances up to 30 m @ 28 fps with an accuracy and precision of few millimeters in typical indoor lighting conditions. Outdoors, in direct sunlight conditions, the measurement range is decreased to 5 m. Outdoor range, however, can be increased if frame rate is lowered and more laser shots are accumulated per frame.

see all

Series: IEEE transactions on circuits and systems. I, Regular papers
ISSN: 1549-8328
ISSN-E: 1558-0806
ISSN-L: 1549-8328
Volume: 66
Issue: 11
Pages: 4122 - 4133
DOI: 10.1109/TCSI.2019.2923263