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WO2018190276A1 - Dispositif de mesure optique - Google Patents

Dispositif de mesure optique Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2018190276A1
WO2018190276A1 PCT/JP2018/014797 JP2018014797W WO2018190276A1 WO 2018190276 A1 WO2018190276 A1 WO 2018190276A1 JP 2018014797 W JP2018014797 W JP 2018014797W WO 2018190276 A1 WO2018190276 A1 WO 2018190276A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
unit
light receiving
information
measurement device
light
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/JP2018/014797
Other languages
English (en)
Japanese (ja)
Inventor
尾崎　憲幸
木村　禎祐
謙太 東
武廣 秦
Original Assignee
株式会社デンソー
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from JP2018049416A external-priority patent/JP6690660B2/ja
Application filed by 株式会社デンソー filed Critical 株式会社デンソー
Priority to CN201880024047.8A priority Critical patent/CN110520756B/zh
Priority to CN202310261428.0A priority patent/CN116338711A/zh
Publication of WO2018190276A1 publication Critical patent/WO2018190276A1/fr
Priority to US16/597,109 priority patent/US11585907B2/en
Priority to US16/843,191 priority patent/US11585908B2/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S17/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
    • G01S17/02—Systems using the reflection of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
    • G01S17/06—Systems determining position data of a target
    • G01S17/08—Systems determining position data of a target for measuring distance only
    • G01S17/10—Systems determining position data of a target for measuring distance only using transmission of interrupted, pulse-modulated waves
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/483—Details of pulse systems
    • G01S7/486—Receivers
    • G01S7/4865—Time delay measurement, e.g. time-of-flight measurement, time of arrival measurement or determining the exact position of a peak
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/483—Details of pulse systems
    • G01S7/486—Receivers
    • G01S7/487—Extracting wanted echo signals, e.g. pulse detection

Definitions

  • This disclosure relates to a technique for determining the flight time of light.
  • SPAD Single Photon Avalanche Diode
  • SPAD is an avalanche photodiode that operates in Geiger mode and can detect the incidence of a single photon.
  • TOF flight time of light from irradiation to light reception
  • Patent Document 1 As a result of detailed studies by the inventors, the following problems have been found in the prior art described in Patent Document 1. That is, in the prior art, when the number of SPADs included in the SPAD array is increased in order to improve detection performance, the number of responses at the photodetector increases, and accordingly, the subsequent time measurement for measuring TOF is performed. The processing load on the circuit increases. If the processing load exceeds the processing capability of the timing circuit, the detection performance is degraded.
  • a photodetection device that is one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a light receiving array unit, a plurality of measurement units, and a signal processing unit.
  • the light receiving array unit is configured such that a plurality of photodetectors that output a pulse signal upon incidence of photons form a light receiving group, and the plurality of light receiving groups form one pixel, and includes one or more such pixels. .
  • Measurement units are provided for each of the plurality of light receiving groups.
  • the measurement unit obtains the time information indicating the elapsed time from the irradiation timing input from the outside and the light amount acquired at each of one or more timings specified from the time information. Generate information.
  • the light quantity information the number of photodetectors outputting pulse signals among a plurality of photodetectors belonging to the light receiving unit loop is used.
  • the signal processing unit obtains the flight time of light according to at least one of time information and light amount information measured by a plurality of measurement units corresponding to one pixel. According to such a configuration, it is possible to suppress the number of pulse signals to be processed by individual measurement units without reducing the sensitivity of the photodetector.
  • FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a histogram generation unit 52.
  • FIG. 6 is a state machine diagram for explaining the operation of a histogram generation unit 52.
  • FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the laser radar of 2nd Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which illustrates how to allocate the light reception group with respect to a measurement part. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the laser radar of 3rd Embodiment.
  • FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of a photodetector in the first to third embodiments. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the laser radar of 4th Embodiment. It is a circuit diagram which shows the structure of the photodetector in 4th Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the modification of 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the modification of 3rd Embodiment.
  • the laser radar 1 of this embodiment is mounted on a vehicle, detects various objects existing around the vehicle, and generates information related to the object.
  • the laser radar 1 includes an irradiation unit 2, a light receiving array unit 3, a plurality of measurement units 4, a signal processing unit 5, and a histogram storage unit 6.
  • excluding the irradiation part 2 from the laser radar 1 is equivalent to an optical measuring device.
  • the irradiation unit 2 repeatedly irradiates pulsed laser light at a preset interval, and notifies the plurality of measurement units 4 of the irradiation timing.
  • the cycle of irradiating laser light is referred to as a measurement cycle.
  • the light receiving array section 3 has a plurality of light receiving groups G1 to Gx.
  • x is an integer of 2 or more.
  • Each light receiving group Gi includes Mi photo detectors 31.
  • i is any value from 1 to x.
  • Each photodetector 31 includes a SPAD.
  • SPAD is an abbreviation for Single Photon Avalanche Diode.
  • the SPAD is an avalanche photodiode that operates in a Geiger mode in which a voltage higher than the breakdown voltage is applied as a reverse bias voltage, and can detect the incidence of a single photon.
  • the light receiving array unit 3 includes a total of M1 + M2 +... + Mx SPADs. These SPADs are arranged to form a two-dimensional matrix and form a light receiving surface.
  • SPADs for a plurality of rows in the SPAD matrix are respectively assigned to the light receiving groups G1 to Gx.
  • each pulse signal output from the Mi light detectors 31 included in the light receiving group Gi is represented by P 1 to P Mi.
  • Each photodetector 31 includes a SPAD 81, a quench resistor 82, an inverting circuit 83, a D flip-flop circuit (hereinafter referred to as a DFF circuit) 84, and a delay circuit 85, as shown in FIG.
  • the SPAD 81 has an anode connected to a negative power source and a cathode connected to a positive power source via a quench resistor 82.
  • the quench resistor 82 applies a reverse bias voltage to the SPAD 81.
  • the quench resistor 82 stops the Geiger discharge of the SPAD 81 due to a voltage drop caused by the current flowing through the SPAD 81 when the photons enter the SPAD 81 and the SPAD 81 is broken down.
  • As the quench resistor 82 a resistance element having a predetermined resistance value, or a MOSFET whose on-resistance can be set by a gate voltage is used.
  • An inversion circuit 83 is connected to the cathode of SPAD81.
  • the input of the inverting circuit 83 is at a high level.
  • a current flows through the quench resistor 82, whereby the input of the inverting circuit 83 changes to a low level.
  • the DFF circuit 84 changes its output to a high level at a rising edge at which the output of the inverting circuit 83 changes from a low level to a high level.
  • the output of the DFF circuit 84 is connected to the reset terminal of the DFF circuit 84 via the delay circuit 85.
  • the delay circuit 85 inverts the signal level of the output of the DFF circuit 84 and delays the signal level by a preset delay time ⁇ and inputs it to the reset terminal. As a result, when the delay time ⁇ elapses after the output of the DFF circuit 84 changes to the high level, the DFF circuit 84 is reset to change to the low level.
  • the plurality of measuring units 4 have the same number x as the light receiving groups G1 to Gx. Each measuring unit 4 is associated with one of the light receiving groups G1 to Gx on a one-to-one basis. Since the plurality of measurement units 4 are all configured in the same manner, a single measurement unit 4 associated with the light receiving group Gi will be described below.
  • the measuring unit 4 is a flight time of light required from irradiation to light reception based on the pulse signals P 1 to P Mi output in parallel from the light receiving group Gi and the irradiation timing supplied from the irradiation unit 2.
  • Time information Tp representing TOF and light amount information Cp representing light amount at the time of light reception are generated.
  • TOF is an abbreviation for Time Of Flight.
  • the measurement unit 4 includes a trigger unit 41, a timer unit 42, a count unit 43, and a temporary storage unit 44.
  • the number of pulse signals P 1 to P Mi simultaneously output from the light receiving group Gi is greater than or equal to the trigger threshold TH.
  • a trigger signal TG having a predetermined pulse width representing the light reception timing is output.
  • the trigger unit 41 outputs a plurality of trigger signals TG.
  • the trigger threshold TH may be a fixed value or a variable value that changes according to the situation.
  • the timer 42 is a so-called TDC, measures the time from the irradiation timing notified from the irradiation unit 2 to the light reception timing indicated by the trigger signal TG, and outputs it as time information Tp.
  • TDC is an abbreviation for Time to Digital Converter.
  • the TDC is entirely composed of a digital circuit.
  • the counting unit 43 counts the response number Cx, which is the number of pulse signals P 1 to P Mi simultaneously output from the light receiving group Gi, at a timing according to the trigger signal TG, and calculates the bias value Cb from the response number Cx.
  • the number of adjustment responses as a result of the subtraction is output as light amount information Cp indicating the intensity of received light.
  • the timing according to the trigger signal TG may be a timing when the trigger signal TG is output, or may be a timing obtained by delaying the trigger signal TG by a predetermined delay amount.
  • the bias value Cb may be a fixed value or a variable value that changes according to the situation.
  • the bias value Cb may be 0 in the case of a fixed value. Further, in the case of a variable value, the bias value Cb may be set in conjunction with the trigger threshold TH, or set according to one or both of the ambient brightness and the free space of the histogram storage unit 6. May be.
  • the temporary storage unit 44 includes a RAM that is a readable / writable memory. As shown in FIG. 2, the temporary storage unit 44 stores light amount information Cp generated by the counting unit 43 at an address associated with the time information Tp generated by the time measuring unit 42.
  • the time information Tp is a value expressed in units of time regions (hereinafter, time bins) divided by the time resolution of the time measuring unit 42. Therefore, the larger the address, the longer the TOF, and the farther the distance to the object is.
  • the bit width of the data stored in the temporary storage unit 44 only needs to be a minimum size that can represent the number Mi of SPADs included in the light receiving group Gi.
  • the histogram storage unit 6 has a RAM that is a readable / writable memory. As shown in FIG. 3, the address of the histogram storage unit 6 is associated with the time information Tp in the same manner as the temporary storage unit 44.
  • the bit width of the data stored in the histogram storage unit 6 is the expected value of the number of responses detected in one measurement, the number of times of integration X that is the number of times that the signal processing unit 5 repeats the integration when generating a histogram, etc. Accordingly, the integrated value is appropriately set so as not to overflow.
  • the cumulative number X may be 1 or more.
  • the signal processing unit 5 includes an information generation unit 51 and a histogram generation unit 52.
  • the information generation unit 51 operates every X measurement cycles, that is, every time a histogram is generated, and generates information on an object that reflects light based on the histogram generated by the histogram generation unit 52.
  • the maximum value of the histogram is extracted as luminance, and for each extracted maximum value, the time corresponding to the address from which the maximum value is obtained is specified.
  • an object including the distance to each object that caused the maximum value on the histogram and the reliability of the object are generated.
  • the generated object information is provided to various in-vehicle devices that use the object information via an in-vehicle LAN (not shown).
  • the histogram generation unit 52 operates for each measurement cycle, and updates the contents of the histogram stored in the histogram storage unit 6 according to the information stored in each temporary storage unit 44 included in each of the plurality of measurement units 4.
  • the histogram generation unit 52 includes a comparison unit 521 and a memory control unit 522.
  • the temporary storage unit 44 is configured to output the smallest address among the addresses where data is written and the data stored at the address.
  • Temporary storage unit 44 is configured to sequentially output the next smallest address among the addresses where data is written and the data stored at the address in accordance with update instruction acq from memory control unit 522. .
  • the comparison unit 521 compares the inputs from the plurality of temporary storage units 44, selects the light reception group G outputting the smallest address, and selects the selected light reception group (hereinafter, selected group) SG.
  • An address (hereinafter, selected address) SA and data (hereinafter, selected data) SD input from the group temporary storage unit 44 are supplied to the memory control unit 522. If there are a plurality of light receiving groups G that have the smallest address, only one of the plurality of light receiving groups G having the smallest identifier for identifying the light receiving group is set as the selected group SG. Not limited to this, all of the plurality of light receiving groups may be selected groups SG1, SG2,. In this case, the selection data SD may be a total value of all data input from the selection groups SG1, SG2,.
  • the memory control unit 522 updates the value of the histogram stored in the histogram storage unit 6 using the selection address SA and the selection data SD supplied from the comparison unit 521. Specifically, the data of the selection address SA is read from the histogram storage unit 6, and the selection data SD is added to the read data and written to the selection address SA. In addition, the memory control unit 522 updates the output of the temporary storage unit 44 belonging to the selected group SG by outputting an update instruction acq designating the selected group SG to the temporary storage unit 44.
  • Each function of the signal processing unit 5 is realized by an electronic circuit that is hardware.
  • the electronic circuit may be realized by a digital circuit, an analog circuit, or a combination thereof. Further, some of these functions may be realized by processing executed by the CPU.
  • the histogram generation unit 52 has an IDLE state, a SET state, a READ state, a SUM state, and a WRITE state, and appropriately transitions between these states and executes an operation corresponding to each state.
  • the SUM state and the SET state, and the WRITE state and the READ state can coexist.
  • emp means that no data exists in any of the plurality of temporary storage units 44 (hereinafter referred to as read register group), and din means that data exists in the read register group.
  • the histogram generator 52 is reset every time the information generator 51 executes an information generation process using a histogram.
  • the signal processing unit 5 When the signal processing unit 5 is reset, it enters an IDLE state. At this time, the histogram stored in the histogram storage unit 6 is also reset.
  • the IDLE state is a state waiting for data to be written to the read register group.
  • the read register group becomes din, and the histogram generation unit 52 transitions to the SET state.
  • the comparison unit 521 operates to output the selected group SG, the selected address SA, and the selected data SD to the memory control unit 522. Thereafter, the histogram generator 52 transitions to the READ state.
  • the memory control unit 522 reads the data of the selected address SA from the histogram storage unit 6. At this time, if the read register group is emp, the histogram generation unit 52 transitions to the SUM state.
  • the memory control unit 522 In the SUM state, the memory control unit 522 generates an integrated value obtained by adding the selection data to the data read in the READ state. Thereafter, the histogram generator 52 transitions to the WRITE state.
  • the memory control unit 522 writes the integrated value generated in the SUM state to the selection address SA of the histogram storage unit 6 and outputs an update instruction acq designating the selection group SG to the read register group. If the read register group is emp as a result of updating the status of the read register group by the update instruction acq, the histogram generating unit 52 transitions to the IDLE state. On the other hand, if the read register group is din, the histogram generation unit 52 transitions to the SET state.
  • the histogram generation unit 52 transitions to the SUM + SET state.
  • the operation in the SUM state by the memory control unit 522 and the operation in the SET state by the comparison unit 521 are executed in parallel. Thereafter, the histogram generator 52 transitions to the WRITE + READ state.
  • the histogram generation unit 52 transits to the SUM + SET state if the status of the read register group is din, and transits to the SUM state if the status of the read register group is emp.
  • the measuring unit needs to execute processing for all pulse signals shown in a graph obtained by adding all the graphs in FIG.
  • the measurement unit 4 performs processing only for the pulse signals shown in any one of the graphs in FIG. The processing load is reduced.
  • the measurement unit 4 is provided with a temporary storage unit 44 for storing time information Tp and light amount information Cp as measurement results. Therefore, the signal processing unit 5 does not need to perform processing in real time at the generation timing of the pulse signal P, and can perform processing by using the time until the next light emission, and therefore uses the measurement result without omission. Can do.
  • the light receiving groups G1 to Gx and the plurality of measuring units 4 are associated one-to-one.
  • the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the correspondence between the two can be appropriately changed.
  • the laser radar 1a of the present embodiment includes a connection unit 7 and a connection control unit 8 in addition to the configuration of the laser radar 1 of the first embodiment.
  • the number of measuring units 4 is set to be equal to or less than the number x of the light receiving groups G1 to Gx. In the following description, it is assumed that the number of measuring units 4 is two.
  • the connection unit 7 corresponds to a front connection unit
  • the connection control unit 8 corresponds to a front control unit.
  • connection unit 7 assigns the light reception groups G1 to Gx to the two measurement units 4 in accordance with instructions from the connection control unit 8. That is, one pixel is divided into two upper and lower regions, the first measuring unit 4 processes the pulse signal P from the light receiving group belonging to the upper region, and the second measuring unit 4 from the light receiving group belonging to the lower region. The pulse signal P is processed. That is, the connection unit 7 appropriately changes the organization of the light receiving group that causes each measurement unit 4 to perform processing.
  • the connection control unit 8 acquires status information indicating the status in which the laser radar 1a is used, and changes the setting of the connection unit 7, that is, the boundary between the upper and lower regions of the pixel, according to the acquired status information. .
  • connection control unit 8 obtains information as status information from a sensor or the like that monitors the intensity of disturbance light incident on the light receiving array unit 3. Then, as shown in the upper column of FIG. 7, the connection control unit 8 decreases the number m of light receiving groups belonging to the upper region and increases the number n of light receiving groups belonging to the lower region as the disturbance light is stronger according to the situation information. May be increased.
  • the brightness of the object to be measured tends to be a gradation that changes from light to dark from top to bottom.
  • the load on the measurement unit 4 that processes the upper region is reduced. This vertical relationship may be inverted depending on the lens.
  • connection control unit 8 may acquire information from a sensor or the like that monitors the road surface condition as the situation information. In this case, when the connection control unit 8 detects that the road is a snowy road from the situation information, the connection control unit 8 increases the number m of light receiving groups belonging to the upper region and belongs to the lower region as shown in the lower column of FIG. The number n of light receiving groups may be reduced.
  • the road surface reflection becomes strong, so the brightness of the object to be measured tends to be a gradation that changes from dark to bright from top to bottom.
  • the load on the measurement unit 4 that processes the lower region is reduced. This vertical relationship may be inverted depending on the lens.
  • the measurement results of the plurality of measuring units 4 are processed by one signal processing unit 5.
  • the third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that it has a plurality of signal processing units 5 and can change the correspondence with the measurement unit 4 as appropriate.
  • the laser radar 1b of the present embodiment includes a connection unit 9 and a connection control unit 10 in addition to the configuration of the laser radar 1 of the first embodiment.
  • the laser radar 1b includes two signal processing units 5 and two histogram storage units 6.
  • the number of signal processing units 5 and histogram storage units 6 may be three or more.
  • the connection unit 9 corresponds to a rear connection unit
  • the connection control unit 10 corresponds to a rear control unit.
  • connection unit 9 assigns the measurement unit 4 and thus the light receiving groups G1 to Gx to each of the two signal processing units 5 in accordance with an instruction from the connection control unit 10. That is, one pixel is divided into two upper and lower regions, and a histogram is created based on the measurement results of the plurality of measurement units 4 in which the first signal processing unit 5 processes the pulse signal P from the light receiving group belonging to the upper region. To do. Further, the second signal processing unit 5 creates a histogram based on the measurement results of the plurality of measurement units 4 that process the pulse signals P from the light receiving groups belonging to the lower region.
  • the connection control unit 10 acquires status information indicating the status in which the laser radar 1b is used, and changes the setting of the connection unit 9, that is, the boundary between the upper and lower regions of the pixel, according to the acquired status information. .
  • connection control unit 10 acquires information from a sensor or the like that monitors the attitude of the vehicle as the situation information.
  • the laser radar 1b is set to irradiate laser light toward the road surface.
  • the connection control unit 10 basically sets a large number m of light receiving groups belonging to the upper area and a small number n of light receiving groups belonging to the lower area, so that the attitude of the vehicle The ratio of m and n is changed according to.
  • the laser beam when the laser beam is irradiated toward the road surface, reflected waves from farther are detected in the upper region, and reflected waves from closer are detected in the lower region.
  • This vertical relationship may be inverted depending on the lens.
  • Increasing the number m of light receiving groups assigned to the upper region makes it possible to detect weak signals from a long distance, although the resolution becomes coarse.
  • the resolution can be increased instead of sacrificing the detection of weak signals.
  • the distance from the attitude of the vehicle to the road surface where the laser beam reaches for each light receiving group may be estimated, and the ratio of m and n may be changed according to the estimated distance.
  • the trigger signal TG is generated, and the histogram is updated using only the light amount information Cp obtained at the timing of the trigger signal TG.
  • the fourth embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the light amount information Cp is repeatedly generated in synchronization with the clock and the histogram is updated using all the light amount information Cp.
  • the laser radar 1 c of this embodiment includes an irradiation unit 2, a light receiving array unit 3 c, a plurality of measurement units 4 c, a signal processing unit 5, and a histogram storage unit 6.
  • the light receiving array unit 3c has a plurality of light receiving groups G1 to Gx.
  • Each light receiving group Gi has Mi photodetectors 31c.
  • Each of the M1 + M2 +... + Mx photodetectors 31c has a SPAD, these SPADs are arranged so as to form a two-dimensional matrix, and form a light receiving surface, as in the first embodiment.
  • each photodetector 31c includes a SPAD 81, a quench resistor 82, an inverting circuit 83, and a DFF circuit 84. That is, the photodetector 31c is different from the photodetector 31 of the first embodiment in that the delay circuit 85 is omitted and the connection state of the DFF circuit 84 is different.
  • the DFF circuit 84 latches the output of the inverting circuit 83 at the timing of the rising edge of the clock CK and outputs this as a pulse signal P. Further, the output of the DFF circuit 84 is reset by the reset signal RS.
  • the photodetector 31c outputs the pulse signal P in response to this.
  • the pulse width of the pulse signal Pr output from the inverting circuit 83 continues until the Geiger discharge of the SPAD 81 is stopped by the voltage drop generated by the current flowing through the quench resistor 82.
  • This pulse signal Pr is converted into a pulse signal P synchronized with the clock CK by the DFF circuit 84. That is, the pulse width of the pulse signal P output from the DFF circuit 84 includes a shift corresponding to the quantization error due to the clock CK.
  • the measurement unit 4 c includes a timer unit 42 c, a count unit 43 c, and a temporary storage unit 44 c.
  • the timer 42c has a synchronous counter that operates according to the clock CK.
  • the timing unit 42c starts counting at the irradiation timing notified from the irradiation unit 2, and continues the counting operation at least for the time required for the optical signal to reciprocate the maximum detection distance. Then, the timer unit 42c outputs the count value of the synchronous counter as time information Tp. That is, the time information Tp changes in synchronization with the clock CK and represents an elapsed time from the irradiation timing.
  • the count unit 43c always obtains the response number Cx, which is the number of pulse signals P 1 to P Mi simultaneously output from the photodetector 31c, using an encoder or the like. Further, the count unit 43c repeatedly calculates the adjustment response number, which is the result of subtracting the bias value Cb from the response number Cx, for each timing of the clock CK, that is, whenever the time information Tp changes, Is output as light amount information Cp representing the luminance of the optical signal. That is, the light amount information Cp changes in synchronization with the clock CK, similarly to the time information Tp.
  • the temporary storage unit 44c is the same as the temporary storage unit 44 except that the light amount information Cp is stored at the timing of the clock CK instead of the trigger signal TG. Thereby, the light quantity information Cp is stored in all the time bins identified by the time information Tp in the temporary storage unit 44c.
  • the light receiving group is configured in units of rows in the SPAD two-dimensional matrix, but the present disclosure is not limited to this.
  • the light receiving group may be configured in units of columns in a SPAD two-dimensional matrix, or may be configured in units of arbitrarily-shaped blocks.
  • connection unit 7 switches the connection in units of light reception groups, but the present disclosure is not limited to this.
  • the connection unit 7 may be configured to switch the connection in units of individual photodetectors 31.
  • connection control unit 8 changes the boundary between the upper region and the lower region of the pixel based on the situation information.
  • the change target based on the situation information may include, for example, at least one of the number of photodetectors forming the light receiving group, the size of the pixel formed by the light receiving group, and the shape of the pixel.
  • the plurality of signal processing units 5 each process a partial area in one pixel and generate a plurality of histograms for one pixel.
  • the present disclosure is limited to this. It is not something.
  • each of the plurality of signal processing units 5 generates a histogram for one pixel, and the connection unit 9 switches the light receiving groups G1 to Gx associated with each pixel, so that the size of each pixel, At least one of the shape and the number of photodetectors included in each pixel may be appropriately changed.
  • connection control unit 10 determines that the region in the pixel corresponding to each of the signal processing units 5 or the pixel corresponding to each of the signal processing units 5 is referred to as a region.
  • the connection by the connection unit 9 may be changed so that the number of the photo detectors 31 forming the same, the size of each region or the like, or the shape of each region or the like becomes the same.
  • the connection control unit 10 connects the connection by the connection unit 9 so that at least one of the number of photodetectors 31 forming each region or the like, or the size of each region or the shape of each region or the like varies depending on the pixel. May be configured to change.
  • the number of connections is changed based on the situation information acquired by the connection control units 8 and 10, but the present disclosure is not limited to this.
  • the number of connections may be set in advance based on the characteristics of the light receiving lens (for example, the angle of view and distortion) and the light irradiation range of the irradiation unit 2.
  • the intensity of disturbance light, the road surface condition, and the posture of the vehicle are used as the situation information acquired by the connection control units 8 and 10, but the present disclosure is limited to this. Is not to be done.
  • the situation information various types of information correlated with disturbance light such as time or weather may be used.
  • various types of information correlated with the attitude of the vehicle such as a map showing the acceleration of the vehicle or the inclination angle of the road, may be used.
  • past situation information or the like may be used as the situation information.
  • connection units 7 and 9 are provided on either the input side or the output side of the plurality of measurement units 4, but the connection units 7 and 9 are provided at the same time. Also good.
  • the RAM used as the temporary storage unit 44 has an address associated with the time information Tp, but the present disclosure is not limited to this.
  • the RAM used as the temporary storage unit 44 may associate the time information Tp and the light amount information Cp and store them as data. According to this, since the RAM used as the temporary storage unit 44 does not need to prepare addresses for all the time bins, the capacity of the RAM is reduced particularly when the frequency of pulse signals from the light receiving group is low. be able to.
  • the histogram generation unit 52 may be configured to compare the time information Tp itself instead of comparing the addresses.
  • the configuration in which the light receiving array unit 3 and the measuring unit 4 in the laser radar 1 of the first embodiment are replaced with the light receiving array unit 3c and the measuring unit 4c is shown.
  • the present disclosure is not limited to this.
  • the light receiving array unit 3 and the measuring unit 4 of the laser radar 1a according to the second embodiment may be replaced with the light receiving array unit 3c and the measuring unit 4c. Good.
  • the light receiving array unit 3 and the measuring unit 4 of the laser radar 1b according to the third embodiment may be replaced with the light receiving array unit 3c and the measuring unit 4c. Good.
  • a plurality of functions of one constituent element in the above embodiment may be realized by a plurality of constituent elements, or a single function of one constituent element may be realized by a plurality of constituent elements. . Further, a plurality of functions possessed by a plurality of constituent elements may be realized by one constituent element, or one function realized by a plurality of constituent elements may be realized by one constituent element. Moreover, you may abbreviate
  • at least a part of the configuration of the above embodiment may be added to or replaced with the configuration of the other embodiment.
  • all the aspects included in the technical idea specified from the wording described in the claims are embodiments of the present disclosure.
  • the present disclosure can be realized in various forms such as a system including the optical measurement device as a constituent element and an optical signal measurement method.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Optical Radar Systems And Details Thereof (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne une pluralité de photodétecteurs (31) formant un groupe de réception de lumière, et une pluralité de groupes de réception de lumière formant un pixel. Une unité de réseau de réception de lumière (3) est pourvue d'un ou de plusieurs de ces pixels. Chaque photodétecteur émet un signal d'impulsion en réponse à l'incidence d'un photon. Une unité de mesure (4) est prévue pour chaque groupe parmi la pluralité de groupes de réception de lumière. En fonction du signal d'impulsion émis par le groupe de réception de lumière correspondant, chaque unité de mesure génère des informations de temps représentant un temps écoulé à partir d'une entrée de moment d'irradiation depuis l'extérieur, et génère des informations de quantité de lumière acquises à un ou chaque minutage parmi plusieurs minutages identifiés à partir des informations de temps. Le nombre de photodétecteurs émettant un signal d'impulsion, parmi la pluralité de photodétecteurs appartenant au groupe de réception de lumière, est utilisé en tant qu'informations de quantité de lumière.
PCT/JP2018/014797 2017-04-10 2018-04-06 Dispositif de mesure optique WO2018190276A1 (fr)

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CN201880024047.8A CN110520756B (zh) 2017-04-10 2018-04-06 光学测量装置
CN202310261428.0A CN116338711A (zh) 2017-04-10 2018-04-06 光学测量装置
US16/597,109 US11585907B2 (en) 2017-04-10 2019-10-09 Optical measuring device comprising a measuring unit to generate time information representing an elapsed time in accordance with pulse signal output from a light receiving group
US16/843,191 US11585908B2 (en) 2017-04-10 2020-04-08 Optical measuring device comprising a measuring unit to generate time information representing an elapsed time in accordance with pulse signal output from a light receiving group

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JP2017-077484 2017-04-10
JP2017077484 2017-04-10
JP2018-049416 2018-03-16
JP2018049416A JP6690660B2 (ja) 2017-04-10 2018-03-16 光計測装置

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WO2022210330A1 (fr) * 2021-03-31 2022-10-06 パナソニックＩｐマネジメント株式会社 Dispositif de mesure de distance et dispositif d'imagerie à semiconducteur

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