Thermal imaging & vision systems T
oF is an emerging 3D sensing and imaging technology that has found numerous applications in areas such as autonomous vehicles, virtual and augmented reality, feature identification, and object dimensioning. ToF cameras acquire depth images by measuring the time it takes the light to travel from a light source to objects in the scene and back to the pixel array. The specific type of technology that Analog Devices’ ADSD3100 backside illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor implements is called continuous wave (CW) modulation, which is an indirect ToF sensing method. In a CW ToF camera, the light from an amplitude modulated light source is backscattered by objects in the camera’s field of view (FOV), and the phase shift between the emitted waveform and the reflected waveform is measured. By measuring the phase shift at multiple modulation frequencies, one can calculate a depth value for each pixel. The phase shift is obtained by measuring the correlation between the emitted waveform and the received waveform at different relative delays using in-pixel photon mixing demodulation. The concept of CW ToF is shown in Figure 1.
TOF SYSTEM DESIGN: OPTICAL DESIGN FOR TIME OF FLIGHT DEPTH SENSING CAMERAS
Optics plays a key role in time of flight (ToF) depth sensing cameras, and the optical design dictates the complexity and feasibility of the final system and its performance. 3D ToF cameras have certain distinct characteristics that drive special optics requirements. Here, Tzu-Yu Wu, senior optical design engineer at Analog Devices, presents the depth sensing optical system architecture - which consists of the imaging optics sub-assembly, the ToF sensor on the receiver, and the illumination module on the transmitter - and discusses how to optimise each sub-module to improve the sensor and system performance.
Figure 1. The concept of ToF technology.
DEPTH SENSING OPTICAL SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
Figure 2 shows the optical system architecture. It can be broken down into two main sub-module categories: imaging module (also known as receiver or Rx) and illumination module (also known as transmitter or Tx). The following sections
introduce the function of each component, requirements distinct to the ToF system, and corresponding design examples.
ILLUMINATION MODULE
The illumination module consists of a light source, a driver that drives the light source at a high modulation frequency, and a diffuser that projects the optical beam from the light source to the designed field of illumination (FOI), as illustrated in Figure 2.
LIGHT SOURCE AND DRIVER ToF modules normally use light sources that are narrow band with low temperature dependence of the wavelength, including vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) and edge emitting lasers (EELs). Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are generally too slow for ToF modulation requirements. VCSELs have gained more popularity over recent years due to their lower cost, form factor, and reliability, along with being easy to integrate into ToF modules. Compared with EELs (that emit from the side) and LEDs (that emit from the sides and top), VCSELs emit beams perpendicular to their surface, which offers better yield in production and lower fabrication cost. In addition, the desired FOI can be achieved by using a single engineered diffuser with the designed divergence and optical profile. The optimisation of the laser driver, as well as the electrical design and layout of the printed circuit boards (PCBs) and light source are critically important to achieve high modulation contrast and high optical power.
ILLUMINATION WAVELENGTH (850 NM VS. 940 NM
Figure 2. An example of a ToF optical system architecture cross-section. 46
While the ToF operational principle does not depend on the wavelength (rather it depends on the speed of light) and therefore the wavelength
April 2025 Instrumentation Monthly
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