Oversampled time estimation techniques for precision photonic detectors

Abstract

The use of oversampling to reduce I/O requirements of time-to-digital converters for arrays of high precision photonic detectors is considered. Simulation results show that the high linearity offered by oversampled converters can be applied to time estimation. The averaging and lowpass filtering inherent in these techniques reduce jitter and enhance estimates of mean time delay. The effect of background illumination on the accuracy of time-of-flight estimates for Lidar range-finding is modeled using a first order sigma-delta modulator. Novel event-driven techniques are proposed for the reduction of sensitivity to background light level. © 2008 International Federation for Information Processing.