Simulating single-photon detector array sensors for depth imaging

TL;DR

This paper introduces a numerical method to evaluate the maximum achievable depth resolution of SPAD array sensors in various real-world scenarios, facilitating rapid performance assessment without extensive field testing.

Contribution

The authors develop a simple, robust numerical procedure to determine the fundamental limits of depth imaging with SPAD arrays under realistic conditions.

Findings

Accurately generates realistic depth images across diverse scenarios.

Establishes performance bounds for SPAD array-based depth imaging.

Reduces need for costly field testing of optical systems.

Abstract

Single-Photon Avalanche Detector (SPAD) arrays are a rapidly emerging technology. These multi-pixel sensors have single-photon sensitivities and pico-second temporal resolutions thus they can rapidly generate depth images with millimeter precision. Such sensors are a key enabling technology for future autonomous systems as they provide guidance and situational awareness. However, to fully exploit the capabilities of SPAD array sensors, it is crucial to establish the quality of depth images they are able to generate in a wide range of scenarios. Given a particular optical system and a finite image acquisition time, what is the best-case depth resolution and what are realistic images generated by SPAD arrays? In this work, we establish a robust yet simple numerical procedure that rapidly establishes the fundamental limits to depth imaging with SPAD arrays under real world conditions. Our approach accurately generates realistic depth images in a wide range of scenarios, allowing the performance of an optical depth imaging system to be established without the need for costly and laborious field testing. This procedure has applications in object detection and tracking for autonomous systems and could be easily extended to systems for underwater imaging or for imaging around corners.