GATED SENSOR BASED IMAGING SYSTEM WITH MINIMIZED DELAY TIME BETWEEN SENSOR EXPOSURES

摘要

Active or passive gated-sensor imaging system characterized by a minimized time period between successive sensor exposures. In the active imaging system, a light source emits light pulses toward a region of interest, and an image sensor receives reflections of the pulses reflected from objects located in a DOF to be imaged and converts the reflections into an image. Each frame of the image includes a plurality of gating cycles. Each gating cycle includes the emission of a respective light pulse and the reception of reflections of the respective pulse. A delay-time (TDELAY) is defined as the duration between the sensor exposure periods of successive gating cycles. A controller controls the operation of the light source and the image sensor, to minimize the delay-time for at least one gating cycle of an image frame, where the delay-time is adaptively determined in accordance with at least one system parameter or environmental condition.

主权项

1. An active imaging system comprising:
at least one light source, configured to emit a series of light pulses toward a region of interest; at least one image sensor comprising an array of photodetectors, configured to receive reflections of said pulses reflected from objects located in at least one depth of field (DOF) to be imaged, and to convert said reflections into an image, wherein each frame of said image comprises a plurality of gating cycles, each of said gating cycles comprising the emission of a respective pulse of said series of light pulses, and the reception of reflections of said respective pulse by said image sensor, and wherein a delay-time (TDELAY) is defined as the duration between the sensor exposure periods of successive gating cycles; and a controller, coupled with said light source and with said image sensor, said controller configured to control the operation of said light source and of said image sensor, and to minimize said delay-time (TDELAY) for at least one gating cycle of an image frame, wherein said delay-time (TDELAY) is adaptively determined in accordance with at least one system parameter or environmental condition.