Open architecture time of fight 3D SWIR camera operating at 150 MHz modulation frequency

Skyler Wheaton, Alireza Bonakdar, Iman Hassani Nia, Chee Leong Tan, Vala Fathipour, Hooman Mohseni*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the past two decades 3-D cameras have proven to be one of the next revolutions in machine vision. However, these devices are still an emerging technology with a particularly narrow set of commercially available devices. In this paper, the concept and execution of the first short wavelength infrared (SWIR) time-of-flight (ToF) 3-D camera system operating at a wavelength of 1550 nm is presented. By decoupling the optical and electrical components of the system in an open architecture we not only surpass many of the limitations of an on-chip integrated solution, but also can easily change the imaging device based on the requirements of the application. We achieve modulation frequencies up to 150 MHz, which exceeds the conventional values currently published for other large format modulators by about five times. This increase in the modulation frequency allows for a TOF camera with significantly higher depth resolution, while the open architecture design allows for a highly reconfigurable device that can be modified for specific working conditions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)19291-19297
Number of pages7
JournalOptics Express
Volume25
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 7 2017

Funding

We acknowledge the computational resources and staff contributions provided by the Quest high performance computing facility at Northwestern University, which is jointly supported by the Office of the Provost, the Office for Research, and Northwestern University Information Technology. DARPA/ARO award #W911NF-16-1-0458, ARO award #W911NF-11-1-0390, and NSF award #IIP-1500314 001. We acknowledge the computational resources and staff contributions provided by the Quest high performance computing facility at Northwestern University, which is jointly supported by the Office of the Provost, the Office for Research, and Northwestern University Information Technology.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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