High density, high point-rate line-scanned LiDAR receiver design and application benefits

A 1550 nm LiDAR receiver is demonstrated that is capable of collecting 3D image data at point rates exceeding 80M points/second enabling a new level of LiDAR data density for sensor fusion and convolutional neural network driven applications. The receiver uses a 512-element InGaAs avalanche photodiode (APD) detector array die that is flip-chip bonded to a Si readout integrated circuit (ROIC). The ROIC comprises 512 differential TIA receiver channels operating in parallel, each with integrated discrimination and timing circuitry. The resulting receiver system has a timing resolution of 250 ps and is capable of ranging up to 600 m. Noise equivalent input energy for this receiver is 90 photons and ranging return sensitivities near this level are possible due to the high LiDAR data density which enables the use of spatial and temporal noise filtering techniques.