CoDLiR: Compact Digitizing Lidar Receiver

A reduction in space and power requirements for each channel of a LiDAR system would allow for a system with significantly more channels and/or a system small enough to fly on CubeSat scale vehicles.nbsp; The primary method by which the CoDLiR will accomplish this goal is the integration of feature extraction, digital processing, and bias control onto one single low-power chip.nbsp; For a full-scale detector, multiple channels (up to 64) would be serviced by a single chip. NSL has extensive experience with single-photon detection with extremely high timing resolution through our work with HEP collider and astrophysics experiments. We are currently developing a range of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for DOE Office of High Energy Physics (HEP) projects that have channel counts ranging from 4 to 64 per ASIC, which could be modified for this task specifically. These system on chip (SoC) ASICs implement built-in digital signal processing (DSP) and control interfaces that can enable precise time of flight (ToF) measurements of back-scattered laser light pulses with low light for use in orbiting or aerial LiDAR applications.nbsp; nbsp; Conventional LiDAR requires hundreds of coincident detectable reflected photons for a ranging measurement. However, current LiDAR technologies for long-distance ranging, backscatter, or differential absorption are increasingly moving towards single-photon sensitive (SPS) technology.nbsp; Single-photon detection has become increasingly attainable. Recent advances in SiPM technology have rendered them a desirable choice here as devices have become smaller (1mm x 1mm pixel size), faster (100ps rise time) more radiation hard while requiring only 30-90V bias voltages. Enhanced sensitivity to single reflected photons for long baseline measurements will reduce required laser system power and allow for more compact optical focusing lenses and mirrors.nbsp;nbsp;