Centroid locating sensors having plural spatial filtering logic circuits connected to plural digitization comparators and methods for locating an illuminated spot on a detector
원문보기
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
G01S-003/783
H03K-023/78
출원번호
US-0104593
(2013-12-12)
등록번호
US-9274203
(2016-03-01)
발명자
/ 주소
Yap, Daniel
White, Randall
출원인 / 주소
The Boeing Company
대리인 / 주소
Butscher, Joseph M.
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
1인용 특허 :
2
초록▼
Centroid locating sensors and methods for locating an illuminated spot on a detector are provided. One sensor includes a plurality of photo-diode (PD) detector elements connected to the PD detector elements. The sensor also includes a plurality of digitization comparators connected to the plurality
Centroid locating sensors and methods for locating an illuminated spot on a detector are provided. One sensor includes a plurality of photo-diode (PD) detector elements connected to the PD detector elements. The sensor also includes a plurality of digitization comparators connected to the plurality of PD detector elements and configured to receive output signals from the plurality of PD detector elements and generate a binary 1 output when the output from the PD detector element exceeds a threshold set point and generate a binary 0 output when the output is below the threshold set point. The sensor further includes a plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits connected to the digitization comparators and are configured to receive outputs from a plurality of the PD detector elements and to reject noise for one of the PD detector elements.
대표청구항▼
1. A centroid-locating sensor comprising: a plurality of photo-diode (PD) detector elements arranged in an array;a plurality of digitization comparators connected to the plurality of PD detector elements, the digitization comparators configured to receive output signals from the plurality of PD dete
1. A centroid-locating sensor comprising: a plurality of photo-diode (PD) detector elements arranged in an array;a plurality of digitization comparators connected to the plurality of PD detector elements, the digitization comparators configured to receive output signals from the plurality of PD detector elements and generate a binary 1 output when the output from at least one of the PD detector elements exceeds a threshold set point and generate a binary 0 output when the output is below the threshold set point; anda plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits connected to the digitization comparators, the plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits configured to receive an output from the plurality of digitization comparators, wherein each of the plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits is configured to receive outputs from a plurality of the PD detector elements defining a group of PD detector elements, the plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits configured to reject noise for one of the PD detector elements of the group of PD detector elements having a binary 1 output based on the output of at least one other PD detector element of the group of PD detector elements. 2. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, wherein the plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits are configured to reject noise contributions associated with one or more of the PD detector elements of the group of PD detector elements with a binary 1 output and that have one adjacent PD detector element with a binary 0 output. 3. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, wherein when the output of the digitization comparator for a PD detector element is a binary 1, the plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits replaces a binary 1 output with a binary 0 output for the PD detector elements adjacent the PD detector element having the binary 1 output when less than one of the digitization comparators of the adjacent PD detector elements have a binary 1 output. 4. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, wherein when the output of the digitization comparator for a PD detector element is a binary 1, the plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits replaces a binary 1 output with a binary 0 output for the PD detector elements adjacent the PD element having the binary 1 output when less than three of the digitization comparators of the adjacent PD detector elements along two orthogonal axes relative to the PD detector element having the binary 1 output have a binary 0 output. 5. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, wherein when the output of the digitization comparator for a PD detector element is a binary 1, the plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits replaces a binary 1 output with a binary 0 output for the PD detector elements adjacent the PD detector element having the binary 1 output when less than one of the digitization comparators of the adjacent PD detector elements along each of two orthogonal axes relative to the PD detector element having the binary 1 output also have a binary 1 output. 6. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of noise-bandwidth limiting filters, with a noise-bandwidth limiting filter associated with each of the PD detector elements. 7. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 6, further comprising a plurality of preamplifiers connection to the plurality of PD detector elements and wherein each combination of PD detector element and preamplifier has a characteristic response bandwidth and the noise-bandwidth limiting filter associated with the PD detector element has one of a low-pass or band-pass filtering response with a characteristic filtering bandwidth, wherein the characteristic filtering bandwidth is smaller than the characteristic response bandwidth of the PD detector element. 8. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, further comprising an optical imaging system configured to project a spot of light onto the PD detector elements, the spot of light having a lateral dimension that is between two times and ten times as large as a lateral dimension of the PD detector element. 9. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 8, wherein the optical imaging system comprises an aperture configured to receive light. 10. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 8, wherein the optical imaging system further comprises an optical diffuser. 11. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, wherein one or more PDs of the plurality of PD detector elements have a square shape and are arranged in a square grid configuration. 12. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, wherein one or more PDs of the plurality of PD detector elements have a square shape and are arranged in an offset grid configuration. 13. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, wherein one or more PDs of the plurality of PD detector elements have a hexagonal shape and are arranged in a hexagonal packed configuration. 14. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, further comprising a centroid location determining logic circuit coupled to the plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits, the centroid location determining logic circuits configured to determine a location of a centroid of a spot of light projected onto the PD detector elements. 15. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 14, wherein the centroid location determining logic circuit comprises a binary adder and a binary divider. 16. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 15, further comprising an array element location weights component connected to the centroid location determining logic circuit, the array element location weights component configured to generate a binary weight value for a corresponding row or column of PD detector elements. 17. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 16, wherein the binary adder is configured to add a binary weight value to the same binary weight value. 18. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 14, wherein the centroid location determining logic circuit comprises a binary adder having a first input and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to the output of a first binary adder and the second input is coupled to the output of a second binary adder. 19. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 14, wherein the centroid location determining logic circuit comprises a binary counter. 20. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 19, wherein the centroid location determining logic circuit comprises a binary adder and a binary divider, the binary divider having a numerator input and a denominator input, wherein the binary adder is coupled to the numerator input and the binary counter is coupled to the denominator input. 21. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, wherein the PD detector elements comprise an absorber layer formed from a direct-bandgap semiconductor material including at least one of GaAs, InGaAs, InAsSb, InAs, InSb and HgCdTe. 22. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, wherein the PD detector elements comprise an avalanche carrier-multiplication structure. 23. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, wherein the PD detector elements comprise an absorber layer and a conductor layer, wherein the conductor layer comprises a material with a bandgap that is larger than a direct-bandgap of a material comprising the absorber layer. 24. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, further comprising a centroid location determining logic circuit coupled to the plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits, the spatial filtering logic circuits configured to generate a pair of binary outputs, wherein a first binary output of the pair of binary outputs provides an X-location of a spot of light projected on the PD detector elements and a second binary output of the pair of binary outputs provides a Y-location of the spot of light projected on the PD detector elements. 25. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 24, wherein the X-location output and the Y-location output comprise outputs at a determined time for the same spot of light projected on the PD detector elements at another determined time. 26. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 24, wherein the X-location and the Y-location are updated at a rate that is at least two times as large as a characteristic filtering bandwidth. 27. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 24, wherein the X-location and the Y-location are updated at a rate that is at least two times as large as a characteristic response bandwidth of the PD detector element. 28. The centroid-locating sensor of claim 1, further comprising a centroid location determining logic circuit coupled to the plurality of spatial filtering logic circuits and a signal path between each of the PD detector elements and an output of the centroid location determining logic circuit, with the signal path having a latency time interval, wherein the latency time interval of the signal paths for the PD detector elements are matched to within one half the inverse of a characteristic filtering bandwidth. 29. An angle-of-arrival determining sensor comprising: a plurality of photo-diode (PD) detector elements arranged in an array;a plurality of digitization comparators coupled to outputs of the plurality of PD detector elements, the digitization comparators configured to generate a binary 1 output when an output from a preamplifier for a PD detector element of the plurality of PD detector elements exceeds a threshold set point and generate a binary 0 output when the output from the PD detector element is below the threshold set point; andan optical system configured to project a spot of light onto at least some of the PD detector elements, with the spot of light having a lateral dimension that is between two times and ten times as large as a lateral dimension of a PD element of plurality of PD elements. 30. The angle-of-arrival determining sensor of claim 29, wherein a lateral dimension of the spot of light is between three times and five times as large as the lateral dimension of the PD detector element. 31. The angle-of-arrival determining sensor of claim 29, wherein the optical imaging system comprises an aperture and an optical diffuser. 32. The angle-of-arrival determining sensor of claim 29, further comprising a spatial filtering logic circuit connected with each of the plurality of PD detector elements. 33. The angle-of-arrival determining sensor of claim 29, further comprising a centroid location determining logic circuit having a pair of binary outputs, wherein a first binary output of the pair of binary outputs provides an X-location of the spot of light projected onto at least some of the PD detector elements and a second binary output of the pair of binary outputs provides a Y-location of the spot of light projected onto at least some of the PD detector elements. 34. The angle-of-arrival determining sensor of claim 29, wherein each of the PD detector elements comprises an absorber layer comprising a direct-bandgap semiconductor material and an avalanche carrier-multiplication structure. 35. The angle-of-arrival determining sensor of claim 34, wherein the avalanche carrier-multiplication structure is configured to provide a linear multiplication gain.
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이 특허에 인용된 특허 (2)
Amato Gaetano T. (Silver Spring MD), Centroid target tracking system utilizing parallel processing of digital data patterns.
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