Multidimensional measurement by using 3-D PMD sensors

Optical Time-of-Flight measurement gives the possibility to enhance 2-D sensors by adding a third dimension using the PMD principle. Various applications in the automotive (e.g. pedestrian safety), industrial, robotics and multimedia fields require robust three-dimensional data (Schwarte et al., 2000). These applications, however, all have different requirements in terms of resolution, speed, distance and target characteristics. PMDTechnologies has developed 3-D sensors based on standard CMOS processes that can provide an optimized solution for a wide field of applications combined with high integration and cost-effective production. These sensors are realized in various layout formats from single pixel solutions for basic applications to low, middle and high resolution matrices for applications requiring more detailed data. Pixel pitches ranging from 10 micrometer up to a 300 micrometer or larger can be realized and give the opportunity to optimize the sensor chip depending on the application. <br><br> One aspect of all optical sensors based on a time-of-flight principle is the necessity of handling background illumination. This can be achieved by various techniques, such as optical filters and active circuits on chip. The sensors' usage of the in-pixel so-called SBI-circuitry (suppression of background illumination) makes it even possible to overcome the effects of bright ambient light. This paper focuses on this technical requirement. In Sect. 2 we will roughly describe the basic operation principle of PMD sensors. The technical challenges related to the system characteristics of an active optical ranging technique are described in Sect. 3, technical solutions and measurement results are then presented in Sect. 4. We finish this work with an overview of actual PMD sensors and their key parameters (Sect. 5) and some concluding remarks in Sect. 6

Enhanced Lightweight Design : First Results of the FP7 Project ENLIGHT

© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. The European Green Vehicle project ENLIGHT aims to advance highly innovative lightweight material technologies for application in structural vehicle parts of future volume produced Electric Vehicles (EVs) along four axes: performance, manufacturability, cost effectiveness and lifecycle footprint. The main target is to develop viable and sustainable solutions for medium production volume up to 50.000 EVs destined to reach the market in the next 8-12 years. The specific objectives of the ENLIGHT project are on holistic and integrated conceptual design and manufacturing concerning how the technologies and materials addressed can be combined into a representative medium-volume EV. The solutions will be demonstrated in five modules: a front module and central floor module, a front door, a sub-frame and suspension system as well as a cross-car beam. In this paper, a summary of the major results obtained up to the 3rd project year will be presented. ispartof: pages:1031-1040 ispartof: Transportation Research Procedia vol:14 pages:1031-1040 ispartof: 6th Transport Research Arena TRA2016 location:Warsaw, Poland date:18 Apr - 21 Apr 2016 status: publishe

Throwing Objects – A bio-inspired Approach for the Transportation of Parts *

Abstract – In this paper a new way of transporting parts in production systems is described. Based on the fact that in nature the highest speeds are reached at flight, a bio-inspired technical approach for the fast transportation of objects is derived. Objects shall be thrown by a throwing device and are caught again by a catching device. Such a transport approach requires besides proper working throwing and catching devices a high precision object detection mechanism. For object detection a 3D Photonic Mixer Device (PMD) sensor is proposed. By assembling of this sensor on the catching device, it can detect the flying objects on their trajectories like a raptor which is hunting a prey. The technical feasibility of this concept is investigated and possible applications are described