Lidar Receiver Circuit Redundancy via Column Multiplexing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Lidar receiver circuits face high yield losses due to transistor failures during production, and increasing redundancy leads to time-of-flight differences and processing speed reductions, making practical use impossible.
Innovation Solution
A lidar receiver circuit with a redundancy of receiver circuits, featuring a photodetector array arranged in a two-dimensional matrix, uses multiplexers to connect columns of photodetectors to multiple receiver circuits, allowing for seamless switching to adjacent receiver circuits in case of failure, thereby maintaining minimal time-of-flight differences.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundancy of receiver circuits is increased to reduce yield losses, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and processing speed deteriorate due to differently long lines causing time-of-flight differences
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the photodetector array into multiple columns, each column connected to a dedicated multiplexer. This segmentation allows independent control and routing of signal paths, enabling the multiplexers to select optimal paths that maintain equal length and thus equal time-of-flight characteristics while providing redundancy coverage across different column groups.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiplexers are introduced as intermediary components between the photodetector columns and receiver circuits. These multiplexers act as intelligent routers that can dynamically select which receiver circuit processes signals from which photodetector column, enabling flexible path selection that maintains signal integrity and equal time-of-flight characteristics while providing redundancy.
2Reliability
If redundancy of receiver circuits is implemented, then reliability is improved, but time-of-flight measurement accuracy deteriorates due to path length differences
Solution Approach 1:
The photodetector array is segmented into multiple columns with dedicated multiplexers for each column. This segmentation enables independent path optimization for each column-receiver pair, allowing the system to maintain equal path lengths and thus equal time-of-flight characteristics while implementing redundancy across multiple columns and receivers.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the routing parameters (which receiver circuit processes which photodetector column) based on operational needs and failure conditions. By controlling the multiplexers to select specific paths, the system maintains the critical parameter of equal time-of-flight while providing flexibility for redundancy activation without compromising measurement precision.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution effectively reduces yield losses by allowing the lidar receiver circuit to function despite receiver circuit failures, maintaining processing speed and accuracy without significant time-of-flight distortions.
Implementation Method 1
a photodetector array with a plurality of photodetectors for receiving optical signals and for outputting a measurement signal
Data Source
AI summary
A lidar receiver circuit for receiving optical signals using photodetectors to detect events or objects in the surrounding area, with a redundancy of receiver circuits for reducing failure probability, including a photodetector array for receiving optical signals and outputting a measurement signal, wherein the photodetectors are arranged as a two-dimensional matrix, a plurality of receiver circuits for receiving the measurement signal; a plurality of multiplexers, which are electrically arranged between the array and circuits and are connected thereto; wherein at least one of the multiplexers is connected to a column of photodetectors and at least two receiver circuits; each circuit is configured to receive and process the measurement signals of a column; a column of photodetectors is assigned to each receiver circuit by default; and the multiplexers connect a column to a receiver circuit other than the receiver circuit, which is assigned to the column of photodetectors by default.