2010 R&D 100 Winner
3D LADAR cameras are currently used to map terrain and construction sites to acquire data for robotic vision, and to image partially obscured objects. The Geiger-Mode Avalanche Photodiode (GM APD) Focal Plane Array (FPA), an invention of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, Mass., can detect and time-stamp single photons by using its unique, independent digital time-of-flight counting circuits, and its extremely high internal detector gain.
The GM APD FPA, a 2D array of ultrasensitive light detectors, receives reflected light from the short 1 nanosecond pulse laser from a 3D LADAR camera and measures the time-of-flight of each photon, or distance, to each pixel in the image. Lincoln’s Lab FPA differs from a conventional GM APD in that each pixel is mated to a digital, silicon, complementary metal-oxide semiconductor timing circuit that measures the arrival time of the photons. This architecture collects 100 times more imagery than other commercial laser radars and eliminates noise sources.
Technology
Avalanche photodiode focal plane array
Developer
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory
Development Team
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(L to R):Richard M. Marino, Brian F. Aull, Joseph P. Donnelly, Robert K. Reich, Jonathan P. Frechette, David C. Shaver, Erik K. Duerr, and Douglas C. Oakley.
Not pictured: Bernard B. Kosicki, Bradley J. Felton, Andrew H. Loomis, Douglas J. Young, K. Alexander McIntosh, David C. Chapman, Antonio Napoleone, Joseph M. Mahan, Joseph E. Funk, and Simon Verghese. |
The Geiger-Mode Avalanche Photodiode (GM APD) Focal Plane Array (FPA) Development Team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory:
Brian F. Aull
David C. Chapman
Joseph P. Donnelly
Erik K. Duerr
Bradley J. Felton
Jonathan Frechette
Joseph Funk
Bernard B. Kosicki
Andrew H. Loomis
Joseph Mahan
Richard Marino
K. Alexander McIntosh
Antonio Napoleone
Douglas C. Oakley
Robert K. Reich
David C. Shaver
Simon Verghese
Douglas J. Young
Jonathan P. Frechette
Joseph M. Mahan
Joseph E. Funk
