Toyota Paper on SPAD-based LiDAR

MDPI Sensors publishes Toyota paper "Small Imaging Depth LIDAR and DCNN-Based Localization for Automated Guided Vehicle" by Seigo Ito, Shigeyoshi Hiratsuka, Mitsuhiko Ohta, Hiroyuki Matsubara, and Masaru Ogawa. The paper belongs to the Special Issue on Imaging Depth Sensors—Sensors, Algorithms and Applications.

"We present our third prototype sensor and a localization method for Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), for which small imaging LIght Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and fusion-based localization are fundamentally important. Our small imaging LIDAR, named the Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) LIDAR, uses a time-of-flight method and SPAD arrays. A SPAD is a highly sensitive photodetector capable of detecting at the single-photon level, and the SPAD LIDAR has two SPAD arrays on the same chip for detection of laser light and environmental light. Therefore, the SPAD LIDAR simultaneously outputs range image data and monocular image data with the same coordinate system and does not require external calibration among outputs. As AGVs travel both indoors and outdoors with vibration, this calibration-less structure is particularly useful for AGV applications."