Novel opportunities for optical level gauging and 3D-imaging with the photoelectronic mixing device

Author

Gulden, Peter ; Vossiek, Martin ; Heide, Patric ; Schwarte, Rudolf

Author_Institution

Corp. Technol. Dept., Siemens AG, Munich, Germany

Volume

3

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

2099

Abstract

The novel Photoelectronic Mixing Device (PMD) possesses a variety of unique characteristics that open up new fields for optical distance measurement technology. PMD devices for the first time allow the use of straightforward modulation and system concepts previously constrained to radar and ultrasonic systems. This paper first reviews the PMD principle and then points out the differences between conventional optical systems and PMD systems. The requirements of two different applications, level gauging and 3D object position measurement, are discussed. Suitable system concepts are introduced and verified with experiments. The results prove the feasibility of single pixel sensors capable of high accuracy and multitarget resolution as well as low cost 3D imaging systems

Keywords

CMOS image sensors; distance measurement; electro-optical modulation; level measurement; mixers (circuits); position measurement; 3D object position measurement; 3D-imaging; high accuracy; integrated electro-optical sensor; low-cost imaging systems; multitarget resolution; optical distance measurement technology; optical level gauging; photoelectronic mixing device; single pixel sensors; tank level gauging; transparent modulation gates; Distance measurement; Image sensors; Optical devices; Optical mixing; Optical modulation; Optical sensors; Pixel; Position measurement; Radar; Sensor systems;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, 2001. IMTC 2001. Proceedings of the 18th IEEE

Conference_Location

Budapest

ISSN

1091-5281

Print_ISBN

0-7803-6646-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IMTC.2001.929567

Filename

929567