Large format geiger-mode avalanche photodiode LADAR camera

Recently Spectrolab has successfully demonstrated a compact 32x32 Laser Detection and Range (LADAR) camera with single photo-level sensitivity with small size, weight, and power (SWAP) budget for threedimensional (3D) topographic imaging at 1064 nm on various platforms. With 20-kHz frame rate and 500- ps timing uncertainty, this LADAR system provides coverage down to inch-level fidelity and allows for effective wide-area terrain mapping. At a 10 mph forward speed and 1000 feet above ground level (AGL), it covers 0.5 square-mile per hour with a resolution of 25 in2/pixel after data averaging. In order to increase the forward speed to fit for more platforms and survey a large area more effectively, Spectrolab is developing 32x128 Geiger-mode LADAR camera with 43 frame rate. With the increase in both frame rate and array size, the data collection rate is improved by 10 times. With a programmable bin size from 0.3 ps to 0.5 ns and 14-bit timing dynamic range, LADAR developers will have more freedom in system integration for various applications. Most of the special features of Spectrolab 32x32 LADAR camera, such as non-uniform bias correction, variable range gate width, windowing for smaller arrays, and short pixel protection, are implemented in this camera.