Benchmarking time-of-flight based depth measurement techniques

In the last decade significant progress has been made on optical non-contact time-of-flight (ToF) based ranging techniques. Direct implementations based on time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC-dToF), coincidence detection (CD-TCSPC-dToF) as well as multiple indirect realizations based on e.g. single-photon synchronous detection (SPSD-iToF), continuous-wave modulation (CW-iToF) or pulse modulation (PM-iToF) have been presented. All those modulation/demodulation techniques can be employed in scanning (scanning LIDAR) as well as non-scanning (Flash-LIDAR) schemes. Many parameters impact key performance metrics such as depth measurement precision or angular resolution. Unfortunately, publications or datasheets rarely quote all relevant parameters. Thus, benchmarking between different approaches based on published metrics is cumbersome. The authors believe that such a benchmark would have to be founded on modeling in order to ensure fair comparison. This work presents an overview over the most common ToF based depth measurement approaches, how these can be modeled and how they compare.