Analysis and compensation of 3D reconstruction errors in LiDAR with a time-gated SPAD array camera

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) actively senses the surrounding environment and acquires 3D information by measuring the flight time of light pulses, making it a key technology in active imaging. The single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD), known for its extremely high detection sensitivity, has been widely applied in LiDAR systems. With the advent of million-pixel time-gated SPAD array cameras, LiDAR can achieve wide-field, fast 3D imaging in low-light environments. However, compared to traditional LiDAR systems using single-pixel detectors, time-gated SPAD arrays present new challenges in 3D reconstruction accuracy due to the complexity of simultaneous multi-pixel detection and the need for high-speed data acquisition. To improve the accuracy and reliability of 3D reconstruction using time-gated SPAD array cameras, this paper theoretically analyzes the key sources of errors in the system, refines the imaging model, and proposes corresponding compensation methods. Experimental results show that after compensation, the error was reduced by more than 60%, and a depth resolution within 1 cm was achieved, verifying the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical model and calibration method and providing a reference for future research.