TDM/WDM hybrid real-time multi-channel pulsed chaos lidar system

We present a real-time multi-channel pulsed chaos lidar system that integrates time-division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) to achieve enhanced performance and efficiency. The system employs WDM with a multi-mode laser to generate multiple spectral channels, each producing uncorrelated chaos-modulated pulses. To minimize the number of required detectors and analog-to-digital converters while mitigating signal interference between channels, TDM is utilized to temporally stagger the channels, preventing overlap. Using four adjacent International Telecommunication Union channels as a demonstration, the proposed architecture achieves millimeter-level precision with robust anti-interference capabilities. To evaluate the effectiveness of TDM in a WDM-based multi-channel lidar system, we performed a comparative analysis of 3D imaging with and without TDM. By implementing normalized cross-correlation and Spline interpolation algorithms on a field-programmable gate array, the developed system achieves a remarkable pixel processing rate of 330k pixels/s per channel, with an overall throughput of 1.32M pixels/s. These results underscore the potential of the proposed system for high-speed, interference-resistant lidar applications.