Power control of sensors using multiple exposures

Abstract

Sensors, including time-of-flight sensors, may be used to detect objects in an environment. In an example, a vehicle may include a time-of-flight sensor that images objects around the vehicle, e.g., so the vehicle can navigate relative to the objects. Sensor data generated by the time-of-flight sensor can return unreliable pixels, e.g., in the case of over-exposure or saturation. In some examples, multiple exposures captured at different exposure times can be used to determine an overall saturation value or metric representative of the sensor data. The saturation value may be used to control parameters of the sensor. For instance, the saturation value may be used to determine power control parameters for the sensor, e.g., to reduce over- and/or under-exposure.