Histogram Compressive Sensing using Shuffled Cellular Automata: the TCSPC sensor use case

Time Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) sensors based on Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) combined with Time to Digital Converters (TDCs) and histogram-builders face hardware limitations because of complex pixel readouts and the amount of data related to per-pixel histograms. This work presents a pixel-wise Compressive Sensing (CS) with its implementation using an in-pixel Cellular Automaton. It demonstrates its effectiveness in terms of probability of the correct histogram peak detection while extending capabilities to multi-peak detections. From the hardware point of view, examples of digital logic syntheses are also reported namely for silicon area reduction and comparison with existing designs.