US Patent 11243068 Configuration and operation of array of self-mixing interferometry sensors

A sensor system includes a self-mixing interferometry sensor; a drive circuit configured to apply a modulated drive signal to an input of the self-mixing interferometry sensor; a mixer circuit configured to mix a modulated output of the self-mixing interferometry sensor with a local oscillator signal that is orthogonal to the modulated drive signal over a period of time; an integrator circuit configured to integrate an output of the mixer circuit over the period of time; and a processor configured to determine, using an output of the integrator circuit, at least one of a round-trip propagation time of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the self-mixing interferometry sensor and reflected back into the self-mixing interferometry sensor by an object or medium, or a velocity of the object or medium.