# Spatial Calibration of Diffuse LiDARs

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.06531 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.06531/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 9 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Mar 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Towards 3D Vision with Low-Cost Single-Photon Cameras](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.17801/) (2024)
- [Blurred LiDAR for Sharper 3D: Robust Handheld 3D Scanning with Diffuse LiDAR and RGB](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.19474/) (2024)
- [Enhancing Autonomous Navigation by Imaging Hidden Objects using Single-Photon LiDAR](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.03555/) (2024)
- [Recovering Parametric Scenes from Very Few Time-of-Flight Pixels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.16132/) (2025)
- [Efficient Detection of Objects Near a Robot Manipulator via Miniature Time-of-Flight Sensors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.16122/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Diffuse direct time-of-flight LiDARs report per-pixel depth histograms formed by aggregating photon returns over a wide instantaneous field of view, violating the single-ray assumption behind standard LiDAR-RGB calibration. We present a simple spatial calibration procedure that estimates, for each diffuse LiDAR pixel, its footprint (effective support region) and relative spatial sensitivity in a co-located RGB image plane. Using a scanned retroreflective patch with background subtraction, we recover per-pixel response maps that provide an explicit LiDAR-to-RGB correspondence for cross-modal alignment and fusion. We demonstrate the method on the ams OSRAM TMF8828.