CAMERA WITH LIGHT-GUIDE ARRAY FOR CAMERA AUTOMATED VEHICLES

A camera (10) suitable for use on an automated vehicle includes an imager-device (12), a lens-module (30), and an array (34) of light-guides (36). The imager-device (12) is operable to determine an image (14) and includes a plurality of light-detecting pixels (20). Each pixel is overlaid with a micro-lens (22). The lens-module (30) directs light (26) from a field-of-view (32) of the camera (10) toward the imager-device (12). The array (34) of light-guides (36) is interposed between the lens-module (30) and the imager-device (12), and is arranged so each instance of light-guide (36) is aligned with a corresponding instance of micro-lens (22). Each light-guide (36) is defined by a lens-end (38) and an imager-end (40). The lens-end (38) of each of the light-guides (36) cooperates to define a planar-surface (42) of the array (34), and imager-end (40) of the light-guide (36) is characterized by an angle (44) selected to direct light (26) within the light-guide (36) toward the corresponding instance of the micro-lens (22). The angle (44) is determined based on a chief-ray-angle (24) (CRA (24)) of light (26) from the lens-module (30) impinging on the lens-end (38).