US Patent 8207484 Streak image sensor and method of operating

A LIDAR system that includes a streak image sensor having multiple sensor elements for receiving optical return signals from portions of a spatial region within their respective instantaneous fields of view is operated by periodically sampling and storing electrical signals generated by the sensor elements respectively, and initiating the periodic sampling of the electrical signals of each sensor individually and independently by reference to a feature of that sensor's electrical signal that represents a boundary between materials with different optical properties.