Advancing the Range and Sensitivity of LiDAR Systems

A 3D LiDAR sensor with improved accuracy by reducing noise caused by stray light. The sensor uses baffles and shields around the light transmission and reception paths to limit the angles of light entering the sensor. This prevents stray light from reaching the detector and distorts distance measurements.

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3D imaging LiDAR system using single-photon detectors and signal processing to improve range, resolution, and dynamic range compared to existing LiDAR systems. The system integrates photon arrival times to estimate average arrival time. It uses selective strobing of detector subsets to separate signal and background photons and correlation to isolate photons associated with the emitted pulse.

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LiDAR system for improved range response and sensitivity in scanning LiDAR systems. The system uses two sets of optics, with the laser beam directed along one optical axis and the receiver optics imaging the received light onto a perpendicular plane. A spatial filter is placed in this second plane to filter the received light onto the detector. This configuration allows efficient collection of both near and far field light, improving the LiDAR range response compared to single-axis systems.

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LiDAR systems use an image sensor that can detect both faint and bright echo signals accurately over a wide dynamic range. The image sensor has Geiger-mode photodiodes that generate electrical signals when biased beyond breakdown voltage. The signals are independent of the optical power of the incident photons. This allows the detection of both very dim and very bright echo signals with high temporal accuracy. The sensor also uses textured and/or diffractive optical elements in each pixel to direct incident photons to different photodiodes, spreading the photon flux across multiple detectors to avoid saturation and increase dynamic range.

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Dynamic LiDAR scanning with adjustable laser power and sensitivity to optimize object detection range and resolution while maintaining eye safety. The system scans a field of view by moving a deflector to vary the light flux and angle. It uses initial scans to identify areas without objects, then increases light power and sensitivity in those areas to detect more distant or low-reflectivity objects.

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A LiDAR system that is safe for the human eye. It uses a laser source and scanning technique that prevents prolonged exposure to the eye which can cause damage. The LiDAR pulses are short-duration and low energy, and the scanning rate and resolution are limited. If a target is closer than a threshold, the system shuts off the laser. This prevents excessive eye exposure that could be harmful.

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A LiDAR system for autonomous driving that can detect objects at long range without compromising short-range performance. The LiDAR uses a gain controller to vary the gain of the receiving sensor amplifier along with other signal processing components like a trans-impedance amplifier and ADC.

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LiDAR system with optimized detector arrays to improve performance and mitigate issues like solar background noise, range ambiguity, and detector alignment. The system uses receiver detectors with spatial separation matching the scanner beam spacing to avoid detecting wrong pulses. It clusters detectors to increase effective area and mitigate alignment tolerances. It has detectors with different gains to handle return pulse strengths. These design choices reduce false detections, maximize accuracy, and improve LiDAR performance.

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Improving the performance of LiDAR systems while complying with eye safety regulations. This includes dynamically allocating detection elements to pixels to provide higher resolution in areas with distant or small objects and lower resolution in areas with large or close objects. It also involves varying sensor amplification during the time of flight to prevent saturation from bright reflections. Additionally, intelligently apportion the available light emission budget across the field of view based on scanning parameters and platform conditions.

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LiDAR system that adapts the illumination power of an array of emitters based on the detection signals from an array of detectors. The system uses spatial correlations between the emitters and detectors to determine which emitters need higher or lower power. This allows reducing overall optical power used while maintaining detection performance. The technique is useful in LiDAR applications like autonomous vehicles where high power can be inefficient, costly, and impact eye safety.

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An improved solid-state laser lighting system that can be used in mobile machines like vehicles, drones, and robots. The laser lighting system uses a gallium nitride laser diode to generate blue laser light, which is then converted to white light using a phosphor. The laser light has several advantages over traditional LEDs, including higher efficiency, longer lifetime, and smaller size. The conversion to white light allows for full spectrum illumination. The system also uses a separate laser diode to generate the LIDAR sensing beam.

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Dynamically steering a LIDAR to non-uniformly scan a FOV based on laser steering parameters. The parameters can configure a LIDAR to scan important regions with higher density scans and efficiently localize object boundaries. The parameters are based on sensor data like previous LIDAR scans, camera images, inter-vehicle communication or GPS data. The LIDAR dynamically steers a laser beam to progressively resolve object boundaries and optimizes scan density based on object classification.

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Lidar systems that use a receiver design to filter out unwanted solar background noise in the detector. The receiver has a notch filter directly on the photodetector or lens to block out-of-band sunlight while transmitting in-band lidar return signals. The filter is deposited directly on the detector surface using photolithography to create a free area around the electrodes. This allows detecting lidar signals at low power levels without interference from solar background.

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Acoustic signal processing to improve lidar operation, particularly in autonomous vehicles. It involves using an acoustic source localization system in conjunction with a lidar system. The acoustic system detects and locates sound sources. The lidar system then focuses on those regions to get more data. This allows the lidar to prioritize scanning areas of interest identified by sound sources like sirens.

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