公开(公告)号：US20180120433A1

公开(公告)日：2018-05-03

申请号：US15859170

申请日：2017-12-29

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Jason M. Eichenholz ,  Austin K. Russell ,  Scott R. Campbell ,  Alain Villeneuve ,  Rodger W. Cleye ,  Joseph G. LaChapelle ,  Matthew D. Weed ,  Lane A. Martin

IPC: G01S17/06 ,  G01S17/00 ,  G01S17/32

CPC classification number: G01S17/06 ,  G01S7/4804 ,  G01S7/4811 ,  G01S7/4814 ,  G01S7/4815 ,  G01S7/4816 ,  G01S7/4817 ,  G01S7/4818 ,  G01S7/483 ,  G01S7/484 ,  G01S7/4861 ,  G01S7/4863 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  G01S17/00 ,  G01S17/02 ,  G01S17/08 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S17/32 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/88 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/936 ,  H01S3/0007 ,  H01S3/0078 ,  H01S3/0085 ,  H01S3/06733 ,  H01S3/0675 ,  H01S3/06754 ,  H01S3/06758 ,  H01S3/08086 ,  H01S3/094003 ,  H01S3/094042 ,  H01S3/094076 ,  H01S3/0941 ,  H01S3/10023 ,  H01S3/1106 ,  H01S3/1608 ,  H01S3/2383 ,  H01S5/0057 ,  H01S5/0085 ,  H01S5/4012 ,  H01S5/4087 ,  H01S2301/02

Abstract: A lidar system with a pulsed laser diode to produce a plurality of optical seed pulses of light at one or more operating wavelengths between approximately 1400 nm and approximately 1600 nm. The lidar system may also include one or more optical amplifiers to amplify the optical seed pulses to produce a plurality of output optical pulses. Each optical amplifier may produce an amount of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), and the output optical pulses may have characteristics comprising: a pulse repetition frequency of less than or equal to 100 MHz; a pulse duration of less than or equal to 20 nanoseconds; and a duty cycle of less than or equal to 1%. The lidar system may also include one or more optical filters to attenuate the ASE and a receiver to detect at least a portion of the output optical pulses scattered by a target located a distance.

公开(公告)号：US20180069367A1

公开(公告)日：2018-03-08

申请号：US15804997

申请日：2017-11-06

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Alain Villeneuve ,  Joseph G. LaChapelle ,  Jason M. Eichenholz

IPC: H01S3/067 ,  H01S3/10 ,  H01S3/00 ,  G01S7/483 ,  G01S17/02

CPC classification number: G01S17/105 ,  G01S7/4804 ,  G01S7/4811 ,  G01S7/4814 ,  G01S7/4815 ,  G01S7/4816 ,  G01S7/4817 ,  G01S7/4818 ,  G01S7/483 ,  G01S7/484 ,  G01S7/4861 ,  G01S7/4863 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  G01S7/4873 ,  G01S7/4876 ,  G01S17/00 ,  G01S17/02 ,  G01S17/06 ,  G01S17/08 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S17/102 ,  G01S17/32 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/88 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/936 ,  H01S3/0007 ,  H01S3/0078 ,  H01S3/0085 ,  H01S3/06733 ,  H01S3/0675 ,  H01S3/06754 ,  H01S3/06758 ,  H01S3/08086 ,  H01S3/094003 ,  H01S3/094042 ,  H01S3/094076 ,  H01S3/0941 ,  H01S3/10023 ,  H01S3/1106 ,  H01S3/1608 ,  H01S3/2383 ,  H01S5/0057 ,  H01S5/0085 ,  H01S5/4012 ,  H01S5/4087 ,  H01S2301/02

Abstract: A lidar system comprising with a light source, an optical link, and a sensor head. The light source can include a seed laser to produce pulses of light and an optical preamplifier to amplify the pulses of light. The optical link can convey amplified pulses of light to the sensor head remotely located from the light source. The sensor head can include an optical booster amplifier, a scanner to scan amplified output pulses of light across a field of regard, and a receiver to detect pulses of light scattered by a target located a distance from the sensor head.

公开(公告)号：US09869754B1

公开(公告)日：2018-01-16

申请号：US15466702

申请日：2017-03-22

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Scott R. Campbell ,  Rodger W. Cleye ,  Jason M. Eichenholz ,  Lane A. Martin ,  Matthew D. Weed

IPC: G01C3/08 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/486

CPC classification number: G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/4817 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/87

Abstract: In one embodiment, a system includes a first lidar sensor, which includes a first scanner configured to scan first pulses of light along a first scan pattern and a first receiver configured to detect scattered light from the first pulses of light. The system also includes a second lidar sensor, which includes a second scanner configured to scan second pulses of light along a second scan pattern and a second receiver configured to detect scattered light from the second pulses of light. The first scan pattern and the second scan pattern are at least partially overlapped. The system further includes an enclosure, where the first lidar sensor and the second lidar sensor are contained within the enclosure. The enclosure includes a window configured to transmit the first pulses of light and the second pulses of light.

公开(公告)号：US09823353B2

公开(公告)日：2017-11-21

申请号：US15470735

申请日：2017-03-27

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Jason M. Eichenholz ,  Austin K. Russell ,  Scott R. Campbell ,  Alain Villeneuve ,  Rodger W. Cleye ,  Joseph G. LaChapelle ,  Matthew D. Weed ,  Lane A. Martin

IPC: G01C3/08 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S17/93 ,  G01S7/48 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S7/486

CPC classification number: G01S17/06 ,  G01S7/4804 ,  G01S7/4811 ,  G01S7/4814 ,  G01S7/4815 ,  G01S7/4816 ,  G01S7/4817 ,  G01S7/4818 ,  G01S7/483 ,  G01S7/484 ,  G01S7/4861 ,  G01S7/4863 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  G01S17/00 ,  G01S17/02 ,  G01S17/08 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S17/32 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/88 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/936 ,  H01S3/0007 ,  H01S3/0078 ,  H01S3/0085 ,  H01S3/06733 ,  H01S3/0675 ,  H01S3/06754 ,  H01S3/06758 ,  H01S3/08086 ,  H01S3/094003 ,  H01S3/094042 ,  H01S3/094076 ,  H01S3/0941 ,  H01S3/10023 ,  H01S3/1106 ,  H01S3/1608 ,  H01S3/2383 ,  H01S5/0057 ,  H01S5/0085 ,  H01S5/4012 ,  H01S5/4087 ,  H01S2301/02

Abstract: A lidar system with a light source to emit a pulse of light into a field of view and a receiver to detect a return pulse of light which is reflected or scattered by a target in the field of view. The receiver may include an avalanche photodiode to generate an electrical-current pulse corresponding to the return pulse and a transimpedance amplifier to produce a voltage pulse that corresponds to the electrical-current pulse. A voltage amplifier may amplify the voltage pulse and a comparator may produce an edge signal when the amplified voltage pulse exceeds a threshold. A time-to-digital converter may determine a time interval based on an emission time of the pulse of light and based on the edge signal. A processor may determine a distance to the target using the time interval.

公开(公告)号：US09810786B1

公开(公告)日：2017-11-07

申请号：US15461380

申请日：2017-03-16

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： David Welford ,  Martin A. Jaspan ,  Jason M. Eichenholz ,  Scott R. Campbell ,  Lane A. Martin ,  Matthew D. Weed

IPC: G01S3/08 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/484

CPC classification number: G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/4812 ,  G01S7/4814 ,  G01S7/4817 ,  G01S7/484 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G02F1/39 ,  H01S3/0092 ,  H01S3/0612 ,  H01S3/0621 ,  H01S3/0627 ,  H01S3/09415 ,  H01S3/1086 ,  H01S3/113 ,  H01S3/1611 ,  H01S3/1643 ,  H01S3/1673

Abstract: In one embodiment, a lidar system includes a pump laser configured to produce pulses of light at a pump wavelength. The lidar system further includes an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with an OPO medium configured to: receive the pump pulses from the pump laser; convert at least part of the received pump pulses into pulses of light at a signal wavelength and pulses of light at an idler wavelength; and emit at least a portion of the signal pulses. The lidar system also includes a scanner configured to scan the emitted pulses of light across a field of regard and a receiver configured to detect at least a portion of the scanned pulses of light scattered by a target located a distance from the lidar system. The lidar system also includes a processor configured to determine the distance from the lidar system to the target.

公开(公告)号：US20170131388A1

公开(公告)日：2017-05-11

申请号：US15342728

申请日：2016-11-03

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Scott R. Campbell ,  Jason M. Eichenholz ,  Lane A. Martin ,  Matthew D. Weed

IPC: G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/10

CPC classification number: G01S7/4817 ,  G01S7/4812 ,  G01S7/4816 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/89

Abstract: A lidar system can include a light source that emits a pulse of light and a splitter that splits the pulse of light into two or more pulses of angularly separated light. The lidar system can also include a scanner configured to scan pulses of light along a scanning direction across a plurality of pixels located downrange from the lidar system. The lidar system can also include a detector array with a first detector and a second detector. The first and second detectors can be separated by a detector-separation distance along a direction corresponding to the scanning direction of the light pulses. The first detector can be configured to detect scattered light from the first pulse of light and the second detector can be configured to detect scattered light from the second pulse of light.

公开(公告)号：US12158524B2

公开(公告)日：2024-12-03

申请号：US17121723

申请日：2020-12-14

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Pranav Maheshwari ,  Vahid R. Ramezani ,  Benjamin Englard ,  István Peter Burbank ,  Shubham C. Khilari ,  Meseret R. Gebre ,  Austin K. Russell

IPC: G01B11/26 ,  G01S7/48 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/88 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/931 ,  G06N20/00

Abstract: A method for determining a scan pattern according to which a sensor equipped with a scanner scans a field of regard (FOR) is presented. The method comprises obtaining, by processing hardware, a plurality of objective functions, each of the objective functions specifying a cost for a respective property of the scan pattern, expressed in terms of one or more operational parameters of the scanner. The method further includes applying, by the processing hardware, an optimization scheme to the plurality of objective functions to generate the scan pattern. The method further includes scanning the FOR according to the generated scan pattern.

公开(公告)号：US20240272299A1

公开(公告)日：2024-08-15

申请号：US18107663

申请日：2023-02-09

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Scott Harvey

IPC: G01S17/89

CPC classification number: G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/86

Abstract: Observed environment lidar sensor data including a plurality of spatial points is received for a mobile entity. The observed environment lidar sensor data is transformed into one or more alternative observed environment candidates. A corresponding observed environment reduced representation is calculated for the observed environment lidar sensor data and each of the one or more alternative observed environment candidates. The observed environment reduced representations is correlated with reference reduced representations for different geographical locations to determine correlation results. Based on the correlation results, a current location of the mobile entity is identified.

公开(公告)号：US20240264283A1

公开(公告)日：2024-08-08

申请号：US18432722

申请日：2024-02-05

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Julio Cesar Castaneda ,  Brian D. Cubitt ,  George Galay ,  Douglas W. Moskowitz ,  Sudeep Kumar Vardhanapu ,  Santosh Madhukar Naik ,  Stephen L. Mielke ,  Lawrence H. Boxler

IPC: G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/42

CPC classification number: G01S7/4817 ,  G01S7/4813 ,  G01S17/42

Abstract: In various embodiments, a lidar system includes a light source configured to emit an output beam comprising pulses of light, and a scanner configured to scan the output beam across a field of regard of the lidar system, wherein the scanner includes a component shaped to optimize at least one of: a noise or a vibration of the scanner. The lidar system includes a receiver configured to detect a received pulse of light, the received pulse of light comprising a portion of one of the emitted pulses of light scattered by a target located a distance from the lidar system.

公开(公告)号：US20240230861A1

公开(公告)日：2024-07-11

申请号：US18405078

申请日：2024-01-05

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Kevin A. GOMEZ ,  Adam R. BUSH

IPC: G01S7/495 ,  G01S7/48 ,  G01S7/4861 ,  G01S7/487 ,  G01S7/497

CPC classification number: G01S7/495 ,  G01S7/4861 ,  G01S7/4873 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S7/4808

Abstract: The disclosure herein describes reduction of undesired signals within reflected signals of a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system. For example, a current injection circuit can inject an interference reduction current into an optical detector. Further, for example, an adjustable detection threshold may be adjusted during an undesired signal time period. Still further, for example, a switch can be used to disconnect various detection circuitry to avoid or mask undesired signals.