公开(公告)号：US10809364B2

公开(公告)日：2020-10-20

申请号：US16196630

申请日：2018-11-20

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Tomi P. Maila ,  Pranav Maheshwari ,  Benjamin Englard

IPC: G01S7/521 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G05D1/02 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/87 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G06N20/00 ,  G01S17/06 ,  G01S17/58 ,  G01S17/86 ,  G01S17/931 ,  G06T7/246 ,  G06T7/73 ,  B60W30/095 ,  G06K9/00 ,  G06T7/521 ,  G01S7/48 ,  G01S17/08 ,  H04N5/232 ,  G06K9/62 ,  G06T3/60 ,  G06T5/00 ,  G06T7/20 ,  G06T7/00 ,  G05D1/00

Abstract: A computer-implemented method of determining relative velocity between a vehicle and an object. The method includes receiving sensor data generated by one or more sensors of the vehicle configured to sense an environment by following a scan pattern comprising component scan lines. The method includes obtaining, based on the sensor data, a point cloud frame. Additionally, the method includes identifying a first pixel and a second pixel that are co-located within a field of regard and overlap a point cloud object within the point cloud frame and calculating a difference between a depth associated with the first pixel and a depth associated with the second pixel. The method includes determining a relative velocity of the point cloud object by dividing the difference in depth data by a time difference between when the depth associated with the first pixel was sensed and the depth associated with the second pixel was sensed.

公开(公告)号：US10802120B1

公开(公告)日：2020-10-13

申请号：US16794439

申请日：2020-02-19

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Joseph G. LaChapelle ,  Jason M. Eichenholz ,  Alex Michael Sincore

IPC: G01B5/02 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S7/484 ,  G01S17/10

Abstract: In one embodiment, a lidar system includes a light source configured to emit (i) local-oscillator light and (ii) pulses of light, where each emitted pulse of light is coherent with a corresponding portion of the local-oscillator light. The lidar system also includes a receiver configured to detect the local-oscillator light and a received pulse of light, the received pulse of light comprising light from one of the emitted pulses of light that is scattered by a target located a distance from the lidar system. The local-oscillator light and the received pulse of light are coherently mixed together at the receiver. The receiver includes one or more detectors configured to produce one or more respective photocurrent signals corresponding to the coherent mixing of the local-oscillator light and the received pulse of light. The receiver also includes a pulse-detection circuit configured to determine a time-of-arrival for the received pulse of light.

公开(公告)号：US20200284906A1

公开(公告)日：2020-09-10

申请号：US16879091

申请日：2020-05-20

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

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

IPC: G01S17/08 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G02B26/10 ,  G02B26/12 ,  H01L27/146 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/931 ,  G02B5/09 ,  G02B7/182 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G02B27/09 ,  G02B27/10 ,  G02B27/30 ,  H01L25/16

Abstract: A lidar system includes one or more light sources configured to generate a first beam of light and a second beam of light, a scanner configured to scan the first and second beams of light across a field of regard of the lidar system, and a receiver configured to detect the first beam of light and the second beam of light scattered by one or more remote targets. The scanner includes a rotatable polygon mirror that includes multiple reflective surfaces angularly offset from one another along a periphery of the polygon mirror, the reflective surfaces configured to reflect the first and second beams of light to produce a series of scan lines as the polygon mirror rotates. The scanner also includes a pivotable scan mirror configured to (i) reflect the first and second beams of light and (ii) pivot to distribute the scan lines across the field of regard.

公开(公告)号：US20200256964A1

公开(公告)日：2020-08-13

申请号：US16861696

申请日：2020-04-29

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

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

IPC: G01S7/4865 ,  G01S7/4861 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/486 ,  G01S17/42

Abstract: A lidar system includes a light source, a scanner, and a receiver and is configured to detect remote targets located up to RMAX meters away. The receiver includes a detector with a field of view larger than the light-source field of view. The scanner causes the detector field of view to move relative to the instantaneous light-source field of view along the scan direction, so that (i) when a pulse of light is emitted, the instantaneous light-source field of view is approximately centered within the detector field of view, and (ii) when a scattered pulse of light returns from a target located RMAX meters away, the instantaneous light-source field of view is located near an edge of the field of view of the detector and is contained within the field of view of the detector.

公开(公告)号：US10732281B2

公开(公告)日：2020-08-04

申请号：US15727131

申请日：2017-10-06

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Joseph G. LaChapelle

IPC: G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  G01S7/48 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S7/486

Abstract: A detector system within a lidar receiver is configured to compensate for range walk error by detecting both the rising edge and the falling edge of a received light pulse as the envelope of the received light pulse passes through a particular detection (magnitude) threshold. Detection circuitry within the detector system then determines the center of the received light pulse as the point equidistant in time between the detected rising and falling edges of the received light pulse, and uses the time associated with the center of the received light pulse to determine the range to the target from which the scattered light pulse was received.

公开(公告)号：US20200217960A1

公开(公告)日：2020-07-09

申请号：US16817989

申请日：2020-03-13

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Richmond Hicks ,  Matthew D. Weed ,  Jason M. Eichenholz

IPC: G01S17/18 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G02B26/10 ,  H04N5/232

Abstract: A machine vision system comprises a camera configured to generate one or more images of a field of regard of the camera, a lidar system, and a processor. The lidar system includes a laser configured to emit light, where the emitted light is directed toward a region within the field of regard of the camera and a receiver configured to detect light returned from the emitted light. The processor is configured to receive an indication of a location based on the returned light and determine, based on the one or more images generated by the camera, whether the indication of the location is associated with a spurious return.

公开(公告)号：US20200209858A1

公开(公告)日：2020-07-02

申请号：US16294274

申请日：2019-03-06

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Dmytro Trofymov ,  Pranav Maheshwari ,  Vahid R. Ramezani

IPC: G05D1/00 ,  G06N20/00 ,  G06N3/08 ,  G05D1/02

Abstract: To generate a machine learning model for controlling autonomous vehicles, training sensor data is obtained from sensors associated with one or more vehicles, the sensor data indicative of physical conditions of an environment in which the one or more vehicles operate, and a machine learning (ML) model is trained using the training sensor data. The ML model generates parameters of the environment in response to input sensor data. A controller in an autonomous vehicle receives sensor data from one or more sensors operating in the autonomous vehicle, applies the received sensor data to the ML model to obtain parameters of an environment in which the autonomous vehicle operates, provides the generated parameters to a motion planner component to generate decisions for controlling the autonomous vehicle, and causes the autonomous vehicle to maneuver in accordance with the generated decisions.

公开(公告)号：US10677897B2

公开(公告)日：2020-06-09

申请号：US15954427

申请日：2018-04-16

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Joseph G. LaChapelle ,  Jason M. Eichenholz

IPC: G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/93 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G06K9/00 ,  G06K9/62 ,  H04N5/232 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/86 ,  G01S17/931

Abstract: A system includes a lidar, a camera, and a controller communicatively coupled to the camera and the lidar. The lidar includes a laser configured to emit pulses of light, a scanner configured to direct the emitted pulses in accordance with a scan pattern, and a receiver configured to detect the emitted pulse of light scattered by one or more remote targets to collect a set of lidar pixels of a scan frame, in a sequence defined by the scan pattern. The camera has a field of regard that at least partially overlaps the field of regard of the lidar. The controller is configured to cause the camera to capture images while the receiver of the lidar module collects the complete set of lidar pixels of the scan frame, and align lidar pixels with corresponding pixels in the captured images.

公开(公告)号：US10663585B2

公开(公告)日：2020-05-26

申请号：US15965519

申请日：2018-04-27

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： John E. McWhirter

IPC: G02B26/08 ,  G01S17/08 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G02B26/10 ,  G02B26/12 ,  H01L27/146 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/931 ,  G02B5/09 ,  G02B7/182 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G02B27/09 ,  G02B27/10 ,  G02B27/30 ,  H01L25/16 ,  G01S17/87 ,  G02B5/08 ,  G02B5/18 ,  G02B5/22

Abstract: A technique for manufacturing highly balanced rotatable polygon mirrors for use in scanners includes forming a block having a first wall, a second wall, and reflective surfaces extending between the first and second walls, the surfaces being angularly offset from one another along a periphery of the block. The technique includes applying a coarse balancing procedure to the block, making the surfaces reflective, mating the block to a motor, and applying a precise balancing procedure to the block. The technique also includes imparting rotation to the block and removing material from the block via the first wall using high-energy laser pulses.

公开(公告)号：US10514462B2

公开(公告)日：2019-12-24

申请号：US16176529

申请日：2018-10-31

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Benjamin Englard ,  Eric C. Danziger

IPC: G01S17/89 ,  G01S7/40 ,  G01S7/41 ,  G01S13/42 ,  G05D1/00 ,  G05D1/02 ,  B60W30/18 ,  B60W10/04 ,  G06N3/08 ,  G01S17/93 ,  G06T3/40 ,  G06T17/05 ,  G06T17/20 ,  G01S7/48 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/02 ,  G06T7/50 ,  G06K9/42 ,  G06K9/62 ,  G01S17/66 ,  G06K9/00 ,  G06T15/08 ,  G01S7/497 ,  B60W50/06 ,  G01S13/93 ,  G06T7/20

Abstract: A method for configuring a perception component of a vehicle having one or more sensors includes generating a first set of training data that includes first sensor data corresponding to a first setting of one or more sensor parameters, and an indicator of the first setting. The method also includes generating a second set of training data that includes second sensor data corresponding to a second setting of the sensor parameter(s), and an indicator of the second setting. The method further includes training the perception component, at least by training a machine learning based model using the first and second training data sets. The trained perception component is configured to generate signals descriptive of a current state of the vehicle environment by processing sensor data generated by the sensor(s), and one or more indicators indicating which setting of the sensor parameter(s) corresponds to which portions of the generated sensor data.