Protecting detector in a lidar system using off-axis illumination

    公开(公告)号:US10684360B2

    公开(公告)日:2020-06-16

    申请号:US15713192

    申请日:2017-09-22

    Abstract: A lidar system includes a light source configured to emit pulses of light, a scanner configured to direct the pulses of light along a scan direction, and a receiver with a detector configured to detect the pulses of light scattered by remote targets. For a pulse of light emitted by the light source, the receiver is configured to detect the scattered pulse of light returning to the receiver during a ranging time interval between (i) when the pulse of light leaves the lidar system and (ii) when the scattered pulse of light returns from a remote target positioned at a maximum distance RMAX. For at least a portion of the ranging time interval, the lidar system directs the scattered pulse of light toward the active region of the detector at an oblique angle to reduce an amount of light impinging on the active region.

    LIDAR transmitter and detector system using pulse encoding to reduce range ambiguity

    公开(公告)号:US10545240B2

    公开(公告)日:2020-01-28

    申请号:US15917628

    申请日:2018-03-10

    Abstract: A lidar system includes a transmitter that encodes successive transmit pulses with different pulse characteristics and a receiver that detects the pulse characteristics of each received (scattered or reflected) pulse and that distinguishes between the received pulses based on the detected pulse characteristics. The lidar system thus resolves range ambiguities by encoding pulses of scan positions in the same or different scan periods to have different pulse characteristics, such as different pulse widths or different pulse envelope shapes. The receiver includes a pulse decoder configured to detect the relevant pulse characteristics of the received pulse and a resolver that determines if the pulse characteristics of the received pulse matches the pulse characteristics of the current scan position or that of a previous scan position.

    Reducing audio noise in a lidar scanner with a polygon mirror

    公开(公告)号:US10324185B2

    公开(公告)日:2019-06-18

    申请号:US15965471

    申请日:2018-04-27

    Abstract: An optical scanner includes a rotatable polygon mirror and a second mirror. The rotatable polygon mirrors includes a block having a first wall, a second wall, and reflective surfaces extending between the first and second walls, the reflective surfaces being angularly offset from one another along a periphery of the block; a polygon mirror axle extending into the block through at least one of the first and second walls, about which the block rotates; a motor driving rotation of the block; and chamfers in the block, each of the chamfers being bounded by a pair of adjacent reflective surfaces and the second wall. The second mirror is pivotable along an axis orthogonal to the polygon mirror axle and more proximate to the second wall of the block than the first wall of the block.

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