公开(公告)号：US20230113669A1

公开(公告)日：2023-04-13

申请号：US17954914

申请日：2022-09-28

Applicant: LUMINAR, LLC

Inventor： Stephen L. Mielke ,  Philip W. Smith ,  Roger S. Cannon ,  Jason P. Wojack ,  Jason M. Eichenholz ,  Scott R. Campbell

IPC: G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/931

Abstract: Scanning lidar systems and methods for performing a redundant beam scan to reduce data loss resulting from obscurants are presented. An example system comprises a first light source and a second light source having a spatial displacement relative to the first light source. The example system also includes a mirror assembly and an optical window configured to transmit the light pulses emitted from the light sources, wherein the spatial displacement of the second light source relative to the first light source is such that the first and second light pulses produce two pixels corresponding to a same portion of an image. The example system also includes a receiver configured to receive the light pulses when scattered by one or more targets, the receiver including two or more detectors configured to detect at least one of the light pulses and output an electric signal for generating the two pixels.

公开(公告)号：US11567200B2

公开(公告)日：2023-01-31

申请号：US16879091

申请日：2020-05-20

Applicant: Luminar, LLC

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

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

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：US20230025747A1

公开(公告)日：2023-01-26

申请号：US17385312

申请日：2021-07-26

Applicant: Luminar, LLC

Inventor： Roger S. Cannon ,  Stephen L. Mielke ,  Philip W. Smith ,  Gregory T. Landers ,  Jason M. Eichenholz

IPC: G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/08

Abstract: A lidar system for scanning a field of regard is described having first and second light beams and first and second detectors. The light beams pass through a lateral beam shifting device prior to being directed to a beam scanner. The lateral beam shifting device reduces the overall size of the emitted and returned light beams thus reducing the size of scanner components. Lateral beam shifting devices may be a single rhomboid prism, a pair of rhomboid prisms, a pair of mirrors, or a single mirror or prism.

公开(公告)号：US11467265B2

公开(公告)日：2022-10-11

申请号：US16794366

申请日：2020-02-19

Applicant: Luminar, LLC

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

IPC: G01S7/4865 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/48 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S7/484 ,  G01S7/497

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 light source includes a seed laser configured to produce seed light and the local-oscillator light. The light source also includes a pulsed optical amplifier configured to amplify temporal portions of the seed light to produce the emitted pulses of light, where each amplified temporal portion of the seed light corresponds to one of the emitted pulses of 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 including light from one of the emitted pulses of light that is scattered by a target located a distance from the lidar system.

公开(公告)号：US11467256B2

公开(公告)日：2022-10-11

申请号：US16178049

申请日：2018-11-01

Applicant: Luminar, LLC

Inventor： Jason M. Eichenholz ,  Joseph G. LaChapelle

IPC: G01S7/48 ,  G01S7/4912 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/931 ,  G01S7/4861 ,  G01S17/88 ,  G01J1/46 ,  H03K17/0416 ,  H03K17/74

Abstract: A lidar system identifies anomalous optical pulses received by the lidar system. The lidar system includes a light source configured to output a plurality of transmitted pulses of light, each transmitted pulse of light having one or more representative characteristics, a scanner configured to direct the plurality of transmitted pulses of light to a plurality of locations within a field of regard, and a receiver configured to detect a plurality of received pulses of light from the field of regard. The lidar system is configured to identify an anomalous pulse amongst the plurality of received pulses of light based on its having at least one characteristic that does not correspond to the one or more representative characteristics of the plurality of transmitted pulses of light.

公开(公告)号：US20220291349A1

公开(公告)日：2022-09-15

申请号：US17689223

申请日：2022-03-08

Applicant: Luminar, LLC

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

IPC: G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  G01S7/489

Abstract: In one embodiment, a lidar system includes a light source configured to emit (i) local-oscillator light and (ii) pulses of light. Additionally, the light source is configured to impart a spectral signature of one or more different spectral signatures to each of the emitted pulses of light, where the emitted pulses of light include an emitted pulse of light having a particular spectral signature of the one or more different spectral signatures. 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 including a portion of the emitted pulse of light scattered by a target located a distance from the lidar system. The receiver includes a detector configured to produce a photocurrent signal corresponding to the local-oscillator light and the received pulse of light. The receiver also includes a pulse-detection circuit and a frequency-detection circuit.

公开(公告)号：US11428794B2

公开(公告)日：2022-08-30

申请号：US16360435

申请日：2019-03-21

Applicant: Luminar, LLC

Inventor： Jason M. Eichenholz

IPC: G01S7/497 ,  G01S7/484 ,  G01S17/08 ,  G01S7/4861 ,  G01S17/931

Abstract: In one embodiment, a lidar system includes a light source configured to emit an optical signal that is directed into a field of regard (FOR) of the lidar system. The lidar system also includes a receiver configured to: receive a portion of the emitted optical signal scattered by a target located in the FOR a distance from the lidar system; and produce an electrical signal corresponding to the received optical signal, where the electrical signal is related to a preliminary value of an optical characteristic of the received optical signal. The lidar system further includes a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to: determine the distance to the target; receive a humidity value; and determine a corrected value of the optical characteristic of the received optical signal based at least in part on the electrical signal produced by the receiver, the distance to the target, and the humidity value.

公开(公告)号：US11378666B2

公开(公告)日：2022-07-05

申请号：US16861696

申请日：2020-04-29

Applicant: Luminar, LLC

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：US11119198B2

公开(公告)日：2021-09-14

申请号：US15938650

申请日：2018-03-28

Applicant: Luminar, LLC

Inventor： Scott R. Campbell ,  Jason M. Eichenholz

IPC: G01S7/48 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/931

Abstract: A light-based detection system includes a light source configured to emit light as a series of one or more light pulses, a transmitter configured to direct the one or more light pulses toward a remote target located a distance from the system, a receiver configured to detect a light pulse scattered by the remote target, and a controller. The pulses are at a wavelength between approximately 1400 nanometers and approximately 1600 nanometers, with pulse duration between 10 picoseconds and 20 nanoseconds and a pulse energy less than 2 microjoules. The controller is configured to determine the distance from the system to the target based on a time of flight for the detected light pulse, detect a fault condition indicating that the distance to the target is less than a threshold distance, and shut down the light source in response to detecting the fault condition.