公开(公告)号：US20220137218A1

公开(公告)日：2022-05-05

申请号：US17085259

申请日：2020-10-30

Applicant: Waymo LLC

Inventor： Caner Onal ,  Nirav Dharia ,  Giulia Guidi

IPC: G01S17/89 ,  G01S7/484 ,  G01N21/359

Abstract: A system includes a near-infrared (NIR) illuminator, an NIR image sensor, a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, and control circuitry configured to perform operations. The operations include causing the NIR illuminator to illuminate a portion of an environment, and obtaining, from the NIR image sensor, NIR image data representing the portion of the environment illuminated by the NIR illuminator. The operations also include detecting a retroreflector within the NIR image data and, based on detecting the retroreflector within the NIR image, determining a position of the retroreflector within the environment. The operations further include, based on the position of the retroreflector within the environment, adjusting at least one parameter of the LIDAR device in connection with scanning the retroreflector.

公开(公告)号：US20200207252A1

公开(公告)日：2020-07-02

申请号：US16726489

申请日：2019-12-24

Applicant: Waymo LLC

Inventor： Giulia Guidi

IPC: B60Q1/00 ,  G03B15/02 ,  B60R11/04

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to optical systems, vehicles, and methods that are configured to illuminate and image a wide field of view of an environment. An example optical system includes a camera having an optical axis and an outer lens element disposed along the optical axis. The optical system also includes a plurality of illumination modules, each of which includes at least one light-emitter device configured to emit light along a respective emission axis and a secondary optical element optically coupled to the at least one light-emitter device. The secondary optical element is configured to provide a light emission pattern having an azimuthal angle extent of at least 170 degrees so as to illuminate a portion of an environment of the optical system.