Method and apparatus for an adaptive ladar receiver
First Claim
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1. A ladar receiver apparatus comprising:
- an array comprising a plurality of photodetectors;
a plurality of amplifiers, each of a plurality of the amplifiers configured to amplify a signal produced by a corresponding photodetector such that different amplifiers amplify signals produced by different corresponding photodetectors; and
a circuit configured to (1) process a shot list that identifies a plurality of range points for targeting by ladar pulse shots over time, (2) select a plurality of different subsets of the photodetectors for read out over time based on the range points of the processed shot list, (3) selectively control how power is applied to the amplifiers over time based on the range points of the processed shot list, (4) process the amplified signals from the amplifiers corresponding to the selected subsets of photodetectors, and (5) compute range information for the range points targeted by the ladar pulse shots based on the processed amplified signals.
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are various embodiments of an adaptive ladar receiver and associated method whereby the active pixels in a photodetector array used for reception of ladar pulse returns can be adaptively controlled based at least in part on where the ladar pulses were targeted. Additional embodiments disclose improved imaging optics for use by the receiver and further adaptive control techniques for selecting which pixels of the photodetector array are used for sensing incident light.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A ladar receiver apparatus comprising:
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an array comprising a plurality of photodetectors; a plurality of amplifiers, each of a plurality of the amplifiers configured to amplify a signal produced by a corresponding photodetector such that different amplifiers amplify signals produced by different corresponding photodetectors; and a circuit configured to (1) process a shot list that identifies a plurality of range points for targeting by ladar pulse shots over time, (2) select a plurality of different subsets of the photodetectors for read out over time based on the range points of the processed shot list, (3) selectively control how power is applied to the amplifiers over time based on the range points of the processed shot list, (4) process the amplified signals from the amplifiers corresponding to the selected subsets of photodetectors, and (5) compute range information for the range points targeted by the ladar pulse shots based on the processed amplified signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method comprising:
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processing a shot list, wherein the shot list comprises data about a plurality of ladar pulse shots for targeting a plurality of range points; identifying a ladar pulse shot from the shot list; transmitting a ladar pulse in accordance with the identified ladar pulse shot; selecting a subset of a plurality of photodetectors based on the identified ladar pulse shot; selecting a subset of a plurality of amplifiers based on the identified ladar pulse shot; powering up the selected subset of amplifiers; the selected subset of photodetectors generating a signal that is representative of a reflection of the transmitted ladar pulse; the selected and powered up subset of the amplifiers amplifying the generated signal; processing the amplified signal to determine range information for the range point targeted by the identified ladar pulse shot; and repeating the method steps for a plurality of different ladar pulse shots on the shot list. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification