3D LANDSCAPE REAL-TIME IMAGER AND CORRESPONDING IMAGING METHODS
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Accused Products
Abstract
A 3D landscape real-time imager, and method for operating such an imager, where the imager includes:
- at least one illuminating part which is designed to scan at least a portion of the landscape at a given range and having an ultra-short laser pulse source emitting at least one wavelength, and an optical rotating block, with a vertical axis of rotation, and controlled such that given packets of pulses are shaped in a pattern of rotating beams sent toward the at least partial landscape; and
- at least one receiving part which includes a set of SPAD detector arrays, each arranged along a vertical direction and rotating at a given speed in synchronism with the optical rotating block of the illuminating part, the detection data of the SPAD detector arrays being combined to acquire 3D imaging data of the at least partial landscape in a central controller.
73 Citations
73 Claims
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1-36. -36. (canceled)
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37. 3D real-time landscape imager, wherein it comprises:
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at least an illuminating part which is designed to scan at least a portion of the landscape at a given range and having an ultra-short laser pulse source emitting at least one wavelength, and an optical rotating device, with a vertical axis of rotation, and controlled such that packets of pulses are shaped in a pattern of rotating beams sent toward the said at least partial landscape; at least a receiving part which comprises an optical rotating device, with a vertical axis of rotation, which carries a set of SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) detector arrays, where the diodes are arranged along the vertical direction, and the optical rotating device of the receiving part is rotating in synchronism with the optical rotating device of the illuminating part and the receiving part comprising also a means for combining data acquired with the set of SPAD detector arrays according to the various rotations of the two optical rotating devices to obtain 3D images of the said at least partial landscape in a central controller. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
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67. Set of 3D real-time landscape imagers comprising 3D real-time landscape imagers which comprise:
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at least an illuminating part which is designed to scan at least a portion of the landscape at a given range and having an ultra-short laser pulse source emitting at least one wavelength, and an optical rotating device, with a vertical axis of rotation, and controlled such that packets of pulses are shaped in a pattern of rotating beams sent toward the said at least partial landscape; at least a receiving part which comprises an optical rotating device, with a vertical axis of rotation, which carries a set of SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) detector arrays, where the diodes are arranged along the vertical direction, and the optical rotating device of the receiving part is rotating in synchronism with the optical rotating device of the illuminating part and the receiving part comprising also a means for combining data acquired with the set of SPAD detector arrays according to the various rotations of the two optical rotating devices to obtain 3D images of the said at least partial landscape in a central controller, wherein said set of 3D real-time landscape imagers comprises a central controller and a high-speed data link for communication of data streams between them and their central controller such that the 3D landscape imagers coordinate their “
launching pulse agenda”
to avoid simultaneous pulse reflection from the same targets points. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69)
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70. A method of operating a 3D real-time landscape imager, said 3D real-time landscape imager comprising:
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at least an illuminating part which is designed to scan at least a portion of the landscape at a given range and having an ultra-short laser pulse source emitting at least one wavelength, and an optical rotating device, with a vertical axis of rotation, and controlled such that packets of pulses are shaped in a pattern of rotating beams sent toward the said at least partial landscape; at least a receiving part which comprises an optical rotating device, with a vertical axis of rotation, which carries a set of SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) detector arrays, where the diodes are arranged along the vertical direction, and the optical rotating device of the receiving part is rotating in synchronism with the optical rotating device of the illuminating part and the receiving part comprising also a means for combining data acquired with the set of SPAD detector arrays according to the various rotations of the two optical rotating devices to obtain 3D images of the said at least partial landscape in a central controller, wherein said method of operating said 3D real-time landscape imager consists in; emitting at least a series of ultra-short power laser pulses of at least a given wavelength, at a given frequency; forming the said series of pulses into a plurality of beams which are sent to at least a given area of the landscape with at least a given longitudinal focus position; reflecting said formed beams of pulses from the landscape; receiving said reflected pulses onto at least a SPAD detector array, said SPAD detector arrays rotating in synchronism with the emission of said illuminating beams and being arranged to produce detected data on the basis of the knowledge of the round trip delay of the pulses and using the timing coherence of the pulse train for efficiently detecting faint signals at each SPAD detector cell of the said SPAD detector arrays; processing said detected data to obtain 3D image data. - View Dependent Claims (71, 72, 73)
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Specification