Multiple Pulse, LIDAR Based 3-D Imaging
First Claim
1. A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, comprising:
- a multiple pulse illumination source emitting a multi-pulse beam of illumination light from the LIDAR device into a three dimensional environment, the multi-pulse beam of illumination light illuminates a particular spot of the three dimensional environment with a measurement pulse sequence of illumination light including multiple pulses of illumination light;
a photosensitive detector that detects an amount of the measurement pulse sequence reflected from the particular spot of the three dimensional environment illuminated by the multi-pulse beam of illumination light and generates an output signal indicative of the detected amount of light; and
a computing system configured to;
receive the output signal indicative of the detected amount of light;
convert the output signal to a digital signal; and
determine a time of flight of the measurement pulse sequence from the LIDAR device to the particular spot of the three dimensional environment and back to the LIDAR device based on the digital signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for performing multiple pulse LIDAR measurements are presented herein. In one aspect, each LIDAR measurement beam illuminates a location in a three dimensional environment with a sequence of multiple pulses of illumination light. Light reflected from the location is detected by a photosensitive detector of the LIDAR system during a measurement window having a duration that is greater than or equal to the time of flight of light from the LIDAR system out to the programmed range of the LIDAR system, and back. The pulses in a measurement pulse sequence can vary in magnitude and duration. Furthermore, the delay between pulses and the number of pulses in each measurement pulse sequence can also be varied. In some embodiments, the multi-pulse illumination beam is encoded and the return measurement pulse sequence is decoded to distinguish the measurement pulse sequence from exogenous signals.
154 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, comprising:
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a multiple pulse illumination source emitting a multi-pulse beam of illumination light from the LIDAR device into a three dimensional environment, the multi-pulse beam of illumination light illuminates a particular spot of the three dimensional environment with a measurement pulse sequence of illumination light including multiple pulses of illumination light; a photosensitive detector that detects an amount of the measurement pulse sequence reflected from the particular spot of the three dimensional environment illuminated by the multi-pulse beam of illumination light and generates an output signal indicative of the detected amount of light; and a computing system configured to; receive the output signal indicative of the detected amount of light; convert the output signal to a digital signal; and determine a time of flight of the measurement pulse sequence from the LIDAR device to the particular spot of the three dimensional environment and back to the LIDAR device based on the digital signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, comprising:
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a multiple pulse illumination source emitting a multi-pulse beam of illumination light from the LIDAR device into a three dimensional environment, the multi-pulse beam of illumination light illuminates a particular spot of the three dimensional environment with a measurement pulse sequence of illumination light including multiple pulses of illumination light; a photosensitive detector that detects an amount of the measurement pulse sequence reflected from the particular spot of the three dimensional environment illuminated by the multi-pulse beam of illumination light and generates an output signal indicative of the detected amount of light; and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing an amount of program code that when executed by a computing system causes the computing system to; receive the output signal indicative of the detected amount of light; convert the output signal to a digital signal; and determine a time of flight of the measurement pulse sequence from the LIDAR device to the particular spot of the three dimensional environment and back to the LIDAR device based on the digital signal. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method comprising:
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emitting a multi-pulse beam of illumination light from a LIDAR device into a three dimensional environment, the multi-pulse beam of illumination light illuminates a particular spot of the three dimensional environment with a measurement pulse sequence of illumination light including multiple pulses of illumination light; detecting an amount of the measurement pulse sequence reflected from the particular spot of the three dimensional environment illuminated by the multi-pulse beam of illumination light; generating an output signal indicative of the detected amount of light; converting the output signal to a digital signal; and determining a time of flight of the measurement pulse sequence from the LIDAR device to the particular spot of the three dimensional environment and back to the LIDAR device based on the digital signal. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification