LIDAR system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of obtaining both location information and spectral information regarding an object, the method comprising:
- generating a laser pulse;
dividing the laser pulse into a monochromatic laser pulse and a wave-length broadened white laser pulse;
delaying the wave-length broadened white laser pulse with respect to the monochromatic laser pulse;
combining the monochromatic laser pulse and the delayed wave-length broadened white laser pulse to provide a combined laser pulse signal;
directing the combined laser pulse signal to a point on the object and receiving a corresponding return light signal that includes a laser pulse portion and a broadband portion;
providing the laser pulse portion of the return light signal to optical detector and timing electronics to generate object location information;
dividing the broadband portion of the return light signal into a number of spectral components;
providing each of the spectral components to an associated intensity-related measuring/detection circuit triggered by timing signals received from the optical detector and timing electronics to generate corresponding object spectral information such that the object location information and object spectral information regarding the point on the object are extracted simultaneously from the same laser pulse.
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Abstract
Methods for using spectrally separated light pulses to collect more LIDAR information are presented. In one embodiment, a monochromatic pulse is transmitted to collect range information and a white pulse is transmitted a short time afterwards to collect spectral responsivity information or color of the target. In another embodiment, the white light pulse is used to collect both range and spectral responsivity information of the target. In another embodiment, the spectral separated laser is spatially spread in order to collect range information over more than one point at a time.
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Citations
7 Claims
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1. A method of obtaining both location information and spectral information regarding an object, the method comprising:
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generating a laser pulse; dividing the laser pulse into a monochromatic laser pulse and a wave-length broadened white laser pulse; delaying the wave-length broadened white laser pulse with respect to the monochromatic laser pulse; combining the monochromatic laser pulse and the delayed wave-length broadened white laser pulse to provide a combined laser pulse signal; directing the combined laser pulse signal to a point on the object and receiving a corresponding return light signal that includes a laser pulse portion and a broadband portion; providing the laser pulse portion of the return light signal to optical detector and timing electronics to generate object location information; dividing the broadband portion of the return light signal into a number of spectral components; providing each of the spectral components to an associated intensity-related measuring/detection circuit triggered by timing signals received from the optical detector and timing electronics to generate corresponding object spectral information such that the object location information and object spectral information regarding the point on the object are extracted simultaneously from the same laser pulse. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A system for generating both location information and spectral information for a plurality of points on an object, the system comprising:
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a pulsed laser that generates a sequence of laser pulses; a beam splitter that splits each laser pulse into a direct monochromatic laser pulse and a wave-length broadened white laser pulse, the wave-length broadened white laser pulse being time delayed with respect to the direct monochromatic laser pulse; a beam combiner that combines the direct monochromatic laser pulse and the time delayed wave-length broadened white laser pulse to provide a combined laser pulse; macro-optics that transmits the combined laser pulse to a point on the object and receives a corresponding return signal from the point on the object, the return signal including a received laser pulse signal and a received broadband signal; a filter that separates the received laser pulse signal and the received broadband signal; an optical detector connected to the filter to detect the received laser pulse signal and that generates object location-related information and timing signals relating to the received laser pulse signal; a wavelength separator connected to the filter to divide the received broadband signal into a plurality of spectral components; for each spectral component, an associated intensity-related detector that is triggered by the timing signals generated by the optical detector to generate object spectral information; and whereby object location-related information and object spectral information are simultaneously generated for each of a plurality of points on the object.
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Specification