Active short-wave infrared four-dimensional camera
원문보기
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
G01S-017/89
G01S-017/10
G01S-007/486
G01S-007/497
G01S-007/481
G01J-001/44
G01S-017/93
G01S-007/484
출원번호
US-0727073
(2017-10-06)
등록번호
US-10007001
(2018-06-26)
발명자
/ 주소
LaChapelle, Joseph G.
Eichenholz, Jason M.
출원인 / 주소
LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
대리인 / 주소
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
2인용 특허 :
66
초록▼
A lidar system operates as an active short-wave infrared (SWIR) camera system to determine a four-dimensional image at each point in a two-dimensional field of regard. The camera system includes a short-wave infrared spectrum scanner that transmits a pulse of light at a particular position or coordi
A lidar system operates as an active short-wave infrared (SWIR) camera system to determine a four-dimensional image at each point in a two-dimensional field of regard. The camera system includes a short-wave infrared spectrum scanner that transmits a pulse of light at a particular position or coordinate in a two-dimensional field of regard and a receiver that detects return pulses scattered from a target in the field of regard coincident with the particular position. The receiver includes a detector that detects the returned pulse, a range determination unit that determines, based on the timing of the returned pulse, a distance to the target at the particular position, and an intensity measurement unit that determines the magnitude, amplitude, or intensity of the returned pulse, which information provides an indication of the relative, or in some cases, absolute reflectivity of the target at the particular point in the field of regard.
대표청구항▼
1. An active camera system, comprising: a light source configured to emit light as a series of one or more light pulses;a scanner configured to direct the one or more light pulses towards a remote target at a particular position in a two-dimensional field of regard; anda receiver configured to detec
1. An active camera system, comprising: a light source configured to emit light as a series of one or more light pulses;a scanner configured to direct the one or more light pulses towards a remote target at a particular position in a two-dimensional field of regard; anda receiver configured to detect one or more light pulses scattered by the remote target, the receiver including; a detector element that detects a scattered light pulse at the particular position in the two-dimensional field of regard,a range determination unit that determines, based on the timing of the receipt of the scattered light pulse, a distance to the target at the particular position in the field of regard,an intensity measurement unit that (i) determines an intensity profile of the scattered light pulse, and (ii) determines from the intensity profile an indication of the reflectivity of the target at the particular position in the field of regard. 2. The active camera system of claim 1, wherein the receiver further includes a plurality of amplitude detectors coupled to the detector element, wherein each of the plurality of amplitude detectors includes a comparator and a time-to-digital converter coupled to the comparator to produce a representation of a time delay between when one of the light pulses was emitted and a scattered light pulse was received. 3. The active camera system of claim 2, wherein a first one of the Hplurality of amplitude detectors detects a rising edge of the scattered light pulse from the remote target and a second one of the plurality of the amplitude detectors detects a falling edge of the scattered light pulse from the remote target. 4. The active camera system of claim 2, wherein the receiver further comprises an envelope detector coupled to the plurality of amplitude detectors that determines an amplitude envelope of the scattered light pulse based on the time delays determined by the plurality of amplitude detectors. 5. The active camera system of claim 2, wherein the intensity measurement unit determines an intensity of the scattered light pulse based on the time delays determined by three or more of the plurality of amplitude detectors. 6. The active camera system of claim 2, wherein a comparator of a first one of the plurality of amplitude detectors compares an indication of a detected scattered light pulse to a first threshold and a comparator of a second one of the plurality of amplitude detectors compares an indication of the detected scattered light pulse to a second threshold different than the first threshold. 7. The active camera system of claim 2, wherein one or more of the comparators is a rising-edge comparator and one or more other ones of the comparators are falling-edge comparators. 8. The active camera system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of amplitude detectors are electrically connected in parallel to each other. 9. The active camera system of claim 1, wherein the receiver further includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured to produce a digital representation of the scattered light pulse detected by the detector. 10. The active camera system of claim 1, wherein the detector element includes an avalanche photodiode. 11. The active camera system of claim 10, wherein the avalanche photodiode comprises a linear-mode avalanche photodiode. 12. The active camera system of claim 1, wherein the detector element comprises an indium-gallium-arsenide (InGaAs) or silicon semiconductor material. 13. The active camera system of claim 1, wherein the intensity measurement unit includes calibration information and the intensity measurement determines a reflectivity of the target from the calibration information based on an intensity value of the intensity profile of the scattered light pulse and the detected distance to the target. 14. A method of imaging a remote target, comprising: generating a light pulse for a position in a two-dimensional scanning field of regard;emitting the generated light pulse towards a remote target in the position of the two-dimensional field of regard;receiving a scattered light pulse scattered from the remote target;detecting a receive time associated with the received scattered light pulse;determining a range to the target based on the receive time of the received scattered light pulse;detecting an intensity of the received scattered light pulse; anddetermining a reflectivity of the remote target from the determined range to the remote target and the detected intensity of the received scattered light pulse. 15. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 14, wherein detecting a receive time associated with the received scattered light pulse includes detecting an amplitude of the received scattered light pulse at a plurality of temporal positions along the received scattered light pulse, including, at each of the plurality of temporal positions along the received scattered light pulse, comparing the amplitude of the received scattered light pulse at the temporal position along the received scattered light pulse to a plurality of thresholds and time-to-digital converting the received scattered light pulse when the amplitude of the received scattered light pulse at the temporal position matches one of the plurality of thresholds to produce a time delay signal representing a time delay between when the generated light pulse was emitted and when the temporal position along the received scattered light pulse was received. 16. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 15, further including determining a time delay associated with a peak or center of the received scattered light pulse based on one or more of the time delay signals and determining the range to the target based on the time delay associated with the peak or center of the received scattered light pulse. 17. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 14, wherein detecting an intensity of the received scattered light pulse includes determining an amplitude envelope of the received scattered light pulse and determining an intensity of the received scattered light pulse from the amplitude envelope of the received scattered light pulse. 18. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 17, wherein determining an intensity of the received scattered light pulse from the amplitude envelope of the received scattered light pulse includes determining a width of the received scattered light pulse and determining the intensity of the received scattered light pulse from the width of the received scattered light pulse. 19. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 17, wherein determining an intensity of the received scattered light pulse from the amplitude envelope of the received scattered light pulse includes determining a maximum amplitude of the received scattered light pulse and determining the intensity of the received scattered light pulse from the maximum amplitude of the received scattered light pulse. 20. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 17, wherein determining an amplitude envelope of the received scattered light pulse includes comparing a detected amplitude of the received scattered light pulse at each of a plurality of temporal positions along the received scattered light pulse to each of a plurality of amplitude thresholds and producing a representation of a time delay between when a light pulse was emitted and when the temporal position of the received scattered light pulse was received based on the comparisons. 21. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 20, wherein comparing a detected amplitude of the received scattered light pulse includes detecting when a rising edge of the received scattered light pulse meets a particular threshold and detecting when a falling edge of the received scattered light pulse meets the particular threshold. 22. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 14, wherein determining a reflectivity of the remote target includes determining a maximum intensity of a scattered light pulse at the detected range to the remote target and determining the reflectivity of the remote target by comparing the maximum intensity of a scattered light pulse at the detected range to the remote target to the detected intensity of the received scattered light pulse. 23. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 22, wherein determining the reflectivity of the remote target includes determining a ratio of the detected intensity of the received scattered light pulse to the maximum intensity of a scattered light pulse at the detected range to the remote target. 24. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 14, wherein determining a reflectivity of the remote target includes determining a reflectivity of the remote target from a look-up table based on the determined intensity of the received scattered light pulse and the detected range to the target. 25. The method of imaging a remote target of claim 14, further comprising: determining that the reflectivity of the target is greater than 100%; andassociating the greater-than-100% reflectivity value with light received from an external light source. 26. An imaging system, comprising: a laser light source that emits light as a series one or more light pulses;a controller that controls the laser light source to emit one or more light pulses towards a remote target;a light detector configured to detect a scattered light pulse scattered by the remote target to produce electronic signals indicative of the scattered light pulse;a pulse detector that detects an envelope of the scattered light pulse from the electronic signals;a range processor that determines, based on a timing of the receipt of the scattered light pulse, a range to the target; andan intensity measurement unit that (i) determines an intensity indication of the scattered light pulse from the envelope of the scattered light pulse, and (ii) determines the reflectivity of the target from the intensity indication and the determined range to the target. 27. The imaging system of claim 26, wherein the pulse detector includes a plurality of amplitude detectors coupled to the light detector, wherein each of the plurality of amplitude detectors includes a comparator and a time-to-digital converter coupled to the comparator to produce a representation of a time delay between when the light pulse was emitted and a portion of the scattered light pulse was received. 28. The imaging system of claim 27, wherein a first one of the plurality of amplitude detectors detects a rising edge of the scattered light pulse from the remote target and a second one of the plurality of the amplitude detectors detects a falling edge of the scattered light pulse from the remote target. 29. The imaging system of claim 27, wherein the comparator of the first one of the plurality of amplitude detectors compares an electronic signal indicative of the scattered light pulse to a first threshold and a comparator of the second one of the plurality of amplitude detectors compares an electronic signal indicative of the scattered light pulse to a second threshold different than the first threshold. 30. The imaging system of claim 27, wherein one or more of the comparators is a rising-edge comparator and one or more other ones of the comparators are falling-edge comparators.
연구과제 타임라인
LOADING...
LOADING...
LOADING...
LOADING...
LOADING...
이 특허에 인용된 특허 (66)
Smith, Scott T.; Last, Matthew E.; Valko, Edward A., 3D depth point cloud from timing flight of 2D scanned light beam pulses.
Clausen, Bernard; Monat, Laurent; Rochas, Alexis, Apparatus and method for allowing avalanche photodiode based single-photon detectors to be driven by the same electrical circuit in gated and in free-running modes.
Itzler, Mark Allen; Ben-Michael, Rafael; Rangwala, Sabbir Sajjad, Apparatus comprising a single photon photodetector having reduced afterpulsing and method therefor.
Trepagnier, Paul Gerard; Nagel, Jorge Emilio; Dooner, Matthew Taylor; Dewenter, Michael Thomas; Traft, Neil Michael; Drakunov, Sergey; Kinney, Powell; Lee, Aaron, Control and systems for autonomously driven vehicles.
Robert Anthony Laumeyer ; James Eugene Retterath, Method and apparatus for rapidly determining whether a digitized image frame contains an object of interest.
Trepagnier, Paul Gerard; Nagel, Jorge Emilio; Kinney, Powell McVay; Dooner, Matthew Taylor; Wilson, Bruce Mackie; Schneider, Jr., Carl Reimers; Goeller, Keith Brian, Navigation and control system for autonomous vehicles.
Bayha, Heiner; Horvath, Peter; Nicolai, Jens; Reichert, Andreas, Optical measuring device and a method for producing a cover disc for a housing of an optical measuring device.
Heizmann, Reinhard; Hug, Gottfried; Marra, Martin; Torabi, Bahram, Optoelectronic sensor and method for the measurement of distances in accordance with light transit time principle.
Savage-Leuchs, Matthias P.; Dilley, Christian E.; Lemaire, Charles A., Q-switched oscillator seed-source for MOPA laser illuminator method and apparatus.
Au, Kwong Wing; Touchberry, Alan B.; VanVoorst, Brian; Schewe, Jon, System and method for navigating an autonomous vehicle using laser detection and ranging.
Fetzer, Gregory J.; Sitter, Jr., David N.; Gugler, Douglas; Ryder, William L.; Griffis, Andrew J.; Miller, David; Gelbart, Asher; Bybee-Driscoll, Shannon, Ultraviolet, infrared, and near-infrared lidar system and method.
※ AI-Helper는 부적절한 답변을 할 수 있습니다.