It is intended to promote enhancement of performance of acquiring a depth image. A depth image acquiring apparatus includes a light emitting diode, a TOF sensor, and a filter. The light emitting diode irradiates modulated light toward a detection area becoming an area in which a depth image is to be acquired to detect a distance. The TOF sensor receives incident light into which the light irradiated from the light emitting diode is reflected by an object lying in the detection area to become, thereby outputting a signal used to produce the depth image. The filter passes more light having a wavelength in a predetermined pass bandwidth than light having a wavelength in a pass bandwidth other than the predetermined pass bandwidth of the light made incident toward the TOF sensor. In this case, at least one of the light emitting diode, the TOF sensor, or arrangement of the filter is controlled in accordance with a temperature of the light emitting diode or the TOF sensor. The present technique, for example, can be applied to a system for with international search report acquiring a depth image by using a TOF system.

A light detection and ranging system includes synchronously scanning transmit and receive mirrors that scan a pulsed fanned laser beam in two dimensions. Imaging optics image a receive aperture onto an arrayed receiver that includes a plurality of light sensitive devices. A phase offset may be injected into a scanning trajectory to mitigate effects of interfering light sources.

A method for tracking moving particles in a fluid. The method includes illuminating the moving particles with an illumination sequence of patterns generated by a light projector; measuring with a single camera light intensities reflected by the moving particles; calculating, based on the measured light intensity, digital coordinates (x′, y′, z′) of the moving particles; determining a mapping function f that maps the digital coordinates (x′, y′, z′) of the moving particles to physical coordinates (x, y, z) of the moving particles; and calculating the physical coordinates (x, y, z) of the moving particles based on the mapping function f. The illumination sequence of patterns is generated with a single wavelength, and light emitted by the projector is perpendicular to light received by the single camera.

A time-of-flight light detection system includes: a plurality of circuits arranged sequentially along a signal path that comprises a plurality of signal channels, the plurality of circuits including a first circuit and a second circuit arranged downstream from the first circuit; a reference signal source configured to generate a plurality of reference signals, where each of the plurality of signal channels at the first circuit receives at least one of the plurality of reference signals; and an evaluation circuit coupled to the plurality of signal channels to receive a processed reference signal from the signal path, the evaluation circuit further configured to compare the processed reference signal to a first expected result to generate a first comparison result.

A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system includes an automatic gain control (AGC) unit to reduce the dynamic range, reducing processing power and saving circuit area and cost. The system detects a return beam of a light signal transmitted to a target, having a first dynamic range in a time domain. An analog to digital converter (ADC) generates a digital signal based on the return beam. A processor can perform time domain processing on the digital signal, convert the digital signal from the time domain to a frequency domain, and perform frequency domain processing on the digital signal in the frequency domain. The AGC unit can measure a power of the return beam, and apply variable gain in the frequency domain to reduce a dynamic range of the return beam to a second dynamic range lower than the first dynamic range.

Example aspects are directed to operating a SPAD receiver such as may be used in a light detection and ranging (Lidar) system. In one example, the SPAD receiver has SPAD circuitry for multiple photon detections using a single-channel TDC (time-to-digital converter), and such photon detection is quenched after detection so as to establish an effective pre-defined OFF period. In response, the SPAD circuitry is recharged for a subsequent ON period during which the SPAD circuitry is unquenched (or armed) for further photon detection and processing.

A vehicle position and velocity estimation based on camera and LIDAR data are disclosed. A particular embodiment includes: receiving input object data from a subsystem of an autonomous vehicle, the input object data including image data from an image generating device and distance data from a distance measuring device; determining a two-dimensional (2D) position of a proximate object near the autonomous vehicle using the image data received from the image generating device; tracking a three-dimensional (3D) position of the proximate object using the distance data received from the distance measuring device over a plurality of cycles and generating tracking data; determining a 3D position of the proximate object using the 2D position, the distance data received from the distance measuring device, and the tracking data; determining a velocity of the proximate object using the 3D position and the tracking data; and outputting the 3D position and velocity of the proximate object relative to the autonomous vehicle.

A point cloud data processing apparatus 11 includes a processor configured to acquire first form information that indicates a feature of a form of a first object, specify an object region of a second object that is identified from an image and that corresponds to the first form information, select second-object point cloud data, in point cloud data, that corresponds to the object region, on the basis of the object region, acquire second form information that indicates a feature of a form of the second object, on the basis of the second-object point cloud data, and compare the first form information with the second form information and perform determination as to whether the second object is the first object.

A computer, including a processor and a memory, the memory including instructions to be executed by the processor to obtain velocity lidar point cloud data acquired with a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) lidar sensor, wherein the velocity lidar point cloud data includes a speed with which a data point is moving with respect to the FMCW lidar sensor, filter the velocity lidar point cloud data to select static velocity data points, wherein the static velocity data points are velocity data points each correspond to a point on a roadway around a vehicle. The instructions can include further instructions to determine FMCW lidar sensor accelerations in six degrees of freedom based on the static velocity lidar data points and determine FMCW lidar sensor rotations and translations in six degrees of freedom based on the FMCW lidar sensor accelerations in six degrees of freedom. The instructions can include further instructions to determine vehicle rotations and translations in six degrees of freedom based on inertial measurement unit (IMU) data, determine FMCW lidar sensor mis-alignment based on comparing the FMCW lidar sensor rotations and translations with the vehicle rotations and translations and align the FMCW lidar sensor based on the FMCW lidar sensor mis-alignment. The instructions can include further instructions to operate a vehicle based on the aligned FMCW lidar sensor.

The invention is related to a laser diode based multiple beam laser spot imaging system for characterization of vehicle dynamics. A laser diode based, preferably VCSEL based laser imaging system is utilized to characterize the vehicle dynamics. One or more laser beams are directed to the road surface. A compact imaging system including an imaging matrix sensor such as a CCD or CMOS camera measures locations or separations of individual laser spots. Loading status of vehicles and vehicles' pitch and roll angle can be characterized by analyzing the change of laser spot locations or separations.