Systems and methods determine an angle of an articulated trailer relative to a tractor that the trailer is hitched to. An optical encoder is positioned beneath a fifth-wheel of a tractor to couples with a kingpin of the trailer when the trailer is hitched to the tractor. The optical coupler has a rotating shaft that may include pins that physically interact with the kingpin and/or may include a magnet that magnetically attaches to the kingpin. A clearance and cleaning block may be positioned on the spring plate to interact with a bottom surface of a kingpin of the trailer during hitching of the trailer to the tractor. A LIDAR attached to the tractor may detect a front end of the trailer to determine the trailer angle relative to the tractor.

A method for classifying an object in a point cloud includes computing first and second classification statistics for one or more points in the point cloud. Closest matches are determined between the first and second classification statistics and a respective one of a set of first and second classification statistics corresponding to a set of N classes of a respective first and second classifier, to estimate the object is in a respective first and second class. If the first class does not correspond to the second class, a closest fit is performed between the point cloud and model point clouds for only the first and second classes of a third classifier. The object is assigned to the first or second class, based on the closest fit within near real time of receiving the 3D point cloud. A device is operated based on the assigned object class.

A surveying instrument comprises a light projecting optical system for projecting a distance measuring light to a predetermined measuring point, a light receiving optical system for receiving a reflected distance measuring light and an infrared light from the measuring point, and an arithmetic control module for controlling a distance measurement and a temperature measurement based on light receiving results of the reflected distance measuring light and the infrared light, and the arithmetic control module measures a distance to the measuring point based on light receiving results of the reflected distance measuring light received by a photodetector of the light receiving optical system, and measures a temperature of the measuring point based on light receiving results of the infrared light received by a temperature sensor of the light receiving optical system.

Example embodiments relate to LIDAR systems with multi-faceted mirrors. An example embodiment includes a LIDAR system. The system includes a multi-faceted mirror that includes a plurality of reflective facets, which rotates about a first rotational axis. The system also includes a light emitter configured to emit a light signal toward one or more regions of a scene. Further, the system includes a light detector configured to detect a reflected light signal. In addition, the system includes an optical window positioned between the multi-faceted mirror and the one or more regions of the scene such that light reflected from one or more of the reflective facets is transmitted through the optical window. The optical window is positioned such that the optical window is non-perpendicular to the direction toward which the light emitted along the optical axis is directed for all angles of the multi-faceted mirror.

A method includes flashing an object with a first illumination pulse at a first illumination power level, flashing the object with a second illumination pulse at a second illumination power level different from the first illumination power level, integrating at least a portion of a first return pulse which is the first illumination plus returning from the object to determine a first return time, and integrating at least a portion of a second return pulse which is the second illumination pulse returning from the object to determine a second return time. The method includes using the first and second return times to determine distance to the object independent of reflectivity of the object.

Jitter is removed from point cloud data of a target by fitting the data to 3-D models of possible targets. The point cloud data is de-jittered as a group by shifting the point cloud data in its coordinate system until a minimum fit error is observed between the shifted data and a 3-D model under analysis. Different 3-D models may be evaluated in succession until a 3-D model is identified that has the least fit error. The 3-D model with the least fit error most likely represents the identity of the target.

A distance measuring device includes a pulsed laser source, a light receiving unit and a computing module. The pulsed laser source emits a laser pulse to a target in accordance with a predetermined period. The light receiving unit has a photon receiving type of light receiving element that receives incident light and outputs a binary pulse, and the binary pulse is used to indicate whether a photon receiving event occurs. The computing module is configured to receive the binary pulse and determine whether an inter-period coincidence event occurs, and the inter-period coincidence event is defined by detecting a plurality of photon receiving events exceeding a predetermined count, on relative positions in a predetermined period number of the predetermined periods. If the calculation module determines that the inter-period coincidence event occurs, a distance of the target is calculated according to time information related to the inter-period coincidence event.

To provide a distance and velocity measurement apparatus that can be adopted preferably in a LiDAR or a sensor for a robot, wherein the apparatus can prevent deterioration of SN ratio even in a case where an object in an external environment vibrates. A LiDAR 20 according to the present embodiment includes a first laser apparatus 1a, a second laser apparatus 1b, a polarization-maintaining type optical fiber 2, a WDM filter 6, an optical fiber coupler 3a, an optical amplifier 11, an input/output unit 4, an optical scanner 5, a second optical fiber coupler 3b, a balanced photodetector 7, and a square-law detector 9. Further, a delay line 10 composed of a polarization-maintaining optical fiber is provided on the local port 2b. The first laser apparatus 1a includes a device for generating a first laser light having a first wavelength and a first chirp rate in an interior thereof, and the second laser apparatus 1b includes a device for generating a second laser light having a second wavelength that differs from the first wavelength and a second chirp rate that differs from the first chirp rate.

A method and system are devised for filtering out sensor data by a Sensor scan filtering system. It comprises: creating acquisition tables of angular size data of a cluster of points for a Reference object placed at N respective distances from a sensor in a range [D.sub.min;D.sub.max]; creating calibrated threshold tables, by associating to adjacent distance intervals M in the range [D.sub.min;D.sub.max]respective thresholds calculated as a function of the angular size data for the Reference object when placed at distances falling within the respective distance intervals M; selecting one of the created calibrated threshold tables by the Sensor scan filtering system, and processing of sensor data as a function of the angular size data of a cluster of points for a Field object located at a distance D from the sensor, relative to the threshold in the selected calibrated threshold table for the distance interval M within which D falls.

A method of detecting a road-curb that is performed by a road-curb detecting apparatus is provided. The method includes obtaining points around a lidar sensor from the lidar sensor, arranging the points in a plurality of cells into which a circular grid map is divided, and detecting the road-curb based on the points arranged in the plurality of cells.