In some embodiments, a depth map acquisition system, includes a housing, a light source for emitting light to illuminate objects in a scene subject to depth mapping, fixedly mounted to the housing, a mirror tilt actuator, fixedly mounted to the housing, for tilting a mirror fixedly mounted to the mirror tilt actuator, a mirror fixedly mounted to the mirror tilt actuator, for reflecting light from the light source to the objects, and a partially transparent photosensitive detector in the direct path of the light from the mirror to the objects.

A phased array lidar includes: a laser generator (100) configured to generate original laser; an optical transmitting medium (400); an optical splitting apparatus (200) coupled to the laser generator (100) through the optical transmitting medium (400); the optical splitting apparatus (200) including a device configured to receive the original laser; and Z radiation units (300), each being respectively coupled to the optical splitting apparatus (200), where Z is a natural number greater than 1. The optical splitting apparatus (200) is configured to split the original laser into Z first optical signals, and send each of the Z first optical signals respectively to the radiation units (300), so that electromagnetic waves radiated by all of the radiation units (300) are combined into a beam of radar waves. The laser generator (100), the device, and the optical transmitting medium (400) are made of a material capable of transmitting laser having power greater than a set power value.

An apparatus for light detection and ranging is provided. The apparatus includes a reflective surface configured to oscillate about a rotation axis, and a plurality of light sources each configured to controllably emit a respective light beam via an optical system onto the reflective surface. Further, the apparatus includes a controller configured to control emission times of the plurality of light sources so that the reflective surface emits a plurality of light beams to an environment according to a first sequence of beam directions for a first measurement, and according to a second sequence of beam directions for a subsequent second measurement.

A lidar system includes one or more light sources configured to generate a first beam of light and a second beam of light, a scanner configured to scan the first and second beams of light across a field of regard of the lidar system, and a receiver configured to detect the first beam of light and the second beam of light scattered by one or more remote targets. The scanner includes a rotatable polygon mirror that includes multiple reflective surfaces angularly offset from one another along a periphery of the polygon mirror, the reflective surfaces configured to reflect the first and second beams of light to produce a series of scan lines as the polygon mirror rotates. The scanner also includes a pivotable scan mirror configured to (i) reflect the first and second beams of light and (ii) pivot to distribute the scan lines across the field of regard.

A LIDAR system, comprising: (a) a plurality of anchored LIDAR sensing units, each anchored LIDAR sensing unit comprising at least: (i) a housing; (ii) at least one detector, mounted in the housing, configured to detect light signals arriving from objects in a field of view of the anchored LIDAR sensing unit; and (iii) a communication unit, configured to output detection information which is based on outputs of the at least one detector and which is indicative of existence of the objects; and (b) at least one integratory processing unit, configured to receive the detection information from two or more of the plurality of anchored LIDAR sensing units, and to process the received detection information to provide a three dimensional model of a scene which is larger than any of the field of views of the independent anchored LIDAR sensing units.

Embodiments discussed herein refer to LiDAR systems and methods that monitor for fault conditions that could potentially result in unsafe operation of a laser. The systems and methods can monitor for faulty conditions involving a transmitter system and movement of mirrors in a scanning system. When a fault condition is monitored, a shutdown command is sent to the transmitter system to cease laser transmission. The timing by which the laser should cease transmission is critical in preventing unsafe laser exposure, and embodiments discussed herein enable fault detection and laser shutoff to comply with laser safety standards.

A system is presented in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In various embodiments, the system includes a light source configured to emit light, an emitting lens positioned to obtain the emitted light and configured to produce a shaped beam, an optical element positioned to obtain the shaped beam and redirect the shaped beam toward a near field object to produce scattered light from the near field object, and to obtain and redirect at least a portion of the scattered light, and a collection lens configured to focus the at least the portion of the scattered light on a light detector.

A description is provided herein of an apparatus comprising a golf ball having embedded electronic components that can measure how far said ball has rolled and its velocity during a putt across a putting surface. Elements of the ball fabrication are described which allow light to be transmitted to interrogation devices which respond depending on the orientation of the ball relative to external light sources. A correlation of light received at various parts of the ball provide an event signal which is interpreted by an on-board processor. Determination of current distance and speed is continuously calculated during the roll of the putted ball. Data is relayed to a secondary device capable of displaying the information to a golfer during putting practice sessions. This will help the golfer to train how hard to hit a putt so that it will roll a known distance.

Certain examples are directed to circuitry and methods involving adaptive scanning of a target area, by use of a scanning output controlled by a multiple-axis scanner, within a selected region of interest (RoI) in a field of view (FoV) as a function of a first drive signal having a first set of one or more frequency components and of a second drive signal having a second set of one or more frequency components. One or more aspects of at least the first drive signal is modulated to produce a plurality of drive signals including the modulated first drive signal, and the drive signals at the multiple-axis scanner are used to: control the scanning output, cause the scanning output to traverse the selected RoI more times than other portions of the FoV and spatially sample the target area via a higher concentrations of samples in the RoI.

An optical system configured to perform scans is provided. The optical system includes a carrier portion and an emitting portion. The carrier portion is configured to connect an optical member. The emitting portion is configured to emit a light, wherein the light is emitted toward a sensing object via the optical member.