A laser scanning sensor includes a laser light-emitting element to emit a pulse laser beam, a light-receiving element to receive a returned reflected beam, a rotary polygon mirror having a plurality of reflecting surfaces to change the travelling direction of the pulse laser beam, and a drive motor to rotate the rotary polygon mirror in a predetermined direction. The sensor also includes an encoder to detect the rotation status of the rotary polygon mirror and to generate a reference signal and trigger signals for the respective reflecting surfaces, and a control/calculation unit to produce a projection pulse train in a specific pulse cycle after a delay time from the generation of a trigger signal for each of the reflecting surfaces, and to acquire distance information per pulse, based on the time after the start of emission of the pulse laser beam before the return of the reflected beam.

To control an excess bias to an appropriate value in a light detection device. A solid-state image sensor includes a photodiode, a resistor, and a control circuit. In this solid-state image sensor, the photodiode photoelectrically converts incident light and outputs a photocurrent. Furthermore, in the solid-state image sensor, the resistor is connected to a cathode of the photodiode. Furthermore, in the solid-state image sensor, the control circuit supplies a lower potential to an anode of the photodiode as a potential of the cathode of when the photocurrent flows through the resistor is higher.

A LIDAR system that scans a beam in a full 360° FOV without any moving parts. The system includes a transmitter sub-system having a tunable laser beam source, an SPPR responsive to the laser beam, and a conical mirror receiving the output beam and directing the output beam into a desired FOV. The system also includes a receiver sub-system responsive to a reflected beam that is reflected off of an object that receives the output beam from the mirror, where the receiver sub-system includes a plurality of detector modules each including a receiver detector and arranged so that at least one detector module receives the reflected beam from any direction. The system further includes a signal processor sub-system that tunes the frequency of the laser beam generated by the laser source to change the angle orientation of the output beam and scan the output beam in the 360° FOV.

A LIDAR system that scans a beam in a full 360° FOV without any moving parts. The system includes a transmitter sub-system having a tunable laser beam source, an SPPR responsive to the laser beam, and a conical mirror receiving the output beam and directing the output beam into a desired FOV. The system also includes a receiver sub-system responsive to a reflected beam that is reflected off of an object that receives the output beam from the mirror, where the receiver sub-system includes a plurality of detector modules each including a receiver detector and arranged so that at least one detector module receives the reflected beam from any direction. The system further includes a signal processor sub-system that tunes the frequency of the laser beam generated by the laser source to change the angle orientation of the output beam and scan the output beam in the 360° FOV.

Systems and methods described herein relate to reducing Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) target broadening. One embodiment acquires a frame including a plurality of points; identifies a first set of points for which the energy returned to a detector exceeds a predetermined energy threshold; identifies a second set of points adjacent to the first set of points that has a range differing from that of the first set of points by less than a predetermined range threshold; defines, as a border, an outline of the second set of points; iteratively reduces laser power for the first set of points, acquires a new frame, identifies the second set of points, and defines as the border, the outline of the second set of points until the border converges to a stable size; and outputs an estimated size of an object based, at least in part, on the stable size of the border.

A detecting system is provided for detecting distant objects. The system includes a light source configured to emit light pulses towards a distant object, the light pulses are being polarized at a predefined polarization angle; a detector configured to detect at least a portion of the light pulses reflected from the distant objects; and at least one linear polarizer configured for polarizing light at the polarization angle and being so disposed with respect to the detector such that the light reaching the detector passes through the linear polarizer and is polarized at the polarization angle.

An information processing apparatus (10a) according to the present disclosure includes a control unit (60). The control unit (60) detects a saturation region of light reception image information generated based on a pixel signal output from a light receiving sensor, the light receiving sensor being configured to receive reflected light being reflection, by a measurement object, of projection light projected from a light source. The pixel signal is used to calculate a distance to the measurement object. The saturation region is a region of light reception image information generated based on the pixel signal which is saturated. The control unit (60) corrects the light reception image information of the saturation region based on the pixel signal.

An object detection device includes an irradiation unit, a light reception unit and a detection unit. The light reception unit is configured to receive reflected light of light radiated by the irradiation unit and environment light. The detection unit is configured to detect a predetermined object based on a point group that is information based on the reflected light and at least one image. The point group is a group of reflection points detected in the whole distance measurement area. The at least one image includes an environment light image that is an image based on the environment light, a distance image that is an image based on a distance to an object detected on a basis of the reflected light and/or a reflection intensity image that is an image based on reflection intensity of the reflected light.

A method for optical distance measurement is provided, which comprises emitting a plurality of measurement pulses, reflecting emitted measurement pulses on at least one object within a measurement range with a length and receiving reflected measurement pulses. N subsets of measurement pulses are emitted, wherein each subset comprises a constant pulse interval. The constant pulse interval of different subsets is different, wherein the least common multiple of the constant pulse intervals of the N subsets corresponds to at least twice the length of the measurement range.

A method for optical distance measurement is provided, which comprises emitting a plurality of measurement pulses, reflecting emitted measurement pulses on at least one object within a measurement range with a length and receiving reflected measurement pulses. N subsets of measurement pulses are emitted, wherein each subset comprises a constant pulse interval. The constant pulse interval of different subsets is different, wherein the least common multiple of the constant pulse intervals of the N subsets corresponds to at least twice the length of the measurement range.