A vehicle, Lidar system and method of detecting an object is disclosed. The Lidar system includes a photonic chip, and a laser integrated into the photonic chip. The laser has a front facet located at a first aperture of the photonic chip to direct a transmitted light beam into free space. A reflected light beam that is a reflection of the transmitted light beam is received at the photonic chip and a parameter of the object is determined from a comparison of the transmitted light beam and the reflected light beam. A navigation system operates the vehicle with respect to the object based on a parameter of the object.

A vehicle, Lidar system and method of detecting an object is disclosed. The Lidar system includes a photonic chip, and a laser integrated into the photonic chip. The laser has a front facet located at a first aperture of the photonic chip to direct a transmitted light beam into free space. A reflected light beam that is a reflection of the transmitted light beam is received at the photonic chip and a parameter of the object is determined from a comparison of the transmitted light beam and the reflected light beam. A navigation system operates the vehicle with respect to the object based on a parameter of the object.

Systems and methods for monitoring the lane of an object in an environment of an autonomous vehicle are disclosed. The methods include receiving sensor data corresponding to the object, and assigning an instantaneous probability to each of a plurality of lanes based on the sensor data as a measure of likelihood that the object is in that lane at a current time. The methods also include generating a transition matrix for each of the plurality of lanes that encode one or more probabilities that the object transitioned to that lane from another lane in the environment or from that lane to another lane in the environment at the current time. The methods then include determining an assigned probability associated with each of the plurality of lanes based on the instantaneous probability and the transition matrix as a measure of likelihood of the object occupying that lane at the current time.

An optoelectronic sensor, including a transmitting unit for transmitting a plurality of optical signals in each case to a plurality of segments of an object, and a receiving unit that includes a first multichannel analog-digital converter device, including: an analog-digital converter unit; a plurality of signal processing channels, the signal processing channels of the plurality of signal processing channels in each case including: a detection antenna for receiving optical signals; and a modulator for generating an individual signal encoding. Signals of the plurality of signal processing channels, with individual signal encoding, are transmittable together to the analog-digital converter unit, are converted, and may be associated once again with the corresponding signal processing channels due to the individual signal encoding via algorithms.

An operating method for a LIDAR system that is operable by pulse sequence encoding and designed with a SPAD-based detector element, in which a down time of the SPAD-based detector element is detected, and in the transmission mode of the LiDAR system, a minimum time interval of transmission pulses of primary light to be transmitted in direct chronological succession is dimensioned in such a way that the minimum time interval at least approximately corresponds to the down time.

An operating method for a LIDAR system that is operable by pulse sequence encoding and designed with a SPAD-based detector element, in which a down time of the SPAD-based detector element is detected, and in the transmission mode of the LiDAR system, a minimum time interval of transmission pulses of primary light to be transmitted in direct chronological succession is dimensioned in such a way that the minimum time interval at least approximately corresponds to the down time.

A vehicle, Lidar system and method of detecting an object is disclosed. The Lidar system includes a photonic chip having a laser, an on-chip frequency shifter, a combiner and a first set of photodetectors. The laser generates a transmitted light beam and an associated local oscillator beam within the photonic chip. The on-chip frequency shifter shifts a frequency of the local oscillator beam. The combiner combines a reflected light beam with the frequency-shifted local oscillator beam, wherein the reflected light beam is a reflection of the transmitted light beam from the object to generate a first electronic signal at the first set of photodetectors. A processor obtains a first measurement of a parameter of the object from the first electronic signal. The vehicle includes a navigation system for navigating the vehicle with respect to the object using at least the first measurement of the parameter.

A vehicle, Lidar system and method of detecting an object is disclosed. The Lidar system includes a photonic chip having a laser, an on-chip frequency shifter, a combiner and a first set of photodetectors. The laser generates a transmitted light beam and an associated local oscillator beam within the photonic chip. The on-chip frequency shifter shifts a frequency of the local oscillator beam. The combiner combines a reflected light beam with the frequency-shifted local oscillator beam, wherein the reflected light beam is a reflection of the transmitted light beam from the object to generate a first electronic signal at the first set of photodetectors. A processor obtains a first measurement of a parameter of the object from the first electronic signal. The vehicle includes a navigation system for navigating the vehicle with respect to the object using at least the first measurement of the parameter.

A LIDAR noise removal apparatus and a LIDAR noise removal method thereof are provided. The apparatus includes a LIDAR detection information processor that processes LIDAR detection information received from a LIDAR of a vehicle. A sun position acquirer acquires an azimuth angle and elevation angle of the sun relative to a traveling direction of the vehicle. An ROI selector selects an ROI corresponding to the sun from a front image of the vehicle based on the azimuth angle and elevation angle and compares a brightness of the selected ROI with a threshold value. A noise region selector selects a noise region corresponding to the ROI from the LIDAR detection information based on the azimuth angle and elevation angle when the brightness of the ROI exceeds the threshold value, and a noise remover removes noise points in the selected noise region.

A LIDAR noise removal apparatus and a LIDAR noise removal method thereof are provided. The apparatus includes a LIDAR detection information processor that processes LIDAR detection information received from a LIDAR of a vehicle. A sun position acquirer acquires an azimuth angle and elevation angle of the sun relative to a traveling direction of the vehicle. An ROI selector selects an ROI corresponding to the sun from a front image of the vehicle based on the azimuth angle and elevation angle and compares a brightness of the selected ROI with a threshold value. A noise region selector selects a noise region corresponding to the ROI from the LIDAR detection information based on the azimuth angle and elevation angle when the brightness of the ROI exceeds the threshold value, and a noise remover removes noise points in the selected noise region.