An active distance measuring device includes a detection wave transmitter, a reflected wave receiver and a controller. The detection wave transmitter is configured to transmit the detection wave with a designated transmission power to be reflected to form a reflected wave. The reflected wave receiver is configured to operate at a designated detection power to receive the reflected wave and generate reflected wave information accordingly. The controller is electrically connected to the detection wave transmitter and the reflected wave receiver, to control the detection wave transmitter to transmit the detection wave and receive the reflected wave information, so as to obtain distance information based on a transmission state of the detection wave and the reflected wave information. The controller is further configured to receive a vehicle speed signal to adjust the designated transmission power and designated detection power according to the vehicle speed signal.

Computing devices, systems, and methods described in various embodiments herein may relate to a light detection and ranging (lidar) system. An example computing device could include a controller having at least one processor and at least one memory. The at least one processor is configured to execute program instructions stored in the at least one memory so as to carry out operations. The operations include receiving information identifying an environmental condition surrounding a vehicle, the environmental condition being at least one of fog, mist, snow, dust, or rain. The operations also include determining a range of interest within a field of view of the lidar system based on the received information. The operations also include adjusting at least one of: a return light detection time period, sampling rate, or filtering threshold, for at least a portion of the field of view based on the determined range of interest.

A circuit for quenching an avalanche photodiode (APD) detector is disclosed herein. The circuit may comprise a discrete transistor configured to draw a quench current so as to enable a drop in a reverse bias voltage applied to the APD detector, and an integrated circuit connected to the discrete transistor, the integrated circuit including a plurality of circuit elements for controlling the reverse bias voltage.

A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) apparatus includes an optical circuit including an optical source to transmit an optical beam, a first optical component to generate a local oscillator from the optical beam, a first optical amplifier to amplify a return signal to generate an amplified return signal, wherein a power level of the local oscillator is comparable to a power of amplified spontaneous emission of the first optical amplifier, and an optical detector operatively coupled to the first optical amplifier, the optical detector configured to output an electrical signal based on the amplified return signal and the local oscillator.

A distance-measuring apparatus includes an optical window incorporating a first polarizing filter that polarizes reference light and a second polarizing filter that polarizes incident light in a direction inclined at 90 degrees relative to a polarization direction of the first polarizing filter.

A LiDAR transmitter with optical power monitoring includes a laser array positioned in a first plane that generates optical beams that propagate along an optical path. A first projecting optical element positioned in the optical path projects the plurality of optical beams to overlap at a common point. A second projecting optical element projects light from the first projecting optical element in a direction of transmission. A directing optical element positioned at the common point in the optical path of the plurality of beams produces an illumination region with light from each of the plurality of beams in a second plane. A monitor generates a detected signal in response to the collected light. A controller generates the electrical signal in response to the detected signal that controls the laser to achieve a desired operation of the LiDAR system transmitter.

The object detection system includes a TOF sensor which outputs an image of a target space on the basis of a phase difference between reference light emitted toward the target space and reflected light from the target space, an object detection section which detects a position of an object present in the target space on the basis of the output image, an imaging conditions calculation section which calculates imaging conditions including at least one of an integration time and a light emission period of the TOF sensor on the basis of an image of the detected object, and an imaging conditions changing section which changes a configuration of the TOF sensor to the calculated imaging conditions, and the object detection section detects a position of the object on the basis of the image output under the changed imaging conditions.

The present technology relates to a distance measuring device, a distance measuring method, and a program that enable distance measurement with an extended dynamic range. The distance measuring device includes: a light emitting unit that emits irradiation light; a light receiving unit that receives reflected light of the irradiation light reflected by an object; a calculation unit that calculates a distance to the object, on the basis of the time from emission of the irradiation light to reception of the reflected light; and a control unit that controls the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit. The control unit controls first imaging that causes the light receiving unit to perform exposure for a first exposure time, and second imaging that causes the light receiving unit to perform exposure for a second exposure time. The calculation unit calculates the distance, using a signal obtained by the first imaging and a signal obtained by the second imaging. The present technology can be applied to a distance measuring device that measures a distance to a predetermined object, for example.

A system includes a near-infrared (NIR) illuminator, an NIR image sensor, a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, and control circuitry configured to perform operations. The operations include causing the NIR illuminator to illuminate a portion of an environment, and obtaining, from the NIR image sensor, NIR image data representing the portion of the environment illuminated by the NIR illuminator. The operations also include detecting a retroreflector within the NIR image data and, based on detecting the retroreflector within the NIR image, determining a position of the retroreflector within the environment. The operations further include, based on the position of the retroreflector within the environment, adjusting at least one parameter of the LIDAR device in connection with scanning the retroreflector.

A parameter adjustment method, electronic device, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium are provided. The method includes: acquiring a depth image collected by the depth sensor, performing a statistical analysis on respective pixel units of the depth image to obtain a depth distribution and a confidence coefficient distribution, and adjusting operation parameters of the depth sensor according to the depth distribution and the confidence coefficient distribution.