A LIDAR system includes at least one optical component configured to output a system output signal that travels away from the LIDAR system and can be reflected by an object located outside of the LIDAR system. The LIDAR system also includes a control mechanism configured to control one or more process variables of the system output signal. The control mechanism uses an electrical process variable signal to control the process variable. The process variable signal has an in-phase component and a quadrature component.

The disclosure relates to a time-of-flight camera comprising an illumination for emitting a modulated light, a light propagation time sensor, an illumination circuit for operating the illumination, a clock generator for generating a modulation signal, wherein the clock generator is designed in such a way that individual pulses of the modulation signal can be suppressed within a predetermined time interval.

A coherent lidar system includes a light source to output a continuous wave, and a modulator to modulate a frequency of the continuous wave and provide a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) signal. The system also includes an aperture lens to obtain a receive beam resulting from a reflection of an output signal obtained from the FMCW signal, and an optical amplifier in a path of the receive beam to output an amplified receive beam. A method of fabricating the system includes arranging a light source to output a continuous wave, and disposing elements to modulate the continuous wave and provide the FMCW signal. The method also includes arranging an aperture to obtain a receive beam resulting from a reflection of an output signal obtained from the FMCW signal, and disposing an optical amplifier in a path of the receive beam to output an amplified receive beam.

The LIDAR system has a LIDAR chip that includes a processing component configured to combine at least a portion of a reference light signal with at least a portion of a comparative signal so as to generate a composite light signal that carries LIDAR data. The reference signal includes light that has not exited from the LIDAR system. The comparative signal includes light that has been reflected by an object located outside of the LIDAR system. The light that has not exited from the LIDAR system and the light that has been reflected by the object are both from the same outgoing LIDAR signal. The LIDAR chip includes an optical attenuator configured to attenuate a power level of the reference signal before the composite signal is generated.

An object detection apparatus includes a light-emitting unit configured to emit light; an optical scanning unit configured to rotate a deflection face to deflect the light used as scanning light; a light-projection optical system configured to project the scanning light to a detection region; a light-receiving optical system configured to receive light reflected or light scattered from an object existing within the detection region, respectively as reflection light and scattered light; and a light receiving unit configured to output at least a received-light signal of the reflection light or a received-light signal of the scattered light received by the light receiving system. A projection light center axis of the light-receiving optical system is non-parallel with respect to a focusing light center axis of the light-projection optical system.

A calibration method for a time-of-flight module, a calibration controller, and a calibration system. The time-of-flight module comprises a light transmitter and a light detector. The light transmitter comprises a light source. The time-of-flight module is disposed on an electronic device. The electronic device comprises an optical element. The calibration method comprises: controlling the light source to emit a light signal under a predetermined operating current; and controlling the light detector to receive the light signal reflected by the optical element so as to form a calibration electrical signal.

A LIDAR sensor includes a linear array of light sources each configured to controllably emit a respective light beam for scanning an environment in a field of view; a deflection system configured to deflect the light beams into the field of view according to a two-dimensional scan pattern; and a control circuit configured to selectively control emission times of the light sources. The control circuit is configured to always control the light sources to simultaneously or sequentially emit their respective light beam. The light beams illuminate a strip-shaped sub-portion of the field of view when all of the light sources are controlled to simultaneously or sequentially emit their respective light beam. The strip-shaped sub-portion longitudinally extends along a spatial axis, wherein an extension of the strip-shaped sub-portion along the spatial axis is smaller than an extension of the field of view along the spatial axis.

A dynamic power positioning method and a dynamic power positioning system thereof are disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: controlling a device to be measured to transmit a plurality of positioning signals with a plurality of transmission powers; making a plurality of known location devices to receive the plurality of positioning signals, and recording the intensities and the corresponding reception times of the plurality of positioning signals, and the coordinates of the plurality of known location devices to the database; finding out the known location device corresponding to a positioning signal having a higher signal intensity among the received plurality of positioning signals; obtaining a signal intensity-distance function and a signal intensity-distance standard deviation function from the database; and finding out the device location of the device to be measured according to the signal intensity-distance function and signal intensity-distance standard deviation function.

An imaging system includes a light source, an image sensor and a processing unit. The image sensor alternatively captures a first bright image, a first dark image, a second bright image and a second dark image, wherein the first bright image is captured with a first exposure time corresponding to activation of the light source within a first time interval, the first dark image is captured with the first exposure time corresponding to deactivation of the light source within the first time interval, the second bright image is captured with a second exposure time corresponding to activation of the light source within a second time interval, and the second dark image is captured with the second exposure time corresponding to deactivation of the light source within the second time interval, wherein the second exposure time is longer than the first exposure time. The processing unit adjusts the second exposure time according to an object image size in the second dark image, and controls the image sensor to stop capturing the first bright and dark images with the first exposure time when no object image is contained in the second dark image.

Implementations of the present invention disclose a method for improving 3D image depth information and an unmanned aerial vehicle. The method includes: acquiring a raw 3D image, performing first-time exposure on the raw 3D image, and generating a first exposure image; and if a quantity of effective pixel points in the first exposure image meets a preset condition, extracting the effective pixel point in the first exposure image; otherwise, continuously performing exposure on the raw 3D image and generating a corresponding exposure image, and determining whether the quantity of effective pixel points of the exposure image meets the preset condition until an exposure time reaches an exposure time threshold or a quantity of effective pixel points in the corresponding image generated through exposure meets the preset condition, and extracting the effective pixel point in the corresponding image; and demarcating and calibrating the effective pixel point, and generating a 3D depth information map.