G01S17/10

Calibration of a Solid-State Lidar Device
20230041567 · 2023-02-09 ·

A solid-state lidar device comprises a laser generator, an optical lens arrangement having a focal length and providing a rear focal plane, a solid-state sensing array positioned at the rear focal plane of the optical lens arrangement having a first sensor and a second sensor spaced from each other by a first sensor distance and at least one processor. The processor is configured to obtain a measured distance of the target from a pulsed time-of-flight measurement utilizing the laser generator and at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor of the solid-state sensing array and obtain at least one spatial coordinate for the target from the measured distance using a calibration parameter indicative of the ratio of the first sensor distance and the focal length.

Calibration of a Solid-State Lidar Device
20230041567 · 2023-02-09 ·

A solid-state lidar device comprises a laser generator, an optical lens arrangement having a focal length and providing a rear focal plane, a solid-state sensing array positioned at the rear focal plane of the optical lens arrangement having a first sensor and a second sensor spaced from each other by a first sensor distance and at least one processor. The processor is configured to obtain a measured distance of the target from a pulsed time-of-flight measurement utilizing the laser generator and at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor of the solid-state sensing array and obtain at least one spatial coordinate for the target from the measured distance using a calibration parameter indicative of the ratio of the first sensor distance and the focal length.

LIGHT RECEIVING DEVICE, SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD FOR LIGHT RECEIVING DEVICE, AND DISTANCE MEASURING DEVICE
20230042254 · 2023-02-09 ·

A light receiving device of the present disclosure includes a light receiving unit that has a plurality of photon counting type light receiving elements arranged, the plurality of photon counting type light receiving elements receiving light from an object, an addition unit configured to add values of the plurality of light receiving elements at a predetermined time to use a resultant as a pixel value, and a logarithmic transformation processing unit configured to transform the pixel value into a logarithmic value or an approximate value thereof to use a resultant as logarithmic representation data, in which reflected pulsed light, from a subject, based on the photon counting type light receiving elements receiving light from the object from a light source unit is received.

LIGHT RECEIVING DEVICE, SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD FOR LIGHT RECEIVING DEVICE, AND DISTANCE MEASURING DEVICE
20230042254 · 2023-02-09 ·

A light receiving device of the present disclosure includes a light receiving unit that has a plurality of photon counting type light receiving elements arranged, the plurality of photon counting type light receiving elements receiving light from an object, an addition unit configured to add values of the plurality of light receiving elements at a predetermined time to use a resultant as a pixel value, and a logarithmic transformation processing unit configured to transform the pixel value into a logarithmic value or an approximate value thereof to use a resultant as logarithmic representation data, in which reflected pulsed light, from a subject, based on the photon counting type light receiving elements receiving light from the object from a light source unit is received.

OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE AND RANGING APPARATUS
20230043472 · 2023-02-09 · ·

An optical scanning device includes an optical mode converter to change, in accordance with a change in wavelength of a light output from a light source or phase of the light output from the light source, a radiation direction of the light, and an actuator to rotate the optical mode converter about each of two shafts orthogonal to each other.

OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE AND RANGING APPARATUS
20230043472 · 2023-02-09 · ·

An optical scanning device includes an optical mode converter to change, in accordance with a change in wavelength of a light output from a light source or phase of the light output from the light source, a radiation direction of the light, and an actuator to rotate the optical mode converter about each of two shafts orthogonal to each other.

BEAM SPLITTER ARRANGEMENT FOR OPTOELECTRONIC SENSOR, OPTOELECTRONIC SENSOR HAVING SAME, AND METHOD OF BEAM SPLITTING IN AN OPTOELECTRONIC SENSOR
20230044181 · 2023-02-09 ·

A beam splitter arrangement for an optoelectronic sensor, an optoelectronic sensor having such a beam splitter arrangement, and a method of beam splitting in an optoelectronic sensor are provided, wherein the beam splitter arrangement has at least one input for coupling first transmitted light beams having first transmitted light pulses into the beam splitter arrangement. At least one beam splitter splits the first transmitted light beams into a plurality of second transmitted light beams having second transmitted light pulses. The beam splitter arrangement further has a plurality of outputs for decoupling the second transmitted light beams from the beam splitter arrangement, with the number of outputs being greater than the number of inputs. Optical compression paths that compress the second transmitted light pulses such that a second pulse length of the second transmitted light pulses is shorter than a first pulse length of the first transmitted light pulses are arranged downstream of at least one beam splitter.

BEAM SPLITTER ARRANGEMENT FOR OPTOELECTRONIC SENSOR, OPTOELECTRONIC SENSOR HAVING SAME, AND METHOD OF BEAM SPLITTING IN AN OPTOELECTRONIC SENSOR
20230044181 · 2023-02-09 ·

A beam splitter arrangement for an optoelectronic sensor, an optoelectronic sensor having such a beam splitter arrangement, and a method of beam splitting in an optoelectronic sensor are provided, wherein the beam splitter arrangement has at least one input for coupling first transmitted light beams having first transmitted light pulses into the beam splitter arrangement. At least one beam splitter splits the first transmitted light beams into a plurality of second transmitted light beams having second transmitted light pulses. The beam splitter arrangement further has a plurality of outputs for decoupling the second transmitted light beams from the beam splitter arrangement, with the number of outputs being greater than the number of inputs. Optical compression paths that compress the second transmitted light pulses such that a second pulse length of the second transmitted light pulses is shorter than a first pulse length of the first transmitted light pulses are arranged downstream of at least one beam splitter.

LIDAR DEVICE

A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a light transmitting unit including a plurality of laser transmission channels for transmitting laser light for detecting an external object in an allocated transmission time slot; a light receiving unit including a plurality of laser reception channels for receiving the laser light reflected by the external object in a reception time slot allocated to correspond to the transmission time slot, N laser reception channels (N is a natural number greater than or equal to 2) being allocated to each of the reception time slots; and a signal amplification unit configured to sequentially amplify the laser light received by the light receiving unit according to the order of the reception time slots, and having N channels allocated in one-to-one correspondence with the N laser reception channels for each of the reception time slots.

DISTANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM, DISTANCE MEASUREMENT DEVICE, AND DISTANCE MEASUREMENT METHOD
20230044712 · 2023-02-09 ·

A distance measurement system includes a distance measurement device and an external processing device. Here, the distance measurement device receives reflected light from a subject for a plurality of exposure periods in a frame in which irradiation light is emitted, switches a plurality of distance calculation expressions according to an amount of charge measured for each exposure period, and calculates a measured distance to the subject from the amount of charge measured for each exposure period. The external processing device acquires the measured distance from the distance measurement device and performs data processing. Then, the external processing device predicts a measured distance including a distance error caused by an influence of multipath. The external processing device generates a correction expression for correcting the measured distance. The external processing device corrects the measured distance acquired from the distance measurement device using the correction expression.