A distance-measuring apparatus includes a light emitter to emit light with modulated frequency to an object, a light receiver to receive the light that is emitted from the light emitter and returns as reflected by the object, and a controller to measure, based on radiation intensity of received light by the light receiver, a length of time between a time at which the light is emitted by the light emitter and a time at which the light is received by the light receiver to obtain a distance to the object. The controller performs a first measurement in which the light emitter emits the light at a first modulation frequency to measure the length of time by the time at which the light is received by the light receiver a first plurality of times.

Sensors, including time-of-flight sensors, may be used to detect objects in an environment. In an example, a vehicle may include a time-of-flight sensor that images objects around the vehicle, e.g., so the vehicle can navigate relative to the objects. Sensor data generated by the time-of-flight sensor can return unreliable pixels, e.g., in the case of over- or under-exposure. In some examples, parameters associated with power of a time-of-flight sensor can be altered based on a number of unreliable pixels in measured data and/or based on intensity values of the measured data. For example, unreliable pixels can be determined using phase frame information captured at a receiver of the sensor.

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.

A light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device and an operating method thereof include irradiating a laser light toward an object; outputting a laser reflection light signal by detecting the laser light reflected from the object; measuring a pulse width corresponding to a period in which the laser reflection light signal is saturated from the laser reflection light signal and changing at least one of a laser light intensity to be irradiated by the laser light irradiator or a gain of an amplifier according to the analyzed pulse width; and controlling the laser light irradiator to irradiate an adjusted laser light corresponding to the changing.

A light detection and ranging system can have a light source coupled to a reflector consisting of a waveguide. The waveguide may be tuned to a selected polarization by a controller to block retroreflected photons resulting from a light beam emitted from the reflector. The waveguide polarization can be altered over time by the controller to provide customized blocking of photons.

Daylight visible laser rangefinders and multi-spectral laser rangefinders that emit one or more continuous wave lasers for the purposes of generating a distance measurement are disclosed, along with methods, systems, and devices including laser rangefinders in utility locating and mapping systems and underwater systems.

At least one beam of an optical wave is transmitted along a transmission angle toward a target location from a send aperture of a transmitter. The optical wave comprises at least a first portion, and a second portion having a different characteristic from a characteristic of the first portion. Two or more receivers include at least one receiver comprising: a receive aperture arranged in proximity to at least one of the send aperture or a receive aperture of a different receiver, an optical phased array within the receive aperture, the optical phased array being configured to receive at least a portion of a collected optical wave arriving at the receive aperture along a respective collection angle, and a filter configured to filter the received portion of the collected optical wave according to the characteristic of the first portion of the optical wave.

An electronic distance meter comprises a coupler located between a laser source and a target and adapted to divert a portion of measurement light emitted by the laser source into a calibration portion connected to a photodetector and comprising an attenuator between said coupler and said photodetector for varying the luminance value of the light passing through the calibration portion, said calibration portion having a known length and said processor being configured to perform distance measurements through the calibration portion at a variety of luminance values achieved by said attenuator to derive calibration values from said distance measurements and said known length, said processor being further configured to use said calibration values for determining a target distance based on a return pulse signal.

An optical communication device 1 is provided with: a plurality of light-receiving elements 11 each configured to receive light and output a light detection signal; a plurality of optical fibers 13 provided to correspond to the plurality of light-receiving elements 11, respectively, the plurality of optical fibers each being configured to guide the light to the corresponding light-receiving element 11; a plurality of amplifiers 18 provided to correspond to the plurality of light-receiving elements 11, respectively, the plurality of amplifiers each being configured to generate optical communication information by performing signal processing on the light detection signal; a light intensity information collection unit 25 configured to collect intensity of the light received by each of the plurality of optical fibers 13 as light intensity information; an optical fiber identification unit 27 configured to identify the optical fiber 13 that is receiving relatively strong light out of the plurality of optical fibers 13, based on the light intensity information La to Le collected by the light intensity information collection unit 25; and a switch controller 29 configured to control to turn on the amplifier 18, the amplifier 18 being provided to correspond to the optical fiber 13 identified by the optical fiber identification unit 27.

At least one beam of an optical wave is transmitted along a transmission angle toward a target location from a send aperture of a transmitter. The optical wave comprises at least a first portion, and a second portion having a different characteristic from a characteristic of the first portion. Two or more receivers include at least one receiver comprising: a receive aperture arranged in proximity to at least one of the send aperture or a receive aperture of a different receiver, an optical phased array within the receive aperture, the optical phased array being configured to receive at least a portion of a collected optical wave arriving at the receive aperture along a respective collection angle, and a filter configured to filter the received portion of the collected optical wave according to the characteristic of the first portion of the optical wave.