Adaptive emitter and receiver for Lidar systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10983197-B1
Application number	US-202016827293-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 23, 2020
Priority date	Feb 10, 2020
Publication date	Apr 20, 2021
Grant date	Apr 20, 2021

Abstract

A Lidar system and method is provided for adaptive control. The Lidar system comprises: an array of emitters each of which is individually addressable and controlled to emit a multi-pulse sequence, at least a subset of the emitters are activated to emit multi-pulse sequences concurrently according to an emission pattern; an array of photosensors each of which is individually addressable, at least a subset of the photosensors are enabled to receive light pulses according to a sensing pattern, each of the subset of photosensors is configured to detect returned light pulses returned and generate an output signal indicative of an amount of optical energy associated with at least a subset of the light pulses; and one or more processors electrically coupled to the array of emitters and the array of photosensors and configured to generate the emission pattern and the sensing pattern based on one or more real-time conditions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A light detection and ranging system comprising:
an array of emitters, wherein each of the emitters is individually addressable to emit a multi-pulse sequence into a three-dimensional environment, wherein at least a subset of the emitters are configured to emit multi-pulse sequences concurrently according to an emission pattern;
an array of photosensors, wherein each of the photosensors is individually addressable, wherein at least a subset of the photosensors are configured to receive light pulses according to a sensing pattern, wherein each photosensor of the subset of photosensors is configured to detect light pulses returned from the three-dimensional environment and generate an output signal for a pixel that is indicative of an amount of optical energy associated with at least a subset of the light pulses,
wherein at least one photosensor comprises an active region within the photosensor that is dynamically adjustable at a sub-pixel level and wherein the at least one photosensor has an adjustable dynamic range by individually controlling an operation of a set of photodetectors of the at least one photosensor; and
one or more processors electrically coupled to the array of emitters and the array of photosensors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate the emission pattern and the sensing pattern based on one or more real-time conditions.

2. The light detection and ranging system of claim 1 , wherein each of the emitters comprises a set of laser diodes.

3. The light detection and ranging system of claim 2 , wherein the set of laser diodes are electrically connected and are controlled by a driving circuit.

4. The light detection and ranging system of claim 1 , wherein the emission pattern comprises an address of an emitter to be activated and a temporal profile of a multi-pulse sequence emitted by the emitter.

5. The light detection and ranging system of claim 4 , wherein the temporal profile comprises one or more members selected from the group consisting of amplitude of each pulse from the multi-pulse sequence, duration of each pulse from the multi-pulse sequence, time intervals among the multiple pulses and number of the multiple pulses in the multi-pulse sequence.

6. The light detection and ranging system of claim 1 , wherein each of the set of photodetectors is individually addressable and controllable.

7. The light detection and ranging system of claim 1 , wherein a subset of photodetectors from the set of photodetectors are enabled to receive light pulses thereby forming the active region within the photosensor.

8. The light detection and ranging system of claim 1 , wherein the sensing pattern comprises an address of a photosensor to be enabled, an address of a photodetector to be enabled, and one or more parameters for selecting the subset of the light pulses for accumulating the subset of the light pulses to generate the output signal for the pixel.

9. The light detection and ranging system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more parameters comprise a number of light pulses in the subset of light pulses or a parameter indicating a combination of non-consecutive light pulses.

10. The light detection and ranging system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more real-time conditions are obtained based on the detected light pulses.

11. The light detection and ranging system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more real-time conditions comprise detection of an object located within a pre-determined distance threshold.

12. The light detection and ranging system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to calculate a distance based on a time of flight associated with the subset of the light pulses.

13. The light detection and ranging system of claim 12 , wherein the time of flight is determined by determining a match between the light pulses returned from the three-dimensional environment and a temporal profile of the emission pattern.

14. A method for providing an adaptive control of a light detection and ranging system, the method comprising:
generating an emission pattern and a sensing pattern based on one or more real-time conditions;
activating, according to the emission pattern, at least a subset of emitters from an array of emitters to emit multi-pulse sequences concurrently, wherein each emitter of the array of emitters is individually addressable to emit a multi-pulse sequence into a three-dimensional environment; and
enabling, according to the sensing pattern, at least a subset of photosensors from an array of individually addressable photosensors to receive light pulses, wherein each photosensor of the subset of photosensors is configured to detect light pulses returned from the three-dimensional environment and generate an output signal for a pixel that is indicative of an amount of optical energy associated with at least a subset of the light pulses,
wherein at least one photosensor comprises an active region within the photosensor that is dynamically adjustable at a sub-pixel level and wherein the at least one photosensor has an adjustable dynamic range by individually controlling an operation of a set of photodetectors of the at least one photosensor.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein each emitter of the array of emitters comprises a set of laser diodes.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the set of laser diodes are electrically connected and are controlled by a driving circuit.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the emission pattern comprises an address of an emitter to be activated and a temporal profile of a multi-pulse sequence emitted by the emitter.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the temporal profile comprises one or more members selected from the group consisting of amplitude of each pulse from the multi-pulse sequence, duration of each pulse from the multi-pulse sequence, time intervals among the multiple pulses and number of the multiple pulses in the multi-pulse sequence.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein each photodetector of the set of photodetectors is individually addressable and controllable.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein a subset of photodetectors from the set of photodetectors are enabled to receive light pulses thereby forming the active region within the photosensor.

21. The method of claim 14 , wherein the sensing pattern comprises an address of a photosensor to be enabled, an address of a photodetector to be enabled, and one or more parameters for selecting the subset of the light pulses for accumulating the subset of the light pulses to generate the output signal for the pixel.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the one or more parameters comprise a number of light pulses in the subset of the light pulses or a parameter indicating a combination of non-consecutive light pulses.

23. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more real-time conditions are obtained based on the detected light pulses.

24. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more real-time conditions comprise detection of an object located within a pre-determined distance threshold.

25. The method of claim 14 , further comprising calculating a distance based on a time of flight associated with the subset of the light pulses.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the time of flight is determined by determining a match between the light pulses returned from the three-dimensional environment and a temporal profi

Assignees

• Hesai Technology Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhu Xuezhou
• Sun Kai
• Xiang Shaoqing
• Yang Jin
• Wang Chenluan
• Liu Xugang
• Zhu Wenyi
• Yao Tingyu
• Wu Shixiang
• Yin Hui

Classifications

• G01S17/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S17/894

  Three-dimensional [3D] imaging with simultaneous measurement of time-of-flight at a two-dimensional [2D] array of receiver pixels, e.g. time-of-flight cameras or flash lidar · CPC title

• G01S17/10 Primary

  using transmission of interrupted, pulse-modulated waves (determination of distance by phase measurements G01S17/32) · CPC title

• G01S7/4863 Primary

  Detector arrays, e.g. charge-transfer gates · CPC title

• G01S7/484

  Transmitters · CPC title