Rotating light ranging system with optical communication uplink and downlink channels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11340336-B2
Application number	US-201816209875-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2018
Priority date	Dec 7, 2017
Publication date	May 24, 2022
Grant date	May 24, 2022

Abstract

A light ranging system including a shaft having a longitudinal axis; a light ranging device configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, the light ranging device including a light source configured to transmit light pulses to objects in a surrounding environment, and detector circuitry configured to detect reflected portions of the light pulses that are reflected from the objects in the surrounding environment and to compute ranging data based on the reflected portion of the light pulses; a base subsystem that does not rotate about the shaft; and an optical communications subsystem configured to provide an optical communications channel between the base subsystem and the light ranging device, the optical communications subsystem including one or more turret optical communication components connected to the detector circuitry and one or more base optical communication components connected to the base subsystem.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A light ranging system comprising:
a shaft having a longitudinal axis;
a light ranging device configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, the light ranging device including a light source configured to transmit light pulses to objects in a surrounding environment, and detector circuitry configured to detect reflected portions of the light pulses that are reflected from the objects in the surrounding environment and to compute ranging data based on the reflected portion of the light pulses;
a base subsystem that does not rotate about the shaft; and
an optical communications subsystem configured to provide an optical communications channel between the base subsystem and the light ranging device, the optical communications subsystem including one or more turret optical communication components connected to the detector circuitry and one or more base optical communication components connected to the base subsystem;
wherein the one or more turret optical communication components comprise an optical downlink transmitter disposed on a turret circuit board assembly of the light ranging device that rotates around the shaft the one or more base optical communication components comprise an optical downlink receiver disposed on a base circuit board assembly of the base subsystem; the shaft is a hollow shaft having a central opening; and the optical downlink transmitter and the optical downlink receiver are positioned to transmit and receive, respectively, an optical signal through the central opening of the shaft.

2. The light ranging system of claim 1 wherein the optical communications subsystem comprises a downlink channel and an uplink channel, wherein the downlink channel is configured to optically transmit ranging data from the light ranging device to the base subsystem and the uplink channel is configured to optically transmit control signals from the base subsystem to the light ranging device.

3. The light ranging system of claim 1 wherein the optical communications subsystem is configured to optically transmit the ranging data from at least one optical downlink transmitter of the one or more turret optical communication components to at least one optical downlink receiver of the one or more base optical communication components.

4. The light ranging system of claim 1 wherein the one or more base optical communication components comprise at least one optical uplink transmitter disposed on a base circuit board assembly of the base subsystem, the at least one optical uplink transmitter configured to communicate uplink signals to the light ranging system; and
wherein the one or more turret optical communication components comprise at least one optical uplink receiver disposed on a turret circuit board assembly of the light ranging device, the at least one optical uplink receiver configured to receive the uplink signals.

5. A light ranging system comprising:
a shaft having a longitudinal axis;
a light ranging device configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, the light ranging device including a light source configured to transmit light pulses to objects in a surrounding environment, and detector circuitry configured to detect reflected portions of the light pulses that are reflected from the objects in the surrounding environment and to compute ranging data based on the reflected portion of the light pulses;
a base subsystem that does not rotate about the shaft; and
an optical communications subsystem configured to provide an optical communications channel between the base subsystem and the light ranging device, the optical communications subsystem including one or more turret optical communication components connected to the detector circuitry and one or more base optical communication components connected to the base subsystem, wherein the optical communications subsystem comprises a downlink channel and an uplink channel, wherein the downlink channel is configured to optically transmit ranging data from the light ranging device to the base subsystem and the uplink channel is configured to optically transmit control signals from the base subsystem to the light ranging device; and
wherein the shaft is hollow and the downlink channel comprises an optical transmitter coupled to the light ranging device and configured to optically transmit ranging data through the hollow shaft to an optical receiver coupled to the base subsystem.

6. The light ranging system of claim 5 wherein the uplink channel comprises a plurality of optical transmitters coupled to the base subsystem and disposed in an annular arrangement outside the shaft and a plurality of optical receivers coupled to the light ranging device and disposed in an annular arrangement outside the shaft.

7. A light ranging system comprising:
a shaft having a longitudinal axis;
a light ranging device configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, the light ranging device including a light source configured to transmit light pulses to objects in a surrounding environment, and detector circuitry configured to detect reflected portions of the light pulses that are reflected from the objects in the surrounding environment and to compute ranging data based on the reflected portion of the light pulses;
a base subsystem that does not rotate about the shaft; and
an optical communications subsystem configured to provide an optical communications channel between the base subsystem and the light ranging device, the optical communications subsystem including one or more turret optical communication components connected to the detector circuitry and one or more base optical communication components connected to the base subsystem, wherein the optical communications subsystem comprises a downlink channel and an uplink channel;
wherein the one or more base optical communication components comprise at least one optical uplink transmitter disposed on a base circuit board assembly of the base subsystem, the at least one optical uplink transmitter configured to communicate uplink signals to the light ranging system; and
wherein the one or more turret optical communication components comprise at least one optical uplink receiver disposed on a turret circuit board assembly of the light ranging device, the at least one optical uplink receiver configured to receive the uplink; and
wherein the at least one optical uplink transmitter includes a plurality of transmitters arranged in a first ring and the at least one optical uplink receiver includes a plurality of receivers arranged in a second ring concentric with the first ring.

8. The light ranging system of claim 7 wherein the second ring is oriented in a first plane defined by the turret circuit board assembly and perpendicular the shaft, the second ring is centered on the shaft, and the turret circuit board assembly and the base circuit board assembly are spatially separated from each other along a length of the shaft.

9. The light ranging system of claim 8 wherein the first ring is oriented in a second plane defined by the base circuit board assembly of the base subsystem and perpendicular to the shaft and the first ring is centered on the shaft.

10. The light ranging system of claim 7 wherein the turret circuit board assembly comprises a single circuit board including an optical downlink transmitter and the plurality of receivers.

11. The light ranging system of claim 7 wherein the base circuit board assembly of the base subsystem comprises a single circuit board including an optical downlink receiver and the plurality of transmitters.

12. A light ranging system comprising:
a housing having an optically transparent wi

Assignees

• Ouster Inc

Inventors

• Pacala Angus
• Frichtl Mark
• SHU Marvin
• Younge Eric

Classifications

• H02J50/10

  using inductive coupling · CPC title

• G05D1/43

  Control of position or course in two dimensions [2D] · CPC title

• G05D2111/10

  Optical signals · CPC title

• H05K5/10

  comprising several parts forming a closed casing · CPC title

• G02B3/0006

  Arrays (G02B3/02, G02B5/188 take precedence) · CPC title