Application specific integrated circuits for LIDAR sensor and multi-type sensor systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11448756-B2
Application number	US-201916241956-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 7, 2019
Priority date	Jan 7, 2019
Publication date	Sep 20, 2022
Grant date	Sep 20, 2022

Abstract

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for configuring architectures for a sensor, and more particularly for light detection and ranging (hereinafter, “LIDAR”) systems based on ASIC sensor architectures supporting autonomous navigation systems. Effective ASIC sensor architecture can enable an improved correlation between sensor data as well as configurability and responsiveness of the system to its surrounding environment and avoid any unnecessary delay within the decision-making process that may result in a failure of the autonomous driving system. It may be essential to integrated multiple functions within an electronic module and implement the functionality with one or more ASICs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A LIDAR system comprising:
a master controller operable to send a first enable signal to a receive integrated circuit (IC);
the receive IC is configured, upon receiving the first enable signal, to power up and send a second enable signal and one or more control signals to a transmit integrated circuit (IC), wherein the second enable signal is an electrical signal; and
the transmit IC is configured, upon receiving the second enable signal, to power up and drive an emitter to emit a first laser signal based on the one or more control signals, and then enter a sleep mode once the emission of the first laser signal is completed,
wherein the receive IC is further configured to obtain, from a detector, an electrical detection signal corresponding to a return laser signal from an object, send time of flight data to the master controller, and then enter a sleep mode.

2. The LIDAR system of claim 1 wherein the receive IC validates the return laser signal as a correct return based on a generated pulse pattern of the first laser signal matching a received pulse pattern of the return laser signal.

3. The LIDAR system of claim 2 wherein the generated pulse pattern is either a randomly generated pattern or a pre-programmed pattern.

4. The LIDAR system of claim 1 wherein the receive IC is operable to change a listening window in real time.

5. The LIDAR system of claim 1 further comprising:
a lens;
a scanning mirror;
a color sensor; and
one or more infrared (IR) sensors.

6. The LIDAR system of claim 1 wherein the receive IC is operable to detect objects within a specific distance.

7. The LIDAR system of claim 1 wherein the receive IC is operable to automatically detect and adjust for dark/bright external lighting conditions.

8. The LIDAR system of claim 1 wherein the receive IC is operable to detect changes in lighting environment relative to previously calculated samples.

9. The LIDAR system of claim 1 wherein the receive IC is operable to utilize baseline analog to digital converter (ADC) data to enable color sensing.

10. The LIDAR system of claim 1 wherein the receive IC is operable to implement dynamic bandwidth adjustments for input reception.

11. The LIDAR system of claim 1 wherein the master controller is further operable to send data to the receiver IC, the data including one or more of firing interval, range, data packets and transmit power.

12. The LIDAR system of claim 1 wherein the one or more control signals specify one or more of laser fire, amplitude, pulse width and slope of laser pulses in a sequence of laser pulses in the first laser signal.

13. The LIDAR system of claim 1 wherein the receive IC and the transmit IC are application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices.

14. A method comprising:
sending, by a master controller, a first enable signal to a receive integrated circuit (IC);
powering up, by the receive IC, upon receiving the first enable signal, and then sending a second enable signal and one or more control signals to a transmit integrated circuit (IC), wherein the second enable signal is an electrical signal;
powering up, by the transmit IC, upon receiving the second enable signal, and driving an emitter to emit a first optical signal based on the control signals;
entering, by the transmit IC, a sleep mode once the emission of the optical signal is completed;
obtaining, by the receive IC from a detector, an electrical detection signal corresponding to a return optical signal from an object; and
sending, by the receive IC, time of flight data to the master controller, and then entering a sleep mode.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
validating, by the receive IC, the return optical signal as a correct return based on a generated pulse pattern of the first optical signal matching a received pulse pattern of the return optical signal.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
utilizing, by the receive IC, analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) data of the detection signal to validate the return optical signal, measure intensity, and calculate external baseline noise and reflectivity of the object.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein a LIDAR system comprises the master controller, the receive IC and the transmit IC.

18. A sensor application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) comprising:
a transmit integrated circuit (IC), operable to receive an enable signal from a first receive integrated circuit (IC), power up, and drive an emitter to emit a first laser signal based on one or more control signals received from the first receive IC;
the first receive IC operable to obtain a detection signal corresponding to a return laser pulse signal from an object, then send time of flight data to a master controller; and
a second receive integrated circuit (IC) operable to extend near field detection.

19. The sensor ASIC of claim 18 , further comprising:
a laser associated with the transmit IC;
a first photodetector associated with the first receive IC; and
a second photodetector associated with the second receive IC.

Assignees

• Velodyne Lidar Usa Inc

Inventors

• Hall David
• Gopalan Anand
• Rekow Matthew
• Venkatesan Pravin Kumar

Classifications

• G01S17/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S7/4817

  relating to scanning · CPC title

• G01S7/4863

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

• G01S17/87 Primary

  Combinations of systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves · CPC title

• G01S7/484

  Transmitters · CPC title