Dynamically allocating detection elements to pixels in LIDAR systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11500076-B2
Application number	US-201916411582-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2019
Priority date	Nov 16, 2016
Publication date	Nov 15, 2022
Grant date	Nov 15, 2022

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems and methods that use LIDAR technology. In one implementation, a LIDAR system includes at least one processor configured to: control activation of at least one light source for illuminating a field of view; receive from at least one sensor a reflection signal associated with an object in the field of view, a time lapse between light leaving the at least one light source and reflection impinging on the least one sensor constituting a time of flight; and alter an amplification parameter associated with the at least one sensor during the time of flight.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A LIDAR system, comprising:
at least one processor configured to:
control activation of at least one light source for illuminating a field of view;
receive, during a scanning cycle of the field of view and from at least one sensor, a reflection signal associated with an object in the field of view and a first pixel in the scanning cycle, wherein a time lapse between light leaving the at least one light source and corresponding reflected light returning from the object and impinging on the least one sensor to cause generation of the reflection signal constitutes a first time of flight;
determine an amplification parameter associated with the at least one sensor based on the reflection signal associated with the first pixel; and
alter the amplification parameter associated with the at least one sensor during a second time of flight associated with a second pixel in the scanning cycle, wherein the second pixel is different from the first pixel.

2. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the amplification parameter includes at least one of: detector gain, amplifier gain, sensitivity, and attenuation.

3. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to increase amplification of the at least one sensor as a function of the second time of flight.

4. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor includes a plurality of detection elements and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to alter at least one amplification parameter associated with a subset of the plurality of detection elements.

5. The LIDAR system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to dynamically alter the at least one amplification parameter associated with the subset of the plurality of detection elements, such that at instantaneous times, at least one of the plurality of detection elements is not operative.

6. The LIDAR system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to control at least one light deflector to deflect light from the at least one light source for scanning the field of view, and to apply different amplification schemes for differing detection elements during a single scanning cycle.

7. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein, relative to a value of an amplification parameter associated with a first portion of the second time of flight, the at least one processor is configured to increase the value of the amplification parameter associated with a second portion of the second time of flight, subsequent to the first portion of the second time of flight.

8. The LIDAR system of claim 7 , wherein during the first portion of the second time of flight the amplification parameter substantially equals to zero.

9. The LIDAR system of claim 8 , wherein the first portion of the second time of flight starts after the light leaving the at least one light source has traveled at least 25 meters from the at least one light source.

10. The LIDAR system of claim 7 , wherein the second portion of the second time of flight starts substantially when the first portion of the second time of flight ends.

11. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to progressively increase the amplification parameter over a period of time of at least 300 consecutive nanoseconds.

12. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the amplification parameter includes an amplification level, and the at least one processor is further configured to increase the amplification level by at least 1 dB over at least 200 consecutive nanoseconds.

13. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the amplification parameter includes an amplification level, and the at least one processor is further configured to increase the amplification level by at least 4 dB over at least 300 consecutive nanoseconds.

14. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor includes a plurality of detection elements, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
control at least one light deflector to deflect light from the at least one light source for scanning the field of view, wherein a scanning pattern of the field of view includes at least two scanning directions; and
dynamically alter an amplification parameter associated with at least some of the plurality of detection elements based on a current scanning direction.

15. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor includes a plurality of detection elements, and wherein the processor is further configured to assign different groups of detection elements to different pixels.

16. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a value for the amplification parameter based on reflection signals associated with a previous scanning cycle.

17. The LIDAR system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor includes a plurality of detection elements, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
receive from the at least one sensor reflections signals indicative of light reflected from objects in the field of view;
dynamically allocate a first subset of the plurality of detection elements to constitute the first pixel;
dynamically allocate a second subset of the plurality of detection elements to constitute the second pixel;
following processing of the first pixel and the second pixel, dynamically allocate a third subset of the plurality of detection elements to constitute a third pixel, the third subset overlapping with at least one of the first subset and the second subset, and differing from each of the first subset and the second subset; and
following processing of the first pixel and the second pixel, dynamically allocate a fourth subset of the plurality of detection elements to constitute a fourth pixel, the fourth subset overlapping with at least one of the first subset, the second subset, and the third subset, and differing from each of the first subset, the second subset, and the third subset.

18. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor if further configured to:
access an optical budget stored in memory, the optical budget being associated with the at least one light source and defining an amount of light that is emittable in a predetermined time period by the at least one light source;
receive information indicative of a platform condition for the LIDAR system;
based on the received information, dynamically apportion the optical budget to the field of view of the LIDAR system based on at least two of: scanning rates, scanning patterns, scanning angles, spatial light distribution, and temporal light distribution; and
output signals for controlling the at least one light source in a manner enabling light flux to vary over scanning of the field of view in accordance with the dynamically apportioned optical budget.

19. A LIDAR method, comprising:
controlling activation of at least one light source for illuminating a field of view;
receiving, during a scanning cycle of the field of view and from at least one sensor, a reflection signal associated with an object in the field of view and a first pixel in the scanning cycle, wherein a time lapse between light leaving the at least one light source and corresponding reflected light returning from the object and impinging on the least one sensor to cause generation of the reflection signal constitutes a first time of flight;
determining an amplification parameter associated with the at least one

Assignees

• Innoviz Tech Ltd

Inventors

• Keilaf Omer David
• Buskila Oren
• Eshel Ronen
• Antman Yair
• Steinberg Amit
• Elooz David
• Vlaiko Julian
• Zohar Guy
• Levy Shahar

Classifications

• G01S7/4815

  using multiple transmitters · CPC title

• G01S7/4816 Primary

  of receivers alone · CPC title

• G01S7/4817

  relating to scanning · CPC title

• G01S7/489

  Gain of receiver varied automatically during pulse-recurrence period · CPC title

• G01S7/4868

  Controlling received signal intensity or exposure of sensor · CPC title