LIDAR system with variable resolution multi-beam scanning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12379503-B2
Application number	US-202418624247-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 2, 2024
Priority date	Aug 24, 2020
Publication date	Aug 5, 2025
Grant date	Aug 5, 2025

Abstract

A LIDAR system may include a laser emission unit configured to generate a plurality of laser beams. The LIDAR system may also include an optical system configured to transmit the plurality of laser beams from the laser emission unit to a scanning unit. The scanning unit may be configured to project the plurality of laser beams toward a field of view of the LIDAR system to simultaneously scan the field of view along a plurality of scan lines traversing the field of view.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A LIDAR system, comprising:
a laser emission unit configured to generate a plurality of laser beams;
a scanning unit configured to direct the plurality of laser beams toward a field of view of the LIDAR system, the field of view extending in a first direction from a minimum extent to a maximum extent, the plurality of laser beams being spaced apart from each other in a second direction transverse to the first direction; and
at least one processor programmed to cause the scanning unit to:
direct each of the plurality of laser beams from the minimum extent to the maximum extent in the first direction along a plurality of parallel first scan lines, the plurality of parallel first scan lines grouped into a first portion and a second portion, each of the first portion and the second portion including more than one of the plurality of parallel first scan lines;
displace the plurality of laser beams from a plurality of first locations associated with the plurality of parallel first scan lines to a plurality of second locations associated with a plurality of parallel second scan lines, such that
none of the plurality of parallel second scan lines is spatially located in the first portion of the plurality of parallel first scan lines, and
at least one of the plurality of parallel second scan lines is spatially located in the second portion of the plurality of parallel first scan lines;
at least one of the plurality of parallel second scan lines is spatially located in the second portion between two of the plurality of parallel first scan lines; and
direct each of the plurality of laser beams from the minimum extent to the maximum extent of the field of view in the first direction along the plurality of parallel second scan lines, thereby enabling increased resolution for the second portion.

2. The LIDAR system of claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of parallel second scan lines are grouped into a third portion and a fourth portion, each of the third portion and the fourth portion including more than one of the plurality of parallel second scan lines, and
wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:
displace the plurality of laser beams from the plurality of second locations associated with the plurality of parallel second scan lines to a plurality of third locations associated with a plurality of parallel third scan lines, such that
none of the plurality of parallel third scan lines is spatially located in the third portion of the plurality of parallel second scan lines, and
at least one of the plurality of parallel third scan lines is spatially located in the fourth portion of the plurality of parallel second scan lines; and

direct each of the plurality of laser beams from the minimum extent to the maximum extent of the field of view in the first direction along the plurality of parallel third scan lines.

3. The LIDAR system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of parallel third scan lines is spatially located in the second portion of the plurality of parallel first scan lines.

4. The LIDAR system of claim 2 , wherein none of the plurality of the parallel third scan lines is located in the second portion of the plurality of parallel first scan lines.

5. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the first portion includes at least half of the plurality of parallel first scan lines.

6. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to displace the plurality of laser beams from the plurality of first locations to the plurality of second locations by causing the scanning unit to rotate about a tilt axis by a rotational angle greater than or equal to an angular width of at least one scan line of the plurality of parallel first scan lines.

7. The LIDAR system of claim 6 , wherein
the angular width of each scan line in the plurality of parallel first scan lines is 0.1 degree and an angular spacing between adjacent scan lines in the plurality of parallel first scan lines is 0.2 degrees, and
the rotational angle is 0.4 degrees.

8. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the laser emission unit is a monolithic laser array including a plurality of laser emitters.

9. The LIDAR system of claim 8 , wherein the monolithic laser array is a one-dimensional array.

10. The LIDAR system of claim 8 , wherein the monolithic laser array includes a plurality of active regions corresponding to the plurality of laser emitters and a plurality of inactive regions, wherein the plurality of laser emitters are spaced apart from one another by one or more of the plurality of inactive regions.

11. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to cause the scanning unit to displace the plurality of laser beams from the plurality of first locations to the plurality of second locations by causing the scanning unit to rotate about a tilt axis by a rotational angle between 0.05 degrees and 5 degrees.

12. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the scanning unit is configured to rotate in two axes, including a tilt axis and a scanning axis.

13. The LIDAR system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to cause the scanning unit to direct each of the plurality of laser beams from the minimum extent to the maximum extent in the first direction by rotating the scanning unit about the scanning axis.

14. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the scanning unit includes a first single axis scanning mirror and a second single axis scanning mirror, and wherein the plurality of laser beams are made incident upon the first single axis scanning mirror and subsequently made incident on the second single axis scanning mirror.

15. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of laser beams are directed from the scanning unit towards the field of view with an angular spacing between adjacent beams of at least 2.5 mrad to 6 mrad.

16. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the field of view of the LIDAR system has a vertical angular dimension of between 6 degrees and 90 degrees, and wherein the field of view of the LIDAR system has a horizontal angular dimension of between 20 degrees and 140 degrees.

17. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein scanning of the field of view of the LIDAR system by the scanning unit occurs at a frame rate of between 5 Hz and 40 Hz.

18. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the laser emission unit includes a single, monolithic laser array including a plurality of active regions corresponding to a plurality of laser emitters and a plurality of inactive regions, wherein the plurality of active regions are spaced apart from one another by one or more of the plurality of inactive regions.

19. The LIDAR system of claim 18 , wherein a ratio of active regions to inactive regions in the monolithic laser array is within a range of 1:1 to 1:10.

20. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the LIDAR system further includes a detector configured to emit electrical signals in response to reflected beams received from the field of view of the LIDAR system.

21. The LIDAR system of claim 20 , wherein the detector comprises a single, monolithic array of light sensitive active regions separated from one another by one or more inactive regions.

22. The LIDAR system of claim 21 , wherein a ratio of light sensitive active regions to inactive regions in the detector is in between 1:1 and 1:10.

23. The LIDAR system of claim 1 , wherein the firs

Assignees

• Innoviz Tech Ltd

Inventors

• Eshel Ronen
• Goren Nir

Classifications

• G01S17/42

  Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates (indirect measurement G01S17/46) · CPC title

• G01S7/4817

  relating to scanning · CPC title

• G01S7/4815

  using multiple transmitters · CPC title

• G01S7/4814

  of transmitters alone · CPC title

• G01S7/4865

  Time delay measurement, e.g. time-of-flight measurement, time of arrival measurement or determining the exact position of a peak (peak detection in noise, signal conditioning G01S7/487) · CPC title