Lidar sensor for detecting an object

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018106901-A1
Application number	US-201715727192-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 6, 2017
Priority date	Oct 19, 2016
Publication date	Apr 19, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A LIDAR sensor for detecting an object in the surroundings, and to a method for activating a LIDAR sensor, the LIDAR sensor including at least one transmitting unit for emitting electromagnetic radiation, at least one receiving unit for receiving electromagnetic radiation which was reflected by the object, at least one refractive element, which is at least partially pervious to the electromagnetic radiation, and a rotating unit, which includes at least the at least one refractive element, the at least one transmitting unit and the at least one receiving unit. The core of the invention is that the at least one refractive element includes at least one optical lens and a beam splitter for splitting the electromagnetic radiation, two focal planes being present. The at least one transmitting unit and the at least one receiving unit are positioned in at least one focal plane of at least one refractive element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A LIDAR sensor for detecting an object in the surroundings, comprising:
at least one transmitting unit for emitting electromagnetic radiation; at least one receiving unit for receiving electromagnetic radiation which was reflected by the object; at least one refractive element, which is at least partially pervious to the electromagnetic radiation; and a rotating unit, which includes at least the at least one refractive element, the at least one transmitting unit and the at least one receiving unit; wherein:
the at least one refractive element includes at least one optical lens and a beam splitter for splitting the electromagnetic radiation, and has two focal planes; and
the at least one transmitting unit and the at least one receiving unit are positioned in at least one focal plane of at least one refractive element.

2 . The LIDAR sensor as recited in claim 1 , wherein the beam splitter splits the electromagnetic radiation in at least one of a polarization-selective manner and a wavelength-selective manner.

3 . The LIDAR sensor as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one of further wavelength-selective, polarization-selective, and polarization-altering components are provided in a beam path of at least one of the transmitting unit and the receiving unit.

4 . The LIDAR sensor as recited in claim 1 , wherein the beam splitter is formed by at least one of a polarization-selective element and a wavelength-selective holographic element.

5 . The LIDAR sensor as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one transmitting unit is designed for at least one of: (i) emitting electromagnetic radiation of a selective wavelength range, and (ii) emitting electromagnetic radiation of a selective polarization direction.

6 . The LIDAR sensor as recited in claim 5 , wherein the LIDAR sensor includes at least two transmitting units, and wherein at least one of: (i) a wavelength range of emitted electromagnetic radiation of a first one of the transmitting units differs from a wavelength range of emitted electromagnetic radiation of a second one of the transmitting units, and (ii) a polarization direction of the emitted electromagnetic radiation of the first one of the transmitting units differs from a polarization direction of the emitted electromagnetic radiation of the second one of the transmitting units.

7 . The LIDAR sensor as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one receiving unit is designed for receiving electromagnetic radiation of at least one of: (i) a certain wavelength range, and (ii) a certain polarization direction.

8 . The LIDAR sensor as recited in claim 7 , wherein the LIDAR sensor includes at least two receiving units, and wherein at least one of: (i) a wavelength range of electromagnetic radiation received by a first of the receiving units differs from a wavelength range of electromagnetic radiation received by a second one of the receiving units, and (ii) a polarization direction of the electromagnetic radiation received by the first one of the receiving units differs from a polarization direction of the electromagnetic radiation received by the second one of the receiving units.

9 . The LIDAR sensor as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one transmitting unit is a laser, and the at least one receiving unit is one of a linear detector array, or a two-dimensional detector array.

10 . The LIDAR sensor as recited in claim 9 , wherein the laser is one of a laser bar, or a laser matrix.

11 . The LIDAR sensor as recited in claim 1 , wherein the LIDAR sensor includes at least two receiving units, a first one of the receiving units being positioned in a first focal plane, the other one of the receiving units being positioned in a second focal plane aligned in parallel to the first focal plane, and the receiving units being situated offset from one another by a predefined distance along an alignment of the first and second focal planes.

12 . A method for activating a LIDAR sensor for detecting an object in the surroundings, comprising:
providing the LIDAR sensor, the LIDAR sensor including:
at least one transmitting unit for emitting electromagnetic radiation,
at least one receiving unit for receiving electromagnetic radiation which was reflected by the object,
at least one refractive element, which is at least partially pervious to the electromagnetic radiation, and
a rotating unit, which includes at least the at least one refractive element, the at least one transmitting unit and the at least one receiving unit,
wherein
the at least one refractive element includes at least one optical lens and a beam splitter for splitting the electromagnetic radiation, the at least one refractive element having two focal planes, and
the at least one transmitting unit and the at least one receiving unit are positioned in at least one of the focal planes of at least one refractive element; and

activating the LIDAR sensor for detecting the object in the surroundings.

13 . The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein the LIDAR sensor includes at least two receiving units, and wherein at least one of: (i) a wavelength range of electromagnetic radiation received by a first of the receiving units differs from a wavelength range of electromagnetic radiation received by a second one of the receiving units, and (ii) a polarization direction of the electromagnetic radiation received by the first one of the receiving units differs from a polarization direction of the electromagnetic radiation received by the second one of the receiving units, and wherein the reception of the electromagnetic radiation takes place in such a way that the electromagnetic radiation, which is reflected by an object within an angular range, is received by a first one of the receiving units in one step, and is received by the other one of the receiving units in another step.

14 . The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein at least one of: (i) the reception of the electromagnetic radiation takes place in such a way that the electromagnetic radiation is received in a randomly determined chronological sequence at any angle of the angular range by the at least one receiving unit, and (ii) the emission of the electromagnetic radiation takes place in such a way that the transmitting lasers of the transmitting unit are operated in a randomly determined chronological sequence.

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Frederiksen Annette
• Kretzek Ernst
• Hasselbach Juergen
• Bogatscher Siegwart
• Mayer Stefanie

Classifications

• G01S17/88

  Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title

• G01S7/499

  using polarisation effects · CPC title

• G01S17/08 Primary

  for measuring distance only (indirect measurement G01S17/46; active triangulation systems G01S17/48) · CPC title

• G01S7/4816

  of receivers alone · CPC title

• G01S7/4815

  using multiple transmitters · CPC title