US 10,310,058 B1Granted

Concurrent scan of multiple pixels in a lidar system equipped with a polygon mirror

AssigneeLuminar Technologies, Inc.

InventorsScott R. Campbell, Jason M. Eichenholz, Matthew D. Weed, Lane A. Martin

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Abstract

A lidar system includes one or more light sources configured to generate a first and second beams of light, a scanner configured to synchronously scan a field of regard of the lidar system using the two beams, and a receiver configured to detect light of the two beams scattered by one or more remote targets. The scanner includes a rotatable polygon mirror having a block having a first wall, a second wall, and reflective surfaces extending between the first and second walls, the reflective surfaces being angularly offset from one another along a periphery of the block; a polygon mirror axle extending into the block, about which the block rotates; optical elements configured to direct the first and second beams of light respectively to two adjacent reflective surfaces of the rotatable polygon mirror; and a second mirror pivotable along an axis orthogonal to the polygon mirror axle.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A lidar system comprising:

one or more light sources configured to generate a first beam of light and a second beam of light;
a scanner configured to synchronously scan a field of regard of the lidar system using the first beam of light and the second beam of light, the scanner including:
a rotatable polygon mirror having a block having a first wall, a second wall, and a plurality of reflective surfaces extending between the first and second walls, the reflective surfaces being angularly offset from one another along a periphery of the block,
a polygon mirror axle extending into the block through at least one of the first and second walls, about which the block rotates,
a plurality of optical elements configured to direct the first and second beams of light respectively to two adjacent reflective surfaces of the rotatable polygon mirror, and
a second mirror pivotable along an axis orthogonal to the polygon mirror axle, wherein the first and second beams of light are incident on the second mirror;
and
a receiver configured to detect the first beam of light and the second beam of light scattered by one or more remote targets.

5 more elements

A method in a lidar system for scanning a field of regard, the method comprising:

directing, within a single ranging event, a first pulse of light at a first reflective surface of a polygon mirror and a second pulse of light at a second reflective surface of the polygon mirror, wherein the polygon mirror rotates about a polygon mirror axis;
directing, with the polygon mirror within the single ranging event, the first pulse of light and the second pulse of light to respective locations on a reflective surface of a second mirror that pivots along an axis orthogonal to the polygon mirror axis;
directing, with the second mirror, the first pulse of light and the second pulse of light along a scan direction to illuminate a first instantaneous light-source field of view (FOV) corresponding to a first pixel and a second instantaneous light-source FOV corresponding to a second pixel, respectively;
detecting, within a single ranging event, the first beam of light scattered by one or more remote targets using a first detector and the second beam of light scattered by the one or more remote targets using a second detector, to generate values for the first pixel and the second pixel.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/965,288Filed 27 Apr 2018 · us provisional application
Priority: 22 Nov 2017
Published: US 2019/0154802 A123 May 2019
Granted: 4 Jun 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification27 codes

G01S 17/08
Systems determining position data of a target: for measuring distance only
G01S 7/4813
Common to transmitter and receiver: housing arrangements
G01S 7/4817
Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements: relating to scanning
G01S 17/42
Systems determining position data of a target: simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates