Hyper-resolved, high bandwidth scanned LIDAR systems

A system to provide a range of a target, comprising:

• a transmitter that emits scanned sequential pulses of light toward the target, wherein a timing of the light pulses is advanced by fractional increments during successive scans and is correlated to a fractional shift in direction within a telescopic view of a same pixel in an array of pixels provided by the receiver;
• a receiver that receives one or more reflections of the scanned pulses of light from the target, wherein each pulse of light reflected from the target and received by the receiver illuminates a fraction of a Field of View of a pixel and is smaller than a resolution of the pixel in the array of pixels provided by the receiver, and wherein the pixel array is arranged in one or more of rows or columns, and wherein each pixel is configured to sense one or more photons of the reflected pulses of light;
• one or more memory devices that store instructions;
• and
• one or more processor devices that execute the stored instructions to perform actions, including:
• determining one or more departure times of the scanned pulses of light;
• and
• determining the range of the target with an image resolution of the target that is greater than a pixel resolution of the array of pixels based on the timing advancement for the fractional increments that is correlated to the scanned pulses of reflected light sensed by one or more of the array of pixels.

A non-transitory processor readable storage media that includes instructions for measuring a range to a target, wherein execution of the instructions by one or more processor devices cause the one or more processor devices to perform actions, comprising:

• emitting, by a transmitter, scanned sequential pulses of light toward the target, wherein a timing of the light pulses is advanced by fractional increments during successive scans and is correlated to a fractional shift in direction within a telescopic view of a same pixel in an array of pixels provided by the receiver;
• receiving, by the receiver, one or more reflections of the scanned pulses of light from the target, wherein each pulse of light reflected from the target and received by the receiver illuminates a fraction of a Field of View of a pixel and is smaller than a resolution of the pixel in the array of pixels provided by the receiver, and wherein the pixel array is arranged in one or more of rows or columns, and wherein each pixel is configured to sense one or more photons of the reflected pulses of light;
• determining, by one or more processor devices, one or more departure times of the scanned pulses of light;
• and
• determining, by the one or more processor devices, the range of the target with an image resolution of the target that is greater than a pixel resolution of the array of pixels based on the timing advancement for the fractional increments that is correlated to the scanned pulses of reflected light sensed by one or more of the array of pixels.