Three dimensional LIDAR system with targeted field of view

A light emission and collection engine, comprising:

• a rotating electronics board having a planar surface arranged perpendicular to an axis of rotation;
• two or more intermediate electronics boards each coupled to the rotating electronics board such that a planar surface of each of the intermediate electronics boards is oriented perpendicular to the planar surface of the rotating electronics board;
• a plurality of light emitting elements mounted to a first of the two more intermediate electronics boards and configured to rotate about the axis of rotation, each configured to emit a beam of illumination light at a different angle with respect to the axis of rotation, wherein at least one of the plurality of light emitting elements is configured to emit a beam of illumination light that is parallel or nearly parallel with the axis of rotation, wherein each beam of illumination light emitted from the light emission and collection engine illuminates a different spot of a three dimensional environment with a measurement pulse of illumination light;
• a plurality of light detecting elements each corresponding to one of the plurality of light emitting elements, mounted to a second of the two or more intermediate electronics board and configured to rotate about the axis of rotation, wherein each of the plurality of light detecting elements is configured to detect an amount of the measurement pulse reflected from each different spot of the three dimensional environment illuminated by each corresponding beam of illumination light and generates an output signal indicative of the detected amount of light.

A method comprising:

• emitting a plurality of beams of illumination light from a LIDAR device into a three dimensional environment under measurement over a range of directions, wherein the LIDAR device comprises a rotating board arranged perpendicular to an axis of rotation, two or more electronics boards each oriented perpendicular to the rotating board, a plurality of light emitting elements mounted to a first of the two or more electronics boards and configured to rotate about the axis of rotation such that the range of directions of the plurality of beams spans an angular range that includes a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of a plurality of light emitting elements of the LIDAR device, the plurality of beams of illumination light each illuminate a different spot of the three dimensional environment under measurement with a measurement pulse of illumination light, wherein the LIDAR device further comprises a plurality of light detecting elements, each corresponding to one of the plurality of light emitting elements, mounted to a second of the two or more electronics board and configured to rotate about the axis of rotation;
• detecting, by the plurality of light detecting elements, the plurality of measurement pulses reflected from each different spot of the three dimensional environment illuminated by the plurality of beams of illumination light;
• generating a plurality of output signals each indicative of one of the plurality of reflected measurement pulses;
• converting each of the plurality of output signals to a digital signal;
• and
• determining a time of flight of each measurement pulse from the LIDAR device to each particular spot of the three dimensional environment under measurement and back to the LIDAR device based on each of the digital signals.