Ladar receiver with co-bore sited camera

A system comprising:

• a ladar transmitter comprising a light source and a plurality of scanable mirrors, wherein the ladar transmitter is configured to transmit a plurality of ladar pulses toward a plurality of range points via the scanable mirrors;
• a lens positioned and configured to receive light, the received light including reflections of the transmitted ladar pulses;
• a photodetector;
• a camera that is spatially separated from the photodetector;
• a mirror positioned and configured to (1) receive light from the lens, (2) direct light within the received light from the lens that corresponds to a first light spectrum to the camera, and (3) direct light within the received light from the lens that corresponds to a second light spectrum to the photodetector, wherein the second light spectrum includes the ladar pulse reflections;
• and
• a processor configured to compute range point data for a plurality of the range points based on the ladar pulse reflections detected by the photodetector;
• wherein the camera is configured to generate image data based on the directed light corresponding to the first light spectrum;
• and
• wherein the processor is further configured to spatially align the computed range point data with the generated image data.

A method comprising:

• targeting a plurality of range points within a field of view by scanning a plurality of mirrors to a plurality of mirror scan positions, wherein the mirror scan positions define the targeting;
• transmitting a plurality of ladar pulses toward the targeted range points via the scanning mirrors;
• receiving light at a lens that is shared by a ladar receiver and a camera that is co-bore sited with the ladar receiver via the shared lens, the received light including reflections of the transmitted ladar pulses;
• the camera generating image data corresponding to a field of view for the ladar receiver;
• computing range point data based on the ladar pulse reflections;
• and
• controlling the targeting and transmitting steps based on the generated image data and the computed range point data.

A method comprising:

• targeting a plurality of range points within a field of view by scanning a plurality of mirrors to a plurality of mirror scan positions, wherein the mirror scan positions define the targeting;
• transmitting a plurality of ladar pulses toward the targeted range points via the scanning mirrors;
• receiving light at a lens that is shared by a photodetector and a camera, the received light including reflections of the transmitted ladar pulses;
• co-bore siting the camera and the photodetector with respect to the received light through the shared lens using a mirror positioned optically upstream from the camera and the photodetector and optically downstream from the shared lens;
• the mirror selectively directing portions of the received light to the camera and the photodetector based on a frequency component of the received light such that the mirror (1) directs received light in a first light spectrum toward the camera and (2) directs received light in a second light spectrum toward the photodetector, wherein the second light spectrum includes a light spectrum corresponding to a plurality of ladar pulse reflections;
• the camera generating image data based on the received light in the first light spectrum;
• the photodetector detecting received light in the second light spectrum, wherein the detected light includes a plurality of the ladar pulse reflections;
• a processor computing range point data based on the detected ladar pulse reflections;
• and
• a processor spatially aligning the computed range point data with the generated image data.