Orbiting actuated three-dimensional spinning sensor
AssigneeThe Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of Homeland Security
InventorsWilliam T. Sutherland, John Bray
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Abstract
Various embodiments of the present invention are directed towards a system and methods for generating three dimensional (3D) images with increased composite vertical field of view and composite resolution for a spinning three-dimensional sensor, based on actuating the sensor to generate a plurality of sensor axis orientations as a function of rotation of the actuator. The output data from the sensor, such as a spinning LIDAR, is transformable as a function of the actuator angle to generate three dimensional imagery.
Claims20
An actuator comprising:
- a mount configured to support a rotatable sensor and configured to orient a sensor axis of the sensor at a non-zero inclination angle relative to a rotation axis of the mount, the inclination angle being greater than or equal to half a beam divergence angle between adjacent ones of a plurality of beams emitted by the sensor;
- and
- a rotator configured to rotate the mount about the rotation axis to precess the sensor axis about the rotation axis to cause the sensor to operate corresponding to a composite resolution greater than a native resolution of the sensor.
A system to generate transformed sensor information, comprising:
- an actuator including:
- a mount including an offset portion, which extends laterally from a rotation axis about which the mount is configured to rotate, and a support portion, which extends from the offset portion to support a rotatable sensor including a sensor axis oriented at a non-zero inclination angle relative to the rotation axis, the inclination angle being greater than or equal to half a beam divergence angle between adjacent ones of a plurality of beams emitted by the sensor;
- a stabilizer including a two-axis gimbal configured to prevent the support portion from rotating along with the mount and to provide a pivot fulcrum for the support portion of the mount to precess about the rotation axis;
- a rotator configured to rotate the mount about the rotation axis, to cause the sensor axis to precess about the rotation axis at the inclination angle;
- and
- an encoder configured to identify a mount rotation angle about the rotation axis;
- and
- a controller configured to generate transformed sensor information based on transforming uncompensated sensor information as a function of the mount rotation angle and the inclination angle.
A method of generating transformed sensor data comprising:
- acquiring, from an encoder of an actuator, a mount rotation angle corresponding to rotation of a mount about a rotation axis, wherein the mount is configured to support a sensor rotatable about a sensor axis oriented relative to the rotation axis by an inclination angle, the inclination angle being greater than or equal to half a beam divergence angle between adjacent ones of a plurality of beams emitted by the sensor;
- acquiring, from a data packet generated by the sensor, uncompensated sensor information;
- transforming the uncompensated sensor information into transformed sensor data based on the mount rotation angle and a sensor offset corresponding to a distance along the sensor axis from a sensor receiver to an intersection of the rotation axis and the sensor axis;
- generating composite sensor output based on the transformed sensor data, wherein the composite sensor output includes a composite resolution greater than an uncompensated native resolution of the sensor;
- and
- rotating the mount about the rotation axis to cause the sensor axis to precess about the rotation axis at the inclination angle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.