Hyper temporal lidar with dynamic laser control using a laser energy model

A lidar apparatus comprising:

• a first mirror that is scannable to define where the lidar apparatus is aimed along a first axis in a field of view;
• a second mirror that is scannable to define where the lidar apparatus is aimed along a second axis in the field of view;
• a control circuit;
• and
• a laser source that is optically upstream from the first and second mirrors;
• wherein the laser source generates laser pulses for transmission into the field of view via the first and second mirrors in response to firing commands from the control circuit;
• wherein the control circuit (1) controls scanning of the first and second mirrors, (2) maintains a laser energy model that dynamically models available energy for laser pulses from the laser source over time, (3) determines, based on the laser energy model and energy levels for a plurality of laser pulses to be transmitted, a timing schedule that schedules the laser pulses for transmission, and (4) provides firing commands to the laser source based on the determined timing schedule to trigger generation of the laser pulses for transmission from the laser source into the field of view via the first and second mirrors;
• and
• wherein the maintained laser energy model predictively (1) models a depletion of energy in the laser source in response to each scheduled laser pulse, (2) models a retention of energy in the laser source after scheduled laser pulses, and (3) models a buildup of energy in the laser source between scheduled laser pulses to support the determination of the timing schedule in view of the energy levels for the laser pulses to be transmitted.

A method comprising:

• scanning a mirror through a plurality of mirror scan angles over time;
• maintaining a laser energy model that dynamically models available energy in a laser source for laser pulse shots for transmission into a field of view of a lidar transmitter;
• determining, based on the laser energy model and energy levels for laser pulse shots to be transmitted via the scanning mirror, a timing schedule that schedules the laser pulse shots to be transmitted via the scanning mirror;
• and
• firing a plurality of laser pulse shots via the scanning mirror in accordance with the determined timing schedule;
• and
• wherein the maintained laser energy model predictively (1) models a depletion of energy in the laser source in response to each scheduled laser pulse shot, (2) models a retention of energy in the laser source after scheduled laser pulse shots, and (3) models a buildup of energy in the laser source between scheduled laser pulse shots to support the determination of the timing schedule in view of the energy levels for the laser pulse shots to be transmitted.

An article of manufacture for control of a lidar transmitter, the article comprising:

• machine-readable code that is resident on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, wherein the code defines processing operations to be performed by a processor to cause the processor to:
• maintain a laser energy model that dynamically models available energy for laser pulse shots from a laser source over time, wherein the laser source generates laser pulse shots for transmission into a field of view for a lidar transmitter via a mirror of the lidar transmitter;
• determine, based on the laser energy model and energy levels for laser pulse shots to be transmitted via the mirror, a timing schedule that schedules the laser pulse shots to be transmitted via the mirror;
• and
• generate a plurality of firing commands for the laser source in accordance with the determined timing schedule, wherein the firing commands trigger the laser source to generate laser pulse shots for transmission into the field of view;
• and
• wherein the maintained laser energy model predictively (1) models a depletion of energy in the laser source in response to each scheduled laser pulse shot, (2) models a retention of energy in the laser source after scheduled laser pulse shots, and (3) models a buildup of energy in the laser source between scheduled laser pulse shots to support the determination of the timing schedule in view of the energy levels for the laser pulse shots to be transmitted.