Hyper temporal lidar with controllable tilt amplitude for a variable amplitude scan mirror

A lidar method comprising:

• scanning a variable amplitude scan mirror;
• scheduling a plurality of laser pulse shots that target range points in a field of view according to a plurality of criteria, wherein the scheduling includes (1) scheduling changes in a tilt amplitude of the variable amplitude scan mirror and (2) simulating different orders of laser pulse shots with different tilt amplitudes for the variable amplitude scan mirror to determine which of the simulated orders should define a shot list, and wherein the criteria includes criteria that takes into account a settle time arising from the scheduled changes in the tilt amplitude;
• and
• transmitting the scheduled laser pulse shots into the field of view via reflections from the scanning variable amplitude scan mirror in accordance with the shot list.

A lidar system comprising:

• a first lens having a first field of view that receives incident light from the first field of view;
• a second lens having a second field of view that receives incident light from the second field of view, wherein the second field of view is encompassed by and narrower than the first field of view;
• a switch that controls which of the first and second lenses are used for detecting returns from laser pulse shots based on where the laser pulse shots are targeted in a field of view that encompasses the first and second fields of view;
• a lidar transmitter that transmits the laser pulse shots into the field of view, wherein the lidar transmitter comprises a scannable mirror that controls where the laser pulse shots are targeted in the field of view, and wherein the scannable mirror comprises a variable amplitude scan mirror;
• and
• a control circuit that simulates different orders of laser pulse shots with different amplitudes for the variable amplitude scan mirror to determine which of the simulated orders should define a shot list for the lidar transmitter.