LIDAR signal processing apparatus and LIDAR apparatus

A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) apparatus for a vehicle, the LIDAR apparatus comprising:

• a sensor configured to emit a first laser light toward a road on which a vehicle is present, the emitted first laser light directed at a first angle towards the road, the sensor configured to receive a reflection wave;
• a flight length deriving unit configured to derive a flight length of the first laser light;
• a vertical inclination measurement unit configured to estimate a vertical inclination of the vehicle with respect to the road based on the flight length of the first laser light;
• a horizontal inclination measurement unit configured to estimate a horizontal inclination of the vehicle with respect to the road based on the flight length of the first laser light;
• a reliability determination unit configured to determine reliability of information detected by the sensor based on the vertical inclination and horizontal inclination of the vehicle;
• and
• a data processing unit configured to:
• when the information detected by the sensor is reliable, process the information detected from the sensor as valid data,
• when the information detected by the sensor is not reliable and the information detected by the sensor is within a first error tolerance range, process the information detected from the sensor as invalid data and compensate the information detected by the sensor with an error value,
• when the information detected by the sensor is not reliable and the information detected by the sensor is out of the first error tolerance range, subtract an inclination value from the error value and compare the subtracted inclination value with vehicle's orientation information, and
• when the comparison result is out of the first error tolerance range, output a warning message,
• wherein the vertical inclination measurement unit is configured to:
• calculate an actual vertical inclination based on the derived flight length of the first laser light and a mounted height of the sensor of the vehicle from the road to the sensor in a vertical direction, and
• estimate the vertical inclination of the vehicle by subtracting the actual inclination from an ideal vertical inclination.

A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) signal processing method, comprising:

• deriving a flight length of a first laser light emitted from a sensor of a vehicle, the emitted first laser light directed at an incline towards a road on which the vehicle is present;
• estimating a vertical inclination and a horizontal inclination of the vehicle with respect to the road based on the flight length;
• determining reliability of information detected from the sensor based on the vertical inclination and the horizontal inclination of the vehicle;
• when the detected information is reliable, processing the detected information as valid data;
• when the detected information is not reliable and the detected information is within a first error tolerance range, processing the detected information as invalid data and compensating the detected information with an error value;
• when the detected information is not reliable and the detected information is out of the first error tolerance range, subtracting an inclination value from the error value and comparing the subtracted inclination value with vehicle's orientation information;
• and
• when the comparison result is out of the first error tolerance range, outputting a warning message,
• wherein in estimating the vertical inclination and horizontal inclination, an actual vertical inclination is calculated based on the derived flight length of the first laser light and a mounted height of the sensor of the vehicle from the road to the sensor in a vertical direction, and the vertical inclination of the vehicle is calculated by subtracting the actual vertical inclination from an ideal vertical inclination.