Noise adaptive solid-state LIDAR system

A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system comprising:

• a) an optical transmitter comprising a plurality of lasers, each of the plurality of lasers illuminating a field-of-view in at least a part of an illumination region;
• b) a transmitter controller having a plurality of electrical outputs, each of the plurality of electrical outputs of the transmitter controller being electrically connected to an input of one of the plurality of lasers, the transmitter controller being configured to generate electrical pulses at the plurality of electrical outputs so that the plurality of lasers generate light in a desired pattern in the illumination region;
• c) an optical receiver having an input comprising a field-of-view in the illumination region and comprising:
• a plurality of detectors, each having a part of the field-of-view in the illumination region and being positioned to detect light in the illumination region;
• and a time-of-flight measurement circuit that measures the time-of-flight of light from the plurality of lasers to the plurality of detectors, wherein the optical receiver calculates range information from the time-of-flight measurements;
• and
• d) an adaptive optical mirror positioned between the optical transmitter and the optical receiver and having a reflected region field-of-view in the illumination region, the optical mirror adjusting a location and a size of the reflected region field-of-view such that the reflected region field-of-view is smaller than the field-of-view of the input of the optical receiver and such that light of at least one of the plurality of lasers is selectively received to the optical receiver,
• wherein the field-of-view of at least some of the plurality of lasers is greater than the reflected region field-of-view of the adaptive optical mirror.