LIDAR-based immersive 3D reality capture systems, and related methods and apparatus

A light detection and ranging (LiDAR) detection method comprising:

• scanning, by a LiDAR system comprising one or more LiDAR devices, a field-of-view during one or more time periods;
• aggregating return signal data obtained during the one or more time periods;
• identifying one or more fiducial markers represented by the aggregated return signal data;
• comparing each of the identified fiducial markers to a respective reference fiducial marker of a plurality of reference fiducial markers;
• detecting, based on the comparison, miscalibration of an extrinsic parameter associated with a position and/or an orientation of at least one of the one or more LiDAR devices;
• and
• initiating an action to remediate the detected miscalibration of the extrinsic parameter;
• wherein comparing each of the identified fiducial markers to the respective reference fiducial marker comprises:
• identifying a distortion based on a difference between data representing one or more visual attributes of the identified fiducial marker and data representing one or more visual attributes of the respective reference fiducial marker;
• and
• comparing the distortion to a distortion threshold.

A LiDAR system comprising:

• a LiDAR device configured to scan a field-of-view during one or more time periods and to generate return signal data representing reflections of emitted LiDAR signals from objects within the field-of-view;
• a digital camera mounted on a same gimbal as the LiDAR device such that the camera and the LiDAR device share a common optical axis and simultaneously scan a same field-of-view;
• and
• a processing device configured to:
• aggregate the return signal data generated by the LiDAR device during the one or more time periods;
• capture digital image data of the field-of-view from the camera during the one or more time periods;
• identify one or more fiducial markers within the field-of-view based on the digital image data captured by the camera;
• associate each identified fiducial marker in the digital image data with a corresponding region or feature in the aggregated return signal data from the LiDAR device based on a spatial correspondence provided by the shared optical axis and simultaneous scanning of the LiDAR device and the digital camera;
• compare each of the identified fiducial markers to a respective reference fiducial marker of a plurality of reference fiducial markers;
• detect, based on the comparison, miscalibration of an extrinsic parameter associated with a position and/or an orientation of the LiDAR device;
• and
• initiate an action to remediate the detected miscalibration of the extrinsic parameter.

A LiDAR system comprising:

• one or more LiDAR devices configured to scan a field-of-view during one or more time periods;
• and
• a processing device configured to:
• aggregate return signal data obtained during the one or more time periods;
• identify one or more fiducial markers represented by the aggregated return signal data;
• compare each of the identified fiducial markers to a respective reference fiducial marker of a plurality of reference fiducial markers;
• detect, based on the comparison, miscalibration of an extrinsic parameter associated with a position and/or an orientation of at least one of the one or more LiDAR devices;
• and
• initiate an action to remediate the detected miscalibration of the extrinsic parameter;
• wherein the processing device is configured to compare each of the identified fiducial markers to the respective reference fiducial marker of the plurality of reference fiducial markers by:
• identifying a distortion based on a difference between data representing one or more visual attributes of the identified fiducial marker and data representing one or more visual attributes of the respective reference fiducial marker;
• and
• comparing the distortion to a distortion threshold.