Methods and apparatus with hardware logic for pre-processing LiDAR data

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a pre-processor, sensor data, wherein the sensor data comprises light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data obtained from a LiDAR sensor by scanning an environment, wherein the LiDAR sensor operates within a field of view of the environment, wherein receiving the sensor data comprises receiving a first set of LiDAR data associated with a first portion of the field of view corresponding to a direction the LiDAR sensor is facing, and wherein the sensor data further comprises image data from an image sensor;
• using a sector counter to determine information indicative of the first portion of the field of view;
• synchronizing the image data with the LiDAR data by controlling timing of activation of the image sensor based on the information indicative of the first portion of the field of view of the LiDAR sensor;
• parsing, by the pre-processor, the sensor data to obtain parsed sensor data comprising polar coordinate data;
• decoding, by the pre-processor, the parsed sensor data to obtain decoded sensor data comprising cartesian coordinates, the decoding comprising transforming the polar coordinate data to the cartesian coordinates;
• and
• transmitting, by the pre-processor, the decoded sensor data and the parsed sensor data to a processor to perform range imaging and a bird eye view imaging based at least in part on the sensor data.

Non-transitory computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a pre-processor, causes the pre-processor to:

• receive sensor data, wherein the sensor data comprises light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data obtained from a LiDAR sensor by scanning an environment, wherein the LiDAR sensor operates within a field of view of an environment, and wherein receiving the sensor data comprises receiving a first set of LiDAR data associated with a first portion of the field of view corresponding to a direction the LiDAR sensor is facing, and wherein the sensor data further comprises image data from an image sensor;
• use a sector counter to determine information indicative of the first portion of the field of view;
• synchronize the image data with the LiDAR data by controlling timing of activation of the image sensor based on the information indicative of the first portion of the field of view of the LiDAR sensor;
• parse the sensor data to obtain parsed sensor data comprising polar coordinate data;
• decode the parsed sensor data to obtained decoded sensor data comprising cartesian coordinates, the decoding comprising transforming the polar coordinate data to the cartesian coordinates;
• and
• transmit the decoded sensor data and the parsed sensor data to a processor to perform range imaging and a bird eye view imaging based at least in part on the sensor data.