Method, system and material for detecting objects of high interest with laser scanning systems

A laser scanning system for use in a vehicle, comprising:

• a first laser configured to emit coherent light of a first wavelength;
• a second laser configured to emit coherent light of a second wavelength different from the first wavelength;
• a photoelectric detector configured to determine an intensity of reflected light;
• and
• a computing device coupled to the laser sources and photoelectric detector, wherein the computing device is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
• causing the first laser to project light of the first wavelength and receiving a measure of intensity of reflected light of the first wavelength from the photodetector;
• causing the second laser to project light of the second wavelength and receiving a measure of intensity of reflected light of the second wavelength from the photodetector;
• determining whether a difference between the intensity of reflected light of the first wavelength and the intensity of reflected light of the second wavelength exceeds a threshold;
• and
• sending an alert to a control system in response to determining that the difference between the intensity of reflected light of the first wavelength with the intensity of reflected light of the second wavelength exceeds the threshold.

An infrared (IR)-only device for use in tagging objects for recognition by laser scanning systems, comprising:

• a first substrate;
• a reflector positioned in the first substrate and having characteristics of a retroreflector, the reflector comprising a refractive component having transmissive optical properties for light with a wavelength larger than 1100 nm and absorption or scattering properties for light with a wavelength smaller than 1100 nm;
• and
• a second substrate configured to be appended to, or made part of, an object.

A method of photonically detecting an object of high-interest in the scanned volume, the method comprising:

• sequentially scanning the environment by projecting a coherent electromagnetic radiation beam;
• receiving a reflected wave of the beam onto a photoelectric detector;
• converting the analog output of the photoelectric detector into digital data;
• recording each sequential projected beam's angle and azimuth relative to a baseline;
• storing in memory the sequential digital data with its associated angle and azimuth;
• identifying any digital data representing a saturated condition;
• identifying presence of multiple contiguous digital data having a saturated condition;
• and
• sending an alert if one or more sets of contiguous saturated conditions exceed a pre-determined number of contiguous digital data having a saturated condition.

A laser scanning system, comprising:

• a laser source;
• a photoelectric detector;
• a memory;
• and
• a processor coupled to the laser emitter, photoelectric detector, and the memory, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
• sequentially scanning the environment by causing the laser source to project a coherent electromagnetic radiation beam;
• receiving data from the photoelectric detector receiving reflected waves of the beam;
• converting the analog output of the photoelectric detector into digital data;
• recording each sequential projected beam's angle and azimuth relative to a baseline;
• storing in the memory the sequential digital data with its associated angle and azimuth;
• identifying any digital data representing a saturated condition;
• identifying presence of multiple contiguous digital data having a saturated condition;
• and
• sending an alert if one or more sets of contiguous saturated conditions exceed a pre-determined number of contiguous digital data having a saturated condition.

A laser scanning system, comprising:

• means for sequentially scanning the environment by projecting a coherent electromagnetic radiation beam;
• means for receiving a reflected wave of the beam onto a photoelectric detector;
• means for converting the analog output of the photoelectric detector into digital data;
• means for recording each sequential projected beam's angle and azimuth relative to a baseline;
• means for storing in memory the sequential digital data with its associated angle and azimuth;
• means for identifying any digital data representing a saturated condition;
• means for identifying presence of multiple contiguous digital data having a saturated condition;
• and
• means for sending an alert if one or more sets of contiguous saturated conditions exceed a pre-determined number of contiguous digital data having a saturated condition.