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US 2020/0025887 A1Published application
Ladar System with Intelligent Selection of Shot List Frames Based on Field of View Data
AssigneeAeye, Inc.
InventorsLuis Carlos Dussan, Allan Steinhardt, Joel David Benscoter, Jordan Spencer Greene
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Abstract
A ladar transmitter that transmits ladar pulses toward a plurality of range points in a field of view can be controlled to target range points based on any of a plurality of defined shot list frames. Each defined shot list frame can identify various coordinates in the field of view that are to be targeted by a ladar pulses for a given ladar frame. A processor can process data about the field of view such as range data and/or camera data to make selections as to which of the defined shot list frames should be selected for a given frame of ladar data.
Claims78
An apparatus comprising:
- a ladar transmitter configured to transmit a plurality of ladar pulses corresponding to a plurality of ladar frames toward a plurality of range points in a field of view, wherein the ladar transmitter comprises (1) a first mirror that is scannable between a plurality of scan positions, (2) a second mirror that is scannable between a plurality of scan positions, and (3) a beam scanner controller configured to dynamically control the scan positions for the first and second scannable mirrors on a shot-by-shot basis within a ladar frame according to a shot list input to thereby control where the ladar transmitter is aimed in the field of view for the ladar frame;
- a processor;
- and
- a memory configured to store a library comprising a plurality of shot pattern frames for selection, the shot pattern frames corresponding to a plurality of different types of shot patterns;
- wherein the processor is configured to (1) process data about the field of view, (2) select a shot pattern frame from the library based on the processed data, (3) instantiate the selected shot pattern frame based on the processed data, wherein the instantiated shot pattern frame comprises a shot list that identifies a plurality of shot coordinates in the field of view for targeting by a sequence of the ladar pulses in a given ladar frame in accordance with the shot pattern frame type corresponding to the selected shot pattern frame, and (4) provide the shot list to the ladar transmitter as the shot list input;
- and
- wherein the beam scanner controller is further configured to dynamically control the scan positions for the first and second scannable mirrors based on the provided shot list to scannably aim the ladar transmitter at the shot coordinates identified by the shot list for the given ladar frame, and wherein the ladar transmitter is further configured to transmit the sequence of ladar pulses for the given ladar frame toward the range points corresponding to the shot coordinates identified by the shot list via reflections of the ladar pulses from the first mirror to the second mirror and from the second mirror toward the targeted range points while the first and second mirrors' scan positions are being dynamically controlled in accordance with the shot list.
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A method comprising:
- a processor processing data about a field of view for a ladar system, wherein the ladar system includes a ladar transmitter, the ladar transmitter comprising a first mirror and a second mirror;
- and
- a processor selecting a shot pattern frame from among a plurality of shot pattern frames in a memory based on the processed data, the shot pattern frames in the memory corresponding to a plurality of different types of shot patterns;
- a processor instantiating the selected shot pattern frame based on the processed data, wherein the instantiated shot pattern frame comprises a shot list that identifies a plurality of shot coordinates in the field of view for targeting by a sequence ladar pulses in a given ladar frame in accordance with the shot pattern frame type corresponding to the selected shot pattern frame;
- the ladar transmitter sequencing through the shot coordinates identified by the shot list for the given ladar frame by, for each of a plurality of the shot coordinates, (1) dynamically scanning the first and second mirrors to scan positions that cause the ladar transmitter target that shot coordinate, (2) transmitting a ladar pulse toward a targeted range point in the field of view corresponding to that shot coordinate via reflection of the transmitted ladar pulse from the scanning first mirror to the scanning second mirror and from the scanning second mirror toward the targeted range point, wherein the sequencing causes the ladar transmitter to sample the field of view for the given ladar frame with ladar pulses in accordance with the shot pattern corresponding to the selected shot pattern frame;
- and
- repeating the processing, selecting, instantiating, and sequencing steps for a plurality of ladar frames such that the processed data causes ladar system to select shot pattern frames for different shot pattern types with respect to a plurality of the ladar frames.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.