LIDAR Based Distance Measurements With Tiered Power Control

A LIDAR measurement system, comprising:

• a pulsed illumination source emitting a pulse of illumination light from the LIDAR device into a three dimensional environment in response to a first amount of electrical power;
• an illumination driver configured to provide one of at least three different, selectable amounts of electrical power to the pulsed illumination source at a particular time, wherein the first amount of electrical power is a first of the at least three different, selectable amounts of electrical power;
• a photosensitive detector that detects an amount of light reflected from the three dimensional environment illuminated by the pulse of illumination light and generates a return measurement signal indicative of the detected amount of light;
• and
• computer-readable instructions stored on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, the computer-readable instructions comprising:
• code for causing a computing system to receive the return measurement signal indicative of the detected amount of light;
• code for causing the computing system to determine an indication of an intensity of the return measurement signal;
• code for causing the computing system to determine a difference between the intensity of the output signal and a desired intensity of the output signal;
• and
• code for causing the computing system to communicate a control command to the illumination driver that causes the illumination driver to select any of the at least three different, selectable amounts of electrical power based on the difference between the intensity of the return measurement signal and the desired intensity.

A method comprising:

• emitting a pulse of illumination light from a pulsed illumination source of a LIDAR measurement device into a three dimensional environment in response to a first amount of electrical power;
• providing one of at least three different, selectable amounts of electrical power to the pulsed illumination source at a particular time, wherein the first amount of electrical power is a first of the at least three different, selectable amounts of electrical power;
• detecting an amount of light reflected from the three dimensional environment illuminated by the pulse of illumination light;
• generating a return measurement signal indicative of the detected amount of light;
• receiving the return measurement signal indicative of the detected amount of light;
• determining an indication of an intensity of the return measurement signal;
• determining a difference between the intensity of the output signal and a desired intensity of the output signal;
• and
• communicating a control command to the illumination driver that causes the illumination driver to select any of the at least three different, selectable amounts of electrical power based on the difference between the intensity of the return measurement signal and the desired intensity.