US 2020/0049820 A1 · System and Method to Reduce DVE Effect on LIDAR Return

Abstract

A LIDAR system for vehicle operation that can operate in degraded visual environments (DVE) is described. The LIDAR system may use a spatial light modulator to find the phase conjugate of the DVE being traversed by the laser beam and cancel out the backscatter from the DVE, which allows the detection of extremely small numbers of directly reflected photons reflected by a target surface. If the target is not detected, the LIDAR is iteratively scanned to its maximum available depth of focus until the target is acquired. The LIDAR system is especially useful for autonomous landing of VTOL aerial vehicles in locations where the target landing spot is approximately known but cannot be directly visualized due to DVE media, such as smoke, dust, fog, or the like.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A LIDAR system for an aerial vehicle operating in a degraded visual environment (DVE), the LIDAR system comprising:

a laser source configured to emit a coherent light beam;
a spatial light modulator to modulate said coherent light beam, wherein the spatial light modulator is configured to phase conjugate an interference pattern of a DVE medium that is positioned between said spatial light modulator and a target;
an optical lens to filter said coherent light beam from the spatial light modulator, wherein the optical lens is configured to direct the coherent light beam toward the target, wherein the coherent light beam reflects off of the DVE medium to yield scattered photons and reflects off of the target to yield reflected photons;
a second optical lens to collect the scattered photons and the reflected photons;
and
a detector array to detect the scattered photons and the reflected photons.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and Method to Reduce DVE Effect on LIDAR Return

Life of this patent

System and Method to Reduce DVE Effect on LIDAR Return

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20