# US 2021/0278544 A1 · Lidar system for autonomous vehicle

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- Number: US 2021/0278544 A1
- Document ID: US20210278544A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 17/167,857
- Filed: 2021-02-04
- Published: 2021-09-09
- Earliest claimed: 2018-04-23
- Assignees: Blackmore Sensors & Analytics, LLC
- Applicants: Blackmore Sensors & Analytics, LLC.
- Inventors: Stephen C. Crouch; Devlin Baker
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210278544A1

## CPC

- G01S 7/4817: {relating to scanning}
- G01S 17/931: of land vehicles
- G01S 17/34: using transmission of continuous, frequency-modulated waves while heterodyning the received signal, or a signal derived therefrom, with a locally-generated signal related to the contemporaneously transmitted signal
- G01S 17/58: Velocity or trajectory determination systems; Sense-of-movement determination systems
- G01S 17/87: Combinations of systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
- G01S 17/89: for mapping or imaging
- G01S 17/894: Three-dimensional [3D] imaging with simultaneous measurement of time-of-flight at a two-dimensional [2D] array of receiver pixels, e.g. time-of-flight cameras or flash lidar
- Y02A 90/10: Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- Y02A: TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

## Abstract

Techniques for controlling an autonomous vehicle with a processor that controls operation, includes operating a Doppler LIDAR system to collect point cloud data that indicates for each point at least four dimensions including an inclination angle, an azimuthal angle, a range, and relative speed between the point and the LIDAR system. A value of a property of an object in the point cloud is determined based on only three or fewer of the at least four dimensions. In some of embodiments, determining the value of the property of the object includes isolating multiple points in the point cloud data which have high value Doppler components. A moving object within the plurality of points is determined based on a cluster by azimuth and Doppler component values.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, comprising:
one or more scanning optics coupled to an autonomous vehicle and configured to output a transmit signal; and
one or more processors configured to:
determine a three-dimensional (3D) point cloud corresponding to a return signal received from at least one of reflection or scattering of the transmit signal by a real-world object;
determine a Doppler speed of the object based on the 3D point cloud; and
determine a vehicle velocity of the autonomous vehicle relative to the object based on the Doppler speed.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the vehicle velocity using an inclination angle of the object based on the 3D point cloud.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the scanning optics are mounted to the autonomous vehicle.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the vehicle velocity without using (i) an azimuth angle of the 3D point cloud or (ii) a range of the 3D point cloud.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the object is a stationary object, and the one or more processors are configured to:
determine an object location of the stationary object using a database that maps object locations to stationary objects; and
determine a vehicle location of the autonomous vehicle using the object location of the stationary object.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
filter the 3D point cloud based on Doppler speed assigned to one or more data points of the 3D point cloud; and
determine a moving object velocity of a moving object represented by the 3D point cloud responsive to filtering the 3D point cloud.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The LIDAR system of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine a track for the moving object using the moving object velocity.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The LIDAR system of claim 1, further comprising a modulator configured to apply at least one of phase modulation or frequency modulation to a beam from a laser source to generate the transmit signal.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the 3D point cloud based on an amplitude of the return signal.

### Claim 10

A method, comprising:
outputting a transmit signal;
receiving a return signal from at least one of reflection or scattering of the transmit signal by a real-world object;
determining a 3D point cloud based on the return signal;
determining a Doppler speed of the object based on the 3D point cloud; and
determining a vehicle velocity of the autonomous vehicle relative to the object based on the Doppler speed.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, wherein determining the vehicle velocity comprises using an inclination angle of the object based on the 3D point cloud.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, further comprising:
filtering the 3D point cloud based on Doppler speed assigned to one or more data points of the 3D point cloud; and
determining a moving object velocity of a moving object represented by the 3D point cloud responsive to filtering the 3D point cloud.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, further comprising determining a track for the moving object using the moving object velocity.

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, wherein the object is a stationary object, the method further comprising determining the object velocity of the stationary object by:
identifying a plurality of stationary points of the 3D point cloud using an inclination angle of each stationary point of the plurality of stationary points;
discarding from the plurality of stationary points a particular stationary point having a relative speed that deviates more than a threshold from a statistic to provide a subset of the plurality of stationary points, the statistic determined using a plurality of relative speeds corresponding to the plurality of stationary points; and
determining the object velocity of the stationary object using the subset of the plurality of stationary points.

### Claim 15

An autonomous vehicle, comprising:
a LIDAR system comprising one or more processors configured to:
determine a Doppler speed of a real-world object based on a 3D point cloud, the 3D point cloud determined from a return signal received from at least one of scattering or reflection of a transmit signal by the object, the transmit signal transmitted by one or more scanning optics mounted to the autonomous vehicle; and
determine a vehicle velocity of the autonomous vehicle relative to the object based on the Doppler speed;
a steering system;
a braking system; and
a vehicle controller configured to control operation of at least one of the steering system or the braking system responsive to the vehicle velocity.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors of the LIDAR system are configured to determine the vehicle velocity using an inclination angle of the object based on the 3D point cloud.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 15, further comprising a modulator configured to modulate at least one of a phase or a frequency of the transmit signal.

### Claim 18 (depends on 15)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 15, wherein:
the one or more processors of the LIDAR system are configured to:
filter the 3D point cloud based on Doppler speed assigned to one or more data points of the 3D point cloud; and
determine a moving object velocity of a moving object represented by the 3D point cloud responsive to filtering the 3D point cloud; and
the vehicle controller is configured to control operation of the autonomous vehicle using the moving object velocity.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 15, further comprising a sensor comprising at least one of an inertial navigation system (INS), a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, or a gyroscope, wherein the one or more processors of the LIDAR system are configured to determine the vehicle velocity further based on sensor data received from the sensor.

### Claim 20 (depends on 15)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 15, wherein the vehicle controller is configured to control the at least one of the steering system or the braking system to perform collision avoidance.