Switchable coherent pixel array for frequency modulated continuous wave light detection and ranging
AssigneeOURS Technology, LLC
InventorsAmir Hosseini, Sen Lin, Andrew Steil Michaels
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A LIDAR transceiver includes an input port, optical antennas, an optical switch, splitters, and mixers. The optical switch switchably couples an input port to the optical antennas. For at least one optical path from the input port to one of the optical antennas, a splitter is coupled along the optical path. The splitter splits a received portion of a laser signal into a local oscillator signal and a transmit signal and outputs a return signal that is a portion of the reflected signal. The transmit signal is emitted through the optical antenna and a reflection of the transmit signal is received through the optical antenna as a reflected signal.
Claims20
A LIDAR sensor system comprising:
- a laser source that is configured to generate a laser signal;
- and
- a transceiver that includes:
- an input port configured to receive a frequency modulated laser signal;
- a plurality of optical antennas;
- an optical switch configured to switchably couple the input port to the optical antennas;
- and
- a plurality of splitters that are located between the input port and the optical antennas, wherein at least one of the splitters in the plurality of splitters are configured to:
- split a received portion of the laser signal into a local oscillator signal and a transmit signal, wherein the transmit signal is emitted through the optical antenna and a reflection of the transmit signal is received through the optical antenna as a reflected signal;
- and
- output a return signal that is a portion of the reflected signal.
An automotive frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) LIDAR system comprising:
- a LIDAR chip including a FMCW LIDAR transceiver implemented on a photonic integrated circuit, the photonic integrated circuit comprising:
- an input port configured to receive a frequency modulated laser signal;
- a plurality of optical antennas;
- and
- an optical switch configured to switchably couple the input port to the optical antennas, thereby forming optical paths between the input port and the optical antennas;
- for at least one optical path from the input port to one of the optical antennas, a splitter coupled along the optical path and configured to:
- split a received portion of the frequency modulated laser signal into a local oscillator signal and a transmit signal, wherein the transmitted signal is emitted through the optical antenna and a reflection of the transmitted signal is received through the optical antenna as a reflected signal;
- and
- output a return signal that is a portion of the reflected signal;
- and
- a lens positioned to collimate the transmit signals emitted through the plurality of antennas, wherein the lens is also positioned to receive the reflected signals and couple the reflected signals to the emitting optical antennas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.