Detector array detection with hadamard pattern scanning

A micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) apparatus for beam steering in a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system of an autonomous vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

• at least one laser for emitting at least one laser beam;
• an array of MEMS mirrors each having a reflective surface for intercepting the at least one laser beam and redirecting a plurality of redirected beams at different angles toward an environment to be detected;
• a lens for redirecting reflections of the plurality of redirected beams;
• at least one detector for detecting the reflections of the plurality of redirected beams from the lens;
• a trans impedance amplifier (TIA) having a single input coupled to the output of the at least one detector;
• and
• a single analog to digital converter (ADC) coupled to the output of the TIA;
• and
• a controller configured to
• (a) control the at least one laser and the array of MEMS mirrors to generate a plurality of Hadamard patterns on a single scan line at different times, such that all pixel positions in the scan line are impacted by one of the redirected beams at least once,
• (b) combine detected intensities of all the reflections in each pattern for each of the different times;
• (c) decode the Hadamard pattern to determine an intensity of each pixel in the scan line, and
• (d) repeat a-c for a plurality of scans in a direction orthogonal to the scan line.

A method for beam steering using micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) mirrors in a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system of an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:

• emitting at least one laser beam;
• intercepting the at least one laser beam and redirecting, using an array of MEMS mirrors, a plurality of redirected beams at different angles toward an environment to be detected;
• redirecting reflections of the plurality of redirected beams with a lens;
• detecting the reflections of the plurality of redirected beams from the lens using at least one detector;
• controlling the at least one laser beam and the array of MEMS mirrors to generate a plurality of Hadamard patterns on a single scan line at different times, such that all pixel positions in the scan line are impacted by one of the redirected beams at least once,
• combining detected intensities of all the reflections in each pattern for each of the different times;
• decoding the Hadamard pattern to determine an intensity of each pixel in the scan line, and
• repeating the above steps for a plurality of scans in a direction orthogonal to the scan line.