Adaptive emitter and receiver for lidar systems

A light detection and ranging system comprising:

• an array of emitters, wherein each of the emitters is individually addressable to emit a multi-pulse sequence into a three-dimensional environment, wherein at least a subset of the emitters are configured to emit multi-pulse sequences concurrently according to an emission pattern, wherein the emission pattern comprises an address of an emitter to be activated and a temporal profile of a multi-pulse sequence emitted by the emitter;
• an array of photosensors, wherein each of the photosensors is individually addressable, wherein at least a subset of the photosensors are configured to receive light pulses according to a sensing pattern, wherein each photosensor of the subset of photosensors is configured to detect light pulses returned from the three-dimensional environment and generate an output signal for a pixel that is indicative of an amount of optical energy associated with at least a subset of the light pulses, wherein the sensing pattern comprises an address of a photosensor to be enabled, and one or more parameters for selecting the subset of the light pulses for accumulating the subset of the light pulses to generate the output signal for the pixel;
• one or more processors electrically coupled to the array of emitters and the array of photosensors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate the emission pattern and the sensing pattern based on one or more real-time conditions.

A method for providing an adaptive control of a light detection and ranging system, the method comprising:

• generating an emission pattern and a sensing pattern based on one or more real-time conditions;
• activating, according to the emission pattern, at least a subset of emitters from an array of emitters to emit multi-pulse sequences concurrently, wherein each emitter of the array of emitters is individually addressable to emit a multi-pulse sequence into a three-dimensional environment;
• and
• enabling, according to the sensing pattern, at least a subset of photosensors from an array of individually addressable photosensors to receive light pulses, wherein each photosensor of the subset of photosensors is configured to detect light pulses returned from the three-dimensional environment and generate an output signal for a pixel that is indicative of an amount of optical energy associated with at least a subset of the light pulses;
• wherein the emission pattern comprises an address of an emitter to be activated and a temporal profile of a multi-pulse sequence emitted by the emitter, the sensing pattern comprises an address of a photosensor to be enabled, and one or more parameters for selecting the subset of the light pulses for accumulating the subset of the light pulses to generate the output signal for the pixel.