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US 2026/0009901 A1Published application
Lidar having spatio-temporal filtering
AssigneeAllegro MicroSystems, LLC
InventorDevin Wolfe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for a lidar system having spatio-temporal filtering to reduce false alarms in image data. In embodiments, the probability of a lidar return being real and not a false alarm is calculated based on both the current and historical presence of other returns which are spatially adjacent to the return being calculated. The probability is used to filter false alarms through thresholding.
Claims14
A method, comprising:
- (a) receiving a first set of lidar data comprising multiple measurements having non-zero range returns;
- (b) processing each measurement in the first set of lidar data to identify other spatially adjacent measurements with non-zero returns using a defined search area around the measurement currently being processed;
- (c) for each spatially adjacent measurement with a non-zero return in the search area surrounding the measurement currently being processed, increasing a metric of a probability for the measurement currently being processed of a real return at a range of the adjacent non-zero return;
- (d) persistently storing the metrics of probability in memory across iterations of processing each measurement in the first set of lidar data;
- (e) decreasing the probability metric for ranges of measurements for which spatially adjacent returns were not found within the search area;
- (f) receiving subsequent sets of lidar data at a time after receiving the first set of lidar data;
- (g) processing the subsequent sets of lidar data in accordance with steps (a)-(e) to identify spatially adjacent returns and update the persistent probability metrics for each measurement at each range;
- (h) for each of the first and subsequent sets of lidar data, after updating the probability for each measurement having a non-zero return, comparing the probability metric for the measurement at the range of the return to a threshold to identify real returns;
- (i) removing returns whose probability does not meet the threshold and/or or replacing them with another value;
- and
- (j) displaying an image based on the identified real returns.
8 more elements
A system, comprising:
- one or more processors and one or more memories in a lidar system configured to:
- (a) receive a first set of lidar data comprising multiple measurements having non-zero range returns;
- (b) process each measurement in the first set of lidar data to identify other spatially adjacent measurements with non-zero returns using a defined search area around the measurement currently being processed;
- (c) for each spatially adjacent measurement with a non-zero return in the search area surrounding the measurement currently being processed, increase a metric of a probability for the measurement currently being processed of a real return at a range of the adjacent non-zero return;
- (d) persistently store the metrics of probability in memory across iterations of processing each measurement in the first set of lidar data;
- (e) decrease the probability metric for ranges of measurements for which spatially adjacent returns were not found within the search area;
- (f) receive subsequent sets of lidar data at a time after receiving the first set of lidar data;
- (g) process the subsequent sets of lidar data in accordance with steps (a)-(e) to identify spatially adjacent returns and update the persistent probability metrics for each measurement at each range;
- (h) for each of the first and subsequent sets of lidar data, after updating the probability for each measurement having a non-zero return, compare the probability metric for the measurement at the range of the return to a threshold to identify real returns;
- (i) remove returns whose probability does not meet the threshold and/or or replacing them with another value;
- and
- (j) display an image based on the identified real returns.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.