Scout pulsing

A light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system, comprising:

• a light emitting transmitter operable to emit light beams and configured to:
• emit one or more first intensity light beams;
• and
• emit a second intensity light beam, wherein the second intensity light beam is emitted subsequent in time to the one or more first intensity light beams;
• a light detector operable to detect reflected light beams and configured to:
• detect one or more first reflected light beams, wherein the one or more first reflected light beams comprise reflections of the one or more first intensity light beams;
• and
• detect a second reflected light beam, wherein the second reflected light beam comprises a reflection of the second intensity light beam;
• and
• a computing device configured to:
• in response to determining that the light detector reaches saturation when detecting the second reflected light beam, analyze a first occurring non-saturating instance of the one or more first reflected light beams, wherein the first occurring non-saturating instance is based on detecting a closest reflected occurrence, to the second reflected light beam, of the first occurring non-saturating instance of the one or more first reflected light beams;
• calculate a distance measurement based on a transmission time of the second intensity light beam and a receive time of the first occurring nonsaturating instance of the one or more first reflected light beams;
• and
• adjust the distance measurement based on calculating a time differential between a receive time of the second reflected light beam and the receive time of the first occurring non-saturating instance of the one or more first reflected light beams.

A method of measuring distance comprising:

• emitting, using a first light emitting element, one or more low intensity light beams;
• emitting, using a second light emitting element, a high intensity light beam, wherein the high intensity light beam is emitted subsequent in time to the one or more low intensity light beams;
• detecting, using a light detecting element, reflected light beams comprising one or more first reflected light beams and a second reflected light beam, wherein the one or more first reflected light beams comprise reflections of the one or more low intensity light beams and a second reflected light beam comprises a reflection of the high intensity light beam;
• in response to determining that the light detecting element reaches saturation when detecting the second reflected light beam, analyzing, by a computing device, at least one nonsaturating instance of the one or more first reflected light beams;
• calculating, by the computing device, a distance measurement based on a transmission time of the high intensity light beam and a receive time of the at least one non-saturating instance of the one or more first reflected light beams;
• and
• adjusting, by the computing device, the distance measurement based on calculating a time differential between a receive time of the second reflected light beam and the receive time of the at least one non-saturating instance of the one or more first reflected light beams.