WO2017143183A1 - Émetteur ladar à vision améliorée sur des parties de zone de balayage - Google Patents

Émetteur ladar à vision améliorée sur des parties de zone de balayage Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2017143183A1
WO2017143183A1 PCT/US2017/018359 US2017018359W WO2017143183A1 WO 2017143183 A1 WO2017143183 A1 WO 2017143183A1 US 2017018359 W US2017018359 W US 2017018359W WO 2017143183 A1 WO2017143183 A1 WO 2017143183A1
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Prior art keywords
mirror
scanable
mirrors
scanning
scan
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PCT/US2017/018359
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English (en)
Inventor
Luis Dussan
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AEye Inc
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AEye Inc
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Publication date
Priority claimed from US15/431,096 external-priority patent/US20170242104A1/en
Application filed by AEye Inc filed Critical AEye Inc
Publication of WO2017143183A1 publication Critical patent/WO2017143183A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S17/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
    • G01S17/02—Systems using the reflection of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
    • G01S17/06—Systems determining position data of a target
    • G01S17/08—Systems determining position data of a target for measuring distance only
    • G01S17/10—Systems determining position data of a target for measuring distance only using transmission of interrupted, pulse-modulated waves
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S17/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
    • G01S17/02—Systems using the reflection of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
    • G01S17/06—Systems determining position data of a target
    • G01S17/42—Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/481—Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements
    • G01S7/4817—Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements relating to scanning
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B26/00—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements
    • G02B26/08—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements for controlling the direction of light
    • G02B26/10—Scanning systems
    • G02B26/101—Scanning systems with both horizontal and vertical deflecting means, e.g. raster or XY scanners
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B26/00—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements
    • G02B26/08—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements for controlling the direction of light
    • G02B26/10—Scanning systems
    • G02B26/105—Scanning systems with one or more pivoting mirrors or galvano-mirrors
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
    • G02B27/10—Beam splitting or combining systems
    • G02B27/1006—Beam splitting or combining systems for splitting or combining different wavelengths
    • G02B27/102—Beam splitting or combining systems for splitting or combining different wavelengths for generating a colour image from monochromatic image signal sources
    • G02B27/104—Beam splitting or combining systems for splitting or combining different wavelengths for generating a colour image from monochromatic image signal sources for use with scanning systems
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
    • G02B27/10—Beam splitting or combining systems
    • G02B27/14—Beam splitting or combining systems operating by reflection only
    • G02B27/143—Beam splitting or combining systems operating by reflection only using macroscopically faceted or segmented reflective surfaces

Definitions

  • autonomous platform vision e.g., autonomous vehicles for air, land (including underground), water (including underwater), and space, such as autonomous land-based vehicles, autonomous aerial vehicles, etc.
  • surveillance e.g., border security, aerial drone monitoring, etc.
  • mapping e.g., mapping of sub-surface tunnels, mapping via aerial drones, etc.
  • target recognition applications e.g., remote sensing, safety alerting (e.g., for drivers), and the like.
  • ladar refers to and encompasses any of laser radar, laser detection and ranging, and light detection and ranging (“lidar”).
  • Ladar is a technology widely used in connection with computer vision. Ladar systems share the high resolution and intuitive feel of passive optic sensors with the depth information (ranging) of a radar system.
  • a transmitter that includes a laser source transmits a laser output such as a ladar pulse into a nearby environment.
  • a ladar receiver will receive a reflection of this laser output from an object in the nearby environment, and the ladar receiver will process the received reflection to determine a distance to such an object (range information). Based on this range information, a clearer understanding of the environment's geometry can be obtained by a host processor wishing to compute things such as path planning in obstacle avoidance scenarios, way point determination, etc.
  • ladar systems are known in the art where a ladar transmitter illuminates a large number of range points simultaneously. Flash ladar is an example of such a system.
  • flash ladar systems require a very high energy per pulse laser, which is not only costly but can also be an eye hazard.
  • the read-out integrated circuits for flash ladar systems are typically quite noisy.
  • the wide field- of-view signal-to-noise ratio (S R) for flash ladar systems is typically very low, which results in short ranges, thereby detracting from their usefulness.
  • the inventors disclose techniques by which one can reduce the disadvantages of resonant mirror-based ladar while achieving much of the acuity and specificity that historically has only been available to mechanical stepping techniques and without losing the speed advantages of resonant scanning mirrors.
  • the inventors disclose designs for a field splitter/inverter that can be used in combination with high speed scans such as Lissajous scans to improve the gaze of a ladar transmitter on desired scan areas (such as a center region of a scan area).
  • high speed scans such as Lissajous scans to improve the gaze of a ladar transmitter on desired scan areas (such as a center region of a scan area).
  • the inventors further disclose how an induced periodic phase drift can be incorporated into a Lissajous scan to further improve gaze by reducing scan gaps in desired regions, while doing so in a manner that can ensure low amplitude and zero impact on periodicity, thereby ensuring beam quality and preserving mensuration.
  • Figure 1A and B illustrate example embodiments of ladar transmitter/receiver systems.
  • Figure 2A depicts an example embodiment of a ladar transmitter.
  • Figure 2B shows a scan area defined by two scanable mirrors for an example scanning ladar transmitter.
  • Figure 2C shows a top view of the scan arrangement defined by Figure 2B.
  • Figure 3 shows a beam scanner that includes a field splitter/inverter in accordance with an example embodiment.
  • Figure 4 shows a top view of the beam scanner arrangement defined by Figure 3.
  • Figure 5 shows how the field splitter/inverter operates to split and invert the scan pattern of the mirrors across the scan area.
  • Figure 6A shows a perspective view of a field splitter/inverter in accordance with another example embodiment.
  • Figures 6B and 6C show additional views of the field splitter/inverter of Figure 6A.
  • Figure 6D shows an example embodiment of a hinged field splitter/inverter that exhibits an adjustable mirror pitch angle.
  • Figure 7 shows an example ray tracing with respect to beam paths in the field splitter/inverter of Figures 6A-C.
  • Figure 8 shows an example of how a split/inverted scan area can be overlapped.
  • Figure 9 is a table that exhibits performance results for different use cases of a ladar transmitter.
  • Figure 10A depicts an example of a standard Lissajous scan pattern.
  • Figure 10B depicts an example of a split/inverted Lissajous scan pattern.
  • Figures 11 A and B depict where scan gaps exist in connection with the scan patterns of Figures 10A and 10B respectively.
  • Figure 12 depicts an example process flow for inducing a periodic phase drift into a Lissajous scan pattern.
  • Figures 13 A and B depict scan gaps projected onto a ground plane for example use cases of a non-inverted Lissajous scan and an inverted Lissajous scan respectively.
  • Figures 14A and 14B show example inverted Lissajous scan patterns with induced phase drift and no induced phase drift respectively.
  • FIG. 1 A illustrates an example embodiment of a ladar transmitter/receiver system 100.
  • the system 100 includes a ladar transmitter 102 and a ladar receiver 104, each in communication with system interface and control 106.
  • the ladar transmitter 102 is configured to transmit a plurality of ladar pulses 108 toward a plurality of range points 110 (for ease of illustration, a single such range point 108 is shown in Figure 1 A).
  • Ladar receiver 104 receives a reflection 112 of this ladar pulse from the range point 110.
  • Ladar receiver 104 is configured to receive and process the reflected ladar pulse 1 12 to support a determination of range point distance [depth] and intensity information.
  • the receiver 104 determines spatial position information [in horizontal and vertical orientation relative to the transmission plane] by any combination of (i) prior knowledge of transmit pulse timing, and (ii) multiple detectors to determine arrival angles.
  • the ladar transmitter 102 can take the form of a ladar transmitter that includes scanning mirrors. Furthermore, in an example embodiment, the ladar transmitter 102 uses a range point down selection algorithm to support pre-scan compression (which can be referred herein to as "compressive sensing"), as shown by Figure IB. Such an embodiment may also include an environmental sensing system 120 that provides environmental scene data to the ladar transmitter 102 to support the range point down selection. Specifically, the control instructions will instruct a laser source when to fire, and will instruct the transmitter mirrors where to point. Example embodiments of such ladar transmitter designs can be found in U.S. patent application serial no. 62/038,065, filed August 15, 2014 and U.S. Pat. App. Pubs.
  • FIG. 2A depicts an example embodiment for a ladar transmitter 104 as disclosed by the above-referenced and incorporated patent applications.
  • the ladar transmitter 104 can include a laser source 200 in optical alignment with laser optics 202, a beam scanner 204, and transmission optics 206. These components can be housed in a packaging that provides a suitable shape footprint for use in a desired application.
  • the laser source 200 is a fiber laser or fiber-coupled laser
  • the laser optics 202, the beam scanner 204, and any receiver components can be housed together in a first packaging that does not include the laser source 200.
  • the laser source 200 can be housed in a second packaging, and a fiber can be used to connect the first packaging with the second packaging.
  • Such an arrangement permits the first packaging to be smaller and more compact due to the absence of the laser source 200.
  • the laser source 200 can be positioned remotely from the first packaging via the fiber connection, such an arrangement provides a practitioner with greater flexibility regarding the footprint of the system.
  • a beam scanner controller 208 can be configured to control the nature of scanning performed by the beam scanner 204 as well as control the firing of the laser source 200.
  • a closed loop feedback system 210 can be employed with respect to the beam scanner 204 and the beam scanner controller 208 so that the scan position of the beam scanner 204 can be finely controlled, as explained in the above- referenced and incorporated patent applications.
  • the laser source 200 can be any of a number of laser types suitable for ladar pulse transmissions as described herein.
  • the laser source 200 can be a pulsed fiber laser.
  • the pulsed fiber laser can employ pulse durations of around 1-4 ns, and energy content of around 0.1-100 ⁇ /pulse.
  • the repetition rate for the pulsed laser fiber can be in the kHz range (e.g., around 1-500 kHz).
  • the pulsed fiber laser can employ single pulse schemes and/or multi-pulse schemes as described in the above-referenced and incorporated patent applications. However, it should be understood that other values for these laser characteristics could be used. For example, lower or higher energy pulses might be employed.
  • the repetition rate could be higher, such as in the lO's of MHz range (although it is expected that such a high repetition rate would require the use of a relatively expensive laser source under current market pricing).
  • the laser source 200 can be a pulsed IR diode laser (with or without fiber coupling).
  • the pulsed IR diode laser can employ pulse durations of around 1-4 ns, and energy content of around 0.01-10 ⁇ /pulse.
  • the repetition rate for the pulsed IR diode fiber can be in the kHz or MHz range (e.g., around 1 kHz - 5 MHz).
  • the pulsed IR diode laser can employ single pulse schemes and/or multi- pulse schemes as described in the above-referenced and incorporated patent applications.
  • the laser optics 202 can include a telescope that functions to collimate the laser beam produced by the laser source 200. Laser optics can be configured to provide a desired beam divergence and beam quality. As example, diode to mirror coupling optics, diode to fiber coupling optics, and fiber to mirror coupling optics can be employed depending upon the desires of a practitioner.
  • the beam scanner 204 is the component that provides the ladar transmitter 104 with scanning capabilities such that desired range points can be targeted with ladar pulses.
  • the beam scanner receives an incoming ladar pulse from the laser source 200 (by way of laser optics 202) and directs this ladar pulse to a desired downrange location (such as a range point on the shot list) via reflections from movable mirrors. Mirror movement can be controlled by one or more driving voltage waveforms 216 received from the beam scanner controller 208.
  • the beam scanner can include dual microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) mirrors, a MEMS mirror in combination with a spinning polygon mirror, or other arrangements.
  • MEMS microelectromechanical systems
  • MEMS mirrors are single surface tip/tilt/piston MEMS mirrors.
  • a single surface tip MEMS mirror and a single surface tilt MEMS mirror can be used.
  • arrays of these MEMS mirrors could also be employed.
  • the dual MEMS mirrors can be operated at any of a number of frequencies, examples of which are described in the above-referenced and incorporated patent applications, with additional examples being discussed below.
  • a miniature galvanometer mirror can be used as a fast-axis scanning mirror.
  • an acousto-optic deflector mirror can be used as a slow-axis scanning mirror.
  • the mirrors can be resonating galvanometer mirrors.
  • Such alternative mirrors can be obtained from any of a number of sources such as Electro-Optical Products Corporation of New York.
  • a photonic beam steering device such as one available from Vescent Photonics of
  • Colorado can be used as a slow-axis scanning mirror.
  • a phased array device such as the one being developed by the DARPA SWEEPER program could be used in place of the fast axis and/or slow axis mirrors.
  • the beam scanner 204 may include relay imaging optics between the first and second mirrors, which would permit that two small fast axis mirrors be used (e.g., two small fast mirrors as opposed to one small fast mirror and one long slower mirror).
  • the transmission optics 206 are configured to transmit the ladar pulse as targeted by the beam scanner 204 to a desired location through an aperture.
  • the transmission optics can have any of a number of configurations depending upon the desires of a practitioner.
  • the environmental sensing system 106 and the transmitter 104 can be combined optically into one path using a dichroic beam splitter as part of the transmission optics 206.
  • the transmission optics can include magnification optics as described in the above-referenced and incorporated patent applications or descoping [e.g., wide angle] optics.
  • an alignment pickoff beam splitter can be included as part of the transmission optics 206.
  • the beam scanner controller 208 can provide voltage waveforms 214 to the beam scanner 204 that will drive the mirrors of the beam scanner to a desired scan position pairing (e.g., scan angles).
  • the voltage waveforms 214 will define a scan pattern for the targeting of the ladar transmitter 102 within a scan area.
  • the firing commands 214 generated by the beam scanner controller 208 can be coordinated with the scan pattern so that the ladar transmitter 102 fires ladar pulses toward desired range points within the scan area.
  • Example embodiments for the beam scanner controller 208 are described in the above-referenced and incorporated patent applications.
  • Figure 2B shows an example beam scanner arrangement where the positioning of mirrors 250 and 252 about rotational axes 258 and 260 respectively defines the targeting for the beam scanner within a scan area 254.
  • An incoming incident ladar pulse launched from laser source 200, coming from direction 256, will impact scanning mirror 250, whereupon it is reflected toward scanning mirror 252, whereupon it is reflected toward a range point within the scan area 254.
  • the positioning of the scanning mirrors 250 and 252 will control which horizontal and vertical positions within the scan area 254 are targeted, and the range [depth] for these positions will then be extracted from pulse compression processing within the receiver.
  • mirror 250 can control where the beam scanner is targeted along a first-axis 262 of the scan area 254, and mirror 252 can control where the beam scanner is targeted along a second axis 264 of the scan area 104.
  • the first and second axes may be orthogonal to each other (e.g., a horizontal X-axis and a vertical Y- axis).
  • the second mirror, 252 is shown in this embodiment to be larger than the first mirror 250. This is because of the sweep in angles arising as the first mirror scans, three such positions are shown in the figure. It is desirable for compaction to introduce relay imaging optics between 250 and 252 which reduces the size of the second mirror.
  • FIG. 2C provides a top view of the beam scanner arrangement.
  • the targeting of the beam scanner along the X-axis 262 of the scan area 254 will be faster in the middle of the scan area than it is on the edges.
  • the Y-axis 264 of the scan area 254 where the targeting will move faster in the middle of the scan area that is does on the edges).
  • This high rate of speed in the middle of the scan area may pose efficiency problems when a practitioner wants to implement a scan pattern that includes a large number of range points within the middle of the scan area and/or includes interline skips/detours in the middle of the scan area.
  • interline skips and detours in connection with ladar transmitters can be found in the above-referenced and incorporated patent applications.
  • This "fast in the middle" scan characteristic be particularly acute when both mirrors are scanned at resonance so as to achieve a Lissajous scan pattern (example embodiments of which are discussed below). Lissajous scan patterns allow for the mirrors to be scanned at high rates, and thus provides a fast moving scan pattern.
  • a "fast in the middle" scan characteristic of which a
  • the ladar transmitter may not have enough time to fire ladar pulses at all of the range points within the middle of the scan area without at least increasing the laser firing rate (which may decrease pulse energy) or including additional line repeats in the scan pattern.
  • field inverter an optical field splitter/inverter that is positioned optically downstream from the mirrors 250 and 252 and positioned to receive and re-direct ladar pulses that are outgoing from the mirrors so that the scan area is split and inverted in a manner that causes the fast portion of the scan to reside at the edges of the scan area and the slower portion of the scan to reside in the middle of the scan area.
  • Figure 3 shows an example embodiment where the beam scanner for a scanning ladar transmitter includes a field splitter/inverter 300 that is positioned optically downstream from mirrors 250 and 252 to split and invert the scan area relative to the scan area 254 of Figure 2B.
  • the beam scanner includes mirrors 250 and 252 that may take the form of dual MEMS mirrors. However, it should be understood that other mirrors could be used for the first and/or second mirrors (e.g., galvo-meter mirrors).
  • First mirror 250 is positioned to receive an incident ladar pulse. Mirror 250 will reflect this ladar pulse to the second scanning mirror 252. It should be understood that this reflection can be a direct reflection or an indirect reflection whereby the beam reflected from mirror 250 passes through relay imaging optics such as a unity magnification telescope on its way to mirror 252.
  • Mirror 252 is positioned to receive the reflected laser pulse from mirror 250 and further reflect this laser pulse onto the field inverter mirror 300. The reflection off this mirror can then passed through a
  • telescope/descope to produce the outgoing laser pulse 108 which then travels to a designated horizontal/vertical location within a scan area 302 corresponding to the range point a shot list that is being targeted by the beam scanner.
  • the first and second mirrors 250 and 252 are controllably rotatable around their respective axes of rotation 258 and 260 as discussed above.
  • mirror 250 will be rotatable to control the position of the ladar pulse within the scan area 302 along the scan area's X-axis
  • mirror 252 will be rotatable to control the position of the ladar pulse within the scan area 302 along the scan area's Y-axis.
  • the combined positioning of mirrors 250 and 252 along their respective axes of rotation when the ladar pulse strikes each mirror will be effective to direct the launched ladar pulse 108 to the desired location within the scan area 302.
  • the X-axis mirror 250 is scanned at resonance.
  • the Y-axis mirror 252 could also be scanned at resonance.
  • any combination of mirrors 250 and 252 could be scanned at resonance.
  • one of the axes can serve as a "fast axis” and the other axis serving as a "slow axis" to reflect the relative scan rates of mirrors 250 and 252.
  • the X-axis can serve as the fast axis
  • the Y-axis could serve as the slow axis.
  • the designation of the fast axis as the X-axis and the slow axis as the Y-axis is arbitrary as a 90 degree turn in position for the system would render the X-axis as the slow axis and the Y-axis as the fast axis.
  • the fast axis mirror is smaller than the slow axis mirror in terms of mirror area and is also positioned upstream from the slow axis mirror (that is, the fast axis mirror receives the ladar pulse and reflects it to the slow axis mirror for transmission toward the targeted range point).
  • this configuration could be changed for other embodiments.
  • the slow axis mirror could be the same size or even smaller than the fast axis mirror.
  • re-imaging optics such as relay imaging optics, could be used between the two mirrors to support such an arrangement.
  • Figure 3 shows an embodiment where an optical field splitter/inverter 300 is positioned to receive and redirect the ladar pulse reflected by mirror 252.
  • the field splitter/inverter 300 is optically downstream from mirrors 250 and 252.
  • the field splitter/inverter 300 may comprise mirrors or lenses that are arranged to both split the field of view for the transmitter and invert the split field of view. Note the figure assumes a mirror/reflector is used so the imaged scene 302 is behind the MEMs assembly to the far right.
  • the field inverter 300 may take the form of reflectors arranged in a W-shape as shown by Figure 3 (see also Figure 4, which is a top view of the Figure 3 arrangement).
  • the laser pulse launched from the second mirror, 107 is inverted and passed along to the scene to be imaged, 302, in speed inverted fashion.
  • the launched pulse 108 will now be slowly scanning where 107 is fast (and vice versa).
  • Figure 4 is a top view of the beam scanner arrangement of Figure 3, and it shows the effect of the field inverter 300 on the resultant field of view/scan area.
  • the beam scanner for the embodiments of Figures 3 and 4 scans through the scan area in manner that is slower in the middle and faster at the edges due to the field inverter 300.
  • the beam ray path for the beam scanner of Figures 3 and 4 is shown via the arrows in Figure 4, and it can be seen that the beams which would otherwise have landed in the middle of the scan area are instead redirected to the edge of the scan area 400, the top view of 302, via the field inverter.
  • Figure 5 illustrates the effect of the field inverter 300 on the beam field.
  • the top frame of Figure 5 shows a plot of the scan speed across the field when mirror 250 is scanning at resonance. As can be seen, the scan speed is faster in the middle of the field than it is at the edges.
  • the field inverter 300 provides a splitting effect and an inverting effect.
  • the middle frame of Figure 5 shows the split effect at line 500, where the field is split into two halves.
  • the bottom frame of Figure 5 shows the inversion effect that operates on each of the split fields (where each half defined by line 500 is inverted).
  • the split line 500 corresponds to the central peak of the W-shape of the field inverter.
  • the field inverter 300 can be optically positioned so that this central peak corresponding to split line 500 falls within the middle of the field of view. Due to the field inverter 300, the beam scan path within each split field is inverted. This yields the plot of scan speed across the field as shown by the bottom frame of Figure 5. As can be seen, the scan speed now becomes faster at the edges than it is in the middle of the field. This scan characteristic provides the ladar transmitter with more time to accommodate groupings of range points in the middle of a frame.
  • this scan characteristic also provides the ladar transmitter with more time to accommodate the line skips and/or line detours that may occur in the middle of the frame.
  • a shot list employed by the ladar transmitter would employ a re-mapping of range points on the shot list to accommodate the split and inverted field of view.
  • the field inverter 300 may take the form a triangular prism 600 as shown by Figure 6A.
  • the triangular prism 600 can define an inverted V-shape for reflection of light pulses as discussed below.
  • the example triangular prism of Figure 6 is shown in perspective view and exhibits a shape that includes first triangular face 602 and second triangular face 604 at opposite ends of the prism 600.
  • First, second, and third sides 606, 608, and 610 serve as the underside, right side, and left side respectively of the triangular prism 600 shown by Figure 6, and these sides connect the triangular faces 602 and 604.
  • Triangular prism 600 can be formed from any material transparent to the incident laser wavelength with the active regions where bounce paths may occur treated with reflective material. Since empty space (air or vacuum) is transparent to ladar laser light, the prism can be hollow or dense whichever any desired manufacturing dictates.
  • Figure 6A The view of Figure 6A is from a perspective above a laser feed 107, with partially transparent mirrors to permit visualization of the prism interior.
  • Figure 6B provides a vertical cut view into the triangular prism 600 of Figure 6 A
  • Figure 6C provides a depth cut view into the triangular prism 600 of Figure 6A.
  • the architecture of prism 600 shown by Figure 6 is invariant to this choice.
  • a laser pulse 107 enters the prism 600 through injection region 620.
  • the precise site of entry 622 will vary as a result of the scanning by mirrors to define a scan pattern over a scan area. Accordingly, injection region 620 is shown in Figure 6A as a box area to indicate such range of potential entry points.
  • the pulse 107 After entry into the prism 600, the pulse 107 will travel linearly until it strikes a reflector mirror 624 on an interior portion of underside 606, where reflector mirror 624 is offset in depth within prism 600.
  • the bullet points in Figure 6A show sites of reflection (or "bounce") within the prism 600 where the pulse transiting through 600 is reflected in a new direction.
  • Each bounce site is labeled as I, II, or III based on an order of bounces for the pulse 107.
  • the pulse strikes a reflector mirror on an interior portion of right side 608 (bounce site II), whereupon the pulse 107 is re-directed to strike a reflector mirror on an interior portion of left side 610 (bounce site III).
  • the laser injection angle at injection site 622 can be obliquely selected part way from vertical to horizontal. This allows the pulse 107 to bounce against both right mirror 608 (bounce site II) and left mirror 610 (bounce site III) and finally to exit the prism 600 through exit cut 626 and on to an exterior lens 670 (see Figure 6C; e.g., an up/down scope) without encountering occlusions.
  • the side pitch angle for mirror 608 as z+.
  • the azimuth scan of the scanning mirrors 250 and 252 is mapped through bounce sites I-III to the angle f, 654, formed between the two dotted lines at the right hand side of the figure.
  • a dotted line 660 traversing the injection site 622 at the horizontal axis of symmetry
  • This dotted line 660 is not traveled by the laser, but is a virtual path that is able to replace the actual path for the first bounce site I in modeling. The virtue of so doing is the geometric mathematics then greatly simplifies.
  • the laser pulse 107 arriving from the scanning mirror will come from different locations by virtue of the different points on mirror 252 that are illuminated. The fact that 107 moves about complicates the math, and it is much easier to invoke symmetry and "pretend" the laser pulse originates from point 650 with different arrival angles.
  • the notation c is the tunable far field elevation angle, ranging from zero to e, 673 (see Figure 6C), as measured against the horizontal plane (see the horizontal axis in Figure 6C).
  • the notation is ⁇ , the azimuth scan angle at a point in time that the second scanning mirror 252 output pulse furnishes at the laser injection site 622.
  • the far field angle f can be expressed as / « 4z— ⁇ p.
  • Figure 6C shows a depth formula for yr as an intermediate to calculate input/output invariance, 673. This formula can be used to position an exterior
  • descope/telescope lens 670 beyond the last bounce III as measured in depth.
  • a position sensor (not shown; e.g., a 4 quad position sensor) can be positioned near the second scanning mirror 252 to precisely determine the scan position of mirror 252, which allows for calibrating out material defects beyond the above formula for f.
  • This calibration can be achieved by adding a secondary wavelength into the pulse 108 and placement of a frequency/wavelength-selective mirror (e.g., a dichroic mirror 674) near the injection site 622.
  • This mirror can selectively reflect light at the secondary wavelength to the position sensor for accurate detection of the scan position for mirror 252 over time.
  • a dichroic mirror can also be used to calibrate the scanning of mirror 250 if desired by a practitioner.
  • the right and left mirrors 608 and 610 can be selected to be one-way in their entirety or over injection region 620 to allow the injection region 620 to also be a potential bounce site.
  • This repurposing of the same physical mirror real estate can lead to a more compact design, thereby saving cost, weight, and size for a practitioner.
  • ray tracing can be used to determine which regions of the prism interior might serve as bounce sites for laser pulses 108 during operation.
  • the left half of Figure 7 shows the xl,yl (left side of plot) and xr,yr (right side of plot) ray tracing and region lased in the exit window 626 across the scan volume, shown in mm, for a 1 mm inter scanning mirror spacing and a V slot base to reflector dimension of 1 mm.
  • the x- axis of 702 can be used to select the L-R mirror x-axis (610, 608) onset and the 704 x-axis as the mirrors 610, 608 y-axis onset.
  • the y-axis of 706 can be used as the terminus in depth.
  • canted interfaces with the up-scope may be chosen as compaction might require, and the ray tracing can still be employed to determine requirements on prism dimensions and one-way mirror minimum areas.
  • mirrors 610/608/606 The portion of the mirror cavity that never receives bounces I, II, or III can now be eliminated. This can be accomplished by computing the contours traced out by 702, 712, 706 and 704, 710, 714 and assigning mirror (i.e., reflective coating) to the attendant convex hull varying over all sets of angles.
  • the mirror need only be one-way over the region determined by ray tracing x,r of the scanning mirror output over their scan angles. Through this process, mirror compaction can be achieved which may reduce manufacturing and raw material costs.
  • the field inverter 300 can also be configured to provide an inverted/split field of view that is overlapped. This configuration not only decouples mirror inversion with field look direction but also allows multiple mirror inversions per field look direction within a single axis scan. This overlapping effect allows for a longer gaze along a desired region such as a middle region or centerline of a field of view. Accordingly, it should be understood that the field inverter 300 need not split the field of view into two non- overlapping fields. To achieve overlapping, the mirror pitch angle z+ can be modified so that the launch angle of pulse 108, i.e. angle S swings negative (i.e. left of vertical) at extremal values of the scan angle ⁇ p.
  • FIG. 8 An example of this arrangement is shown by Figure 8.
  • we choose to field invert the scan on azimuth (the horizontal axis), with a selected scan volume of 45 degrees, A az -.
  • the horizontal axis of Figure 8 is the angle to which the scanning mirror (e.g., MEMS mirror) is "looking". Because the scanning mirror is slowest when it changes direction, we can see from the curve at the top of Figure 8 that the scanning mirror is moving fastest at the center (0 degrees). It is also moving slowest at the edges of the scan (in this example at -22.5 degrees and 22.5 degrees). As discussed above, this can be problematic for practitioners when the center region is the area where it is desirable to maximize gaze time (to increase how many range points are lased in the center region) (e.g., for automotive applications, the center region is where most accidents are likely to occur).
  • the vertical axis in Figure 8 is the location in the far field where the ladar transmitter is gazing, i.e.
  • Figure 8 shows an example where the right hand scan (and only the right hand scan in this example) is selected for overlap.
  • the scene is inspected a 0 degrees and down to -1.5 degrees on the right hand scan, which increases the amount of time we gaze at the centerline of 0 degrees and environs via overlapping.
  • one or more controlled hinges 628 can be used to define the mirror pitch angle z+, as shown by Figure 6D.
  • Hinges 628 allow for the mirror pitch angle of the prism 600 to be adjusted.
  • a mirror pitch angle adjustment mechanism (such as a threaded knob arrangement 630 and 632 by which the mirrors 608 and 610 are pivoted at hinges 628 to adjust the mirror pitch angle) can be used to slide mirrors 608 and 610 along base 606. This results in the ability to dynamically adjust the degree of backscan and or the Field of View in real-time, at sub- second rates.
  • the mirror pitch angle z+ the scan volume and overlap of the field inverter is dynamically controlled. Specifically, the midfield and far field angles S and f become tunable using a mechanical actuator to adjust the intersection of right and left mirrors 608 and 610 with the plane subtending the reflector 606.
  • a field inverter 600 could be used by a practitioner.
  • the reflector 606 could be replaced with a scanning mirror to add more compaction and shrink the spans shown in Figure 7 in exchange for potential occlusion from non-reflecting material at the boundary of 606.
  • Figure 9 depicts a table that demonstrates the effect of increased gaze times that can be achieved via field inversion (non-overlapped) and overlapped field inversion.
  • the table of Figure 9 is based on a 90 degree scan range, and it shows the results of measuring the time spent near the centerline (within 3 degrees of the centerline) over each scan for a standard operation (no field inversion), field inversion operation (non-overlapped), and an overlapped field inversion (with a 1 degree split field for 5 mrad beam divergence).
  • field inversion and non-overlapped field inversion yield significant improvements in dwell time near the centerline.
  • a 2D laser scan pattern is called a Lissajous scan pattern if and only if the 2D beam scans sinusoidally (in time) along each axis.
  • the phase of both azimuth and elevation can be arbitrary, but are fixed in a standard Lissajous scan.
  • the Lissajous pattern is generally desirable when one wants the fastest possible scans. This is because the fastest mirrors are resonant mirrors which must be driven periodically and resonantly, and hence sinusoidally.
  • both mirrors 250 and 252 will be driven by sinusoidal signals. While both phases of these sinusoids are free, the difference between them impacts scan performance.
  • the usual choice for the phase difference ⁇ amongst practitioners is 90 degrees, which minimizes the maximum gap between where adjacent beams scan.
  • the Lissajous can pattern for a 2D resonant beam scanner can be expressed as:
  • Figure 10A depicts an example of a Lissajous scan pattern for a ladar transmitter when no field inverter 300 is employed.
  • the axes in Figure 10A are an X-axis corresponding to horizon/azimuth and a Y-axis corresponding to elevation.
  • the lines in Figure 10A are a tracing that shows where the ladar transmitter is targeted as the mirrors scan.
  • the white regions are the spacings or gaps that would exist between beams that are theoretically fired all along the scan lines.
  • the Figure 10A plot shows how a standard Lissajous scan results in denser visits at the edges of the scan area relative to a center region of the scan area.
  • Figure 10A shows that there are larger gaps between the scan lines in the center region of the plot than there are at the edges. This is contradictory to most desired applications (such as most automotive applications) where denser visits are desired at the center region.
  • a field inverter 300 such as prism 600 can be used to split and invert a scan pattern, which when applied to the Lissajous scan pattern of Figure 10A yields a scan pattern with increased gaze time near the center region, as shown by the example of Figure 10B.
  • Figure 10B depicts an example of a split/inverted Lissajous scan pattern when a field inverter 300 is employed to provide inversion along the horizon (i.e., the horizontal axis when the elevation is zero), and Figure 10B shows that the density of visits by the ladar transmitter near the center line is greatly increased relative to that of Figure 10A. This difference is dramatic, as the gaps along the horizon are virtually eliminated.
  • Another way to measure the significance of these gaps is to determine which gaps exceed a defined threshold.
  • This threshold can be defined based on beam divergence to account for the profile/diameter of a laser pulse 108 at an assumed distance with respect to a targeted range point. If the gap is larger than the threshold, this would represent a potential blindspot that could not be targeted by the ladar transmitter. However, if the gap is smaller than the threshold, such a small gap could be subsumed by a laser pulse 108 targeted nearby.
  • Figure 11 A shows a series of dots which represent potential blindspots for the ladar transmitter when a Lissajous scan pattern such as that shown by Figure 10A is employed (with no field inverter 300).
  • Figure 1 IB shows the corresponding blindspot plot for the inverted Lissajous scan pattern of Figure 10B (once again, where each dot represents a potential blindspot).
  • Figure 1 IB the combination of the field inverter 300 with the Lissajous scan pattern yields a ladar transmitter with a significant blindspot-free zone in the center region.
  • Figure 1 IB shows that blindspots do exist in the split/inverted Lissajous scan pattern in regions outside the center region. This raises the question of how the system can be design to reduce the extent of such blindspots, ideally in a manner that allows the system to intelligently select desired regions for increased gaze that are not necessarily inside the center region.
  • the inventors disclose the use of an induced periodic phase drift in the Lissajous scan pattern.
  • the fixed phase that is common in Lissajous scan patterns is replaced with a time-varying drift.
  • One (or both) of the scanning mirrors 250/252 is driven slightly off resonance by gently varying its phase. Accordingly, with this embodiment, we can represent the phase as ⁇ (t) rather than ⁇ as shown above by Equation 1 in the formulaic representation of the Lissajous scan pattern.
  • phase drift ⁇ (t) is induced by having the beam scanner controller slowly vary a command signal provided to a driver for the subject scanning mirror (e.g., where the driver could be a motor for a stepped scan or a piston for a MEMs mirror).
  • This command signal controls the mirror with respect to how it scans.
  • the phase drift can be represented as:
  • Lissajous scan pattern as modified to include the induced periodic phase drift in both dimensions can be represented by:
  • Equation 3 For a linearized approximation of Equation 3, associated with small amplitudes Ai, we have:
  • phase drift is also advantageous for the phase drift to be periodic with a harmonic sub- period of the initial pattern, i.e., where are rational and less than unit modulos.
  • an optimal phase for fixed drift frequency is determined as a solution to a total least squares problem.
  • Total least squares fits parameters when both dependent and independent variables are free, which will be the case here with the independent variable for TLS being time.
  • the minimization employs a cost function. As an example, consider automotive ladar where we select a region in the ground plane as the area where we wish to remove gaps.
  • Figure 12 discloses an example process flow for controlling how a scanning mirror is induced with a periodic phase drift.
  • Step 1204 in Figure 12 describes frame- dependent feedback in the scan pattern for the scanning mirror centered on total least squares
  • the use of singular value decomposition (SVD) assures that the Figure 12 process flow can be executed in real-time, specifically on the order of milliseconds.
  • SSD singular value decomposition
  • the process flow is initiated via selection of system parameters.
  • the minimum acceptable ground gap is defined. This can be set as an angle or a distance in meters. We chose the gap in meters for an example embodiment.
  • We compute the gaps by looking at where the pulses can be fired from scan to scan, and measuring if the distance is larger than this amount, measured as an extent beyond the full width half maximum of beam divergence.
  • Figure 13 A for a non-inverted case
  • Figure 13B for an inverted case
  • the black regions in Figures 13A and 13B are the regions in the x,y axis which are further away than 1 meter by 1 meter from a laser pulse for all values of time t in Equation 1 above.
  • the ground plane is used to determine gaps.
  • the Lissajous frequencies will be set by the transmitter control instructions, 103.
  • the FOV will be determined by the speed of the mirror scans as well as the desired region we wish the laser to inspect, coupled with the gaps. For example, if the maximum scan frequency is lOKhz, and we scan across 100 degrees, with 1 microsecond pulse spacing, the gaps will be about three degrees, if we scan across 20 degrees at 10 microseconds the gaps will be 4deg.
  • the FOV is +1-45 degrees in azimuth (as evidenced by the slope of black triangle 1304).
  • the vertical FOV ranges from the horizon down to 12 degrees, as evidenced by the small black rectangle 1306 near 0,0 assuming a 2 meter height monitoring of the ladar transmitter.
  • FIG. 13 A shows the gaps for a standard Lissajous pattern where f,f+l is 49,50 and no inversion takes place
  • Figure 13B shows the gaps for a standard Lissajous pattern where f,f+l is 49,50 and where inversion with a 1 degree overlap takes place
  • Figures 1 1 A and B show the respective gaps in the vertical (laser line of sight) for the non-inverted and inverted space for a 3mrad beam width
  • Figures 13 A and B show these same gaps projected onto the ground plane with a one meter gap tolerance.
  • Region 1310 shows gaze region Q where gap reduction is desired.
  • the Q selection might be either data adaptive (we observe traffic moving along the region 1310 and seek to investigate) or it may be selected from a priori information (such as a road network map).
  • the projections are to a ground plane, but it should be understood that any projected surface will do, incorporating terrain elevation or other considerations that might replace ground planes with other topological manifolds.
  • S The detected gaps that exceed the defined minimum accepted gap are grouped into a set of points as S.
  • S will be a collection of points that represent the black dots 1302 in Figure 13A (or 13B).
  • Equation 1 is used to find the times t that are yield coordinates that are closest to each point in S. These times can be denoted in the set T.
  • Step 1204 follows where we solve the TLS solution using the principal
  • step 1210 if at any point S or S drift is zero, we inject the phase drift controls corresponding to that S or S drift into driver 1250. There are two mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive outcomes of this procedure. The first is that the set in S no longer shrinks (see step 1212), in which case we can update the Lissajous parameters [K,f] and repeat to test if performance improves (S,S_drift is reduced).
  • S,S_drift reduces to a size that is deemed worthy of termination (or vanishes entirely).
  • the induced phase drift can be used to intelligently selection regions of the scan area for longer dwelling gaze.
  • the use of mirrors scanning in a Lissajous pattern with induced phase drift is expected to provide significant performance improvements that allows for better interrogation of desirable regions in a scan area per frame.
  • Lissajous scan patterns are disclosed as being a prime example of scan patterns that can be enhanced via field inversion and induced periodic phase drift, it should be understood that spiral scan patterns can be similarly enhanced. Such patterns are often implemented as dampened Lissajous patterns where the amplitude is slowly modulated.

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  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
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  • Mechanical Optical Scanning Systems (AREA)
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Abstract

L'invention concerne un émetteur radar laser (ladar) à balayage qui utilise un diviseur/inverseur de champ optique pour améliorer les caractéristiques de vision de l'émetteur ladar sur des parties souhaitables d'une zone de balayage. L'invention concerne également l'utilisation de motifs de balayage tels que des motifs de balayage de Lissajous pour un émetteur ladar à balayage où un déphasage est induit dans le balayage pour améliorer les caractéristiques de vision de l'émetteur ladar sur des parties souhaitables de la zone de balayage.
PCT/US2017/018359 2016-02-18 2017-02-17 Émetteur ladar à vision améliorée sur des parties de zone de balayage Ceased WO2017143183A1 (fr)

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US201662297126P 2016-02-18 2016-02-18
US62/297,126 2016-02-18
US201662439378P 2016-12-27 2016-12-27
US62/439,378 2016-12-27
US15/431,096 US20170242104A1 (en) 2016-02-18 2017-02-13 Ladar Transmitter with Induced Phase Drift for Improved Gaze on Scan Area Portions
US15/431,065 2017-02-13
US15/431,065 US10908262B2 (en) 2016-02-18 2017-02-13 Ladar transmitter with optical field splitter/inverter for improved gaze on scan area portions
US15/431,096 2017-02-13

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