Beam steering LADAR sensor
US10126411B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 13, 2015 |
| Grant date | Nov 13, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 10, 2037 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S2013/93277
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A beam steering capability is proposed for a ladar sensor operating with limited laser transmit power, as may be typical of an airborne or automotive application. The ladar system also makes use of optical gain elements in the receiver which act to increase the signal to noise ratio at the receiver when the laser transmit power available is restricted by power, size, and/or cost limitations. In one embodiment, the calibration of each pixel in the ladar sensor is provided for by an electrical amplifier array with a number of pixel amplifiers. Each pixel amplifier may be individually calibrated to a mating detector element so as to eliminate the variations in dark current and gain between all pixels in the detector array. A number of new detector array designs are described which may lower cost and improve performance, and new low cost and high performance packaging for the detector array, amplifier array, and readout integrated circuit is introduced.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.