Patent · US Active

Fast-scanning frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) lidar systems

US11480662B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by

3References

20Claims

0Family size

Assignee

APTIV TECHNOLOGIES AG · BB

Inventors

Geng Fu · Clifton Park, US
Ali Haddadpour · Boston, US
Denis Rainko · Essen, DE
Roman Dietz · Berlin, DE

Key dates

Filing date	Feb 12, 2020
Grant date	Oct 25, 2022
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Mar 18, 2041

Classification

Technology area (CPC G)Physics
CPC primaryG01S17/931
WIPO fieldMeasurement
WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The techniques of this disclosure enable lidar systems to operate as fast-scanning FMCW lidar systems. The fast-scanning lidar system alternates chirp patterns frame by frame as a way to increase scanning speed, without adding additional hardware. Each consecutive pair of frames includes a frame with a long chirp pattern with multiple chirps and a frame with a short chirp pattern with as few as a single chirp, which is derived from the long chirp pattern assuming a constant object velocity between frames. The chirp pattern applied to each pixel is consistent within each frame but different from one frame to the next. The combined duration of two consecutive frames is less than the combined duration of two consecutive frames of a traditional FMCW lidar system that uses the same chirp pattern from one frame to the next. The shorter duration increases frame rate, scanning speed, or overall throughput of the fast-scanning lidar system.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.