Apple Inc.

Richard E Bills

Micah P Kalscheur

Evan C Cull

Ryan A Gibbs

Mina A Rezk

Cristiano L Niclass

Andrew J Sutton

Alexander Shpunt

Moshe Laifenfeld

Shingo Mandai

Ronen Akerman

Tal Kaitz

Jason D Mudge

Ron Sokolovsky

Ashwin Wagadarikar

An electro-optical device includes a laser, which is configured to emit toward a scene pulses of optical radiation. An array of detectors are configured to receive the optical radiation that is reflected from points in the scene and to output signals indicative of respective times of arrival of the received radiation. A controller is coupled to drive the laser to emit a sequence of pulses of the optical radiation toward each of a plurality of points in the scene and to find respective times of flight for the points responsively to the output signals, while controlling a power of the pulses emitted by the laser by counting a number of the detectors outputting the signals in response to each pulse, and reducing the power of a subsequent pulse in the sequence when the number is greater than a predefined threshold.

Adaptive transmission power control for a LIDAR

Aspects of the present disclosure involve example systems and methods for remote sensing of objects. In one example, a system includes a light source, a camera, a light source timing circuit, an exposure window timing circuit, and a range determination circuit. The light source timing circuit is to generate light pulses using the light source. The exposure window timing circuit generates multiple exposure windows for the light pulses for the camera, each of the multiple exposure windows representing a corresponding first range of distance from the camera. The range determination circuit processes an indication of an amount of light captured at the camera during an opening of each of the multiple exposure windows for one of the light pulses to determine a presence of an object within a second range of distance from the camera, the second range having a lower uncertainty than the first range.

Remote sensing for detection and ranging of objects

Aspects of the present disclosure involve example systems and methods for remote sensing of objects. In one example, a system includes a light source, a camera, a light radar (lidar) system, a region of interest identification circuit, and a range refining circuit. The region of interest identification circuit identifies a region of interest corresponding to an object and a first range of distance to the region of interest using the camera and the light source. The range refining circuit probes the region of interest to refine the first range to a second range of distance to the region of interest using the lidar system, the second range having a lower uncertainty than the first range.

A system includes a memory storing computer-readable instructions and a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations including generating multiple exposure windows for light pulses for a camera, the multiple exposure windows having a sequence comprising a first exposure window having an opening for a duration of time and each other exposure window of the multiple exposure windows having an opening for the duration of time except for a closing for a subset of the duration of time corresponding to a distance from one of a light source and the camera, wherein none of the closings of the multiple exposure windows overlaps another closing of the multiple exposure windows and determining a difference between an indication of an amount of light captured at the camera during the first exposure window and each other exposure window of the multiple exposure windows.

Systems and methods for determining object range

An optical apparatus includes an array of lasers, which are arranged in a grid pattern having a predefined spatial pitch and are configured to emit respective beams of pulses of optical radiation. Projection optics having a selected focal length project the beams toward a target with an angular pitch between the beams defined by the spatial pitch and the focal length. A scanner scans the projected beams over a range of scan angles that is less than twice the angular pitch. Control circuitry drives the lasers and the scanner so that the pulses cover the target with a resolution finer than the angular pitch. A receiver receives and measures a time of flight of the pulses reflected from the target.

Radiation source with a small-angle scanning array

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Richard E Bills