Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems are one of the most critical sensors enabling real-time measurements of object distances. LIDAR systems measure distances to objects by illuminating those objects with a laser light. In some cases, LIDAR systems are used to sense the surroundings on vehicles. In these and other applications, the illuminated objects may be people. As such, there is a chance that the laser light from the LIDAR system will illuminate a person's eye.
Laser light can be very dangerous to a person's eye. The coherence and small beam divergence angle of laser light, combined with the lens of the eye, results in the laser light being focused to an extremely small spot size on the retina. This small spot size, with high enough laser optical power, can result in burning of the retina, and permanent damage to the eye. As such, LIDAR systems that can operate with eye-safe levels of laser light energy are needed.
The present teaching, in accordance with preferred and exemplary embodiments, together with further advantages thereof, is more particularly described in the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The skilled person in the art will understand that the drawings, described below, are for illustration purposes only. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating principles of the teaching. The drawings are not intended to limit the scope of the Applicant's teaching in any way.
The present teaching will now be described in more detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof as shown in the accompanying drawings. While the present teachings are described in conjunction with various embodiments and examples, it is not intended that the present teachings be limited to such embodiments. On the contrary, the present teachings encompass various alternatives, modifications and equivalents, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art. Those of ordinary skill in the art having access to the teaching herein will recognize additional implementations, modifications, and embodiments, as well as other fields of use, which are within the scope of the present disclosure as described herein.
Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the teaching. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
It should be understood that the individual steps of the methods of the present teachings can be performed in any order and/or simultaneously as long as the teaching remains operable. Furthermore, it should be understood that the apparatus and methods of the present teachings can include any number or all of the described embodiments as long as the teaching remains operable.
The present teaching relates to Light Detection and Ranging Systems (LIDAR) that measure distances to various objects or targets that reflect and/or scatter light. In particular, the present teaching relates to LIDAR systems that are able to provide LIDAR measurements with a high refresh rate, up to 1 KHz, over a long range, in excess of 70 m, and ensuring system operation consistent with a Class 1 eye-safety standard.
Systems of the present teaching may use laser light sources that include single emitters and/or multiple emitters. For example, light sources that use a single element VCSEL or a single edge-emitting laser device would be considered single emitters. Light sources that use multiple VCSEL elements or multiple edge-emitting laser sources arranged on one or more substrates are considered multiple emitter sources. The multi-element emitters may be configured in various array configurations, including one-dimensional and two-dimensional arrays. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the below description of the present teaching refers to various embodiments of eye-safe scanning LIDAR systems with single-emitter sources and/or multi-emitter laser sources. It will be apparent to those familiar with the art that the features of particular embodiments of LIDAR systems of the present teaching should not be considered limited to either single-emitter and/or multi-emitter laser sources, but rather should be more broadly construed to apply to both single-emitter and/or multi-emitter laser sources.
The illuminator that includes the laser source and optical beam projector, as well as the receiver, is sometimes located on the front side of a vehicle 108. A person 106, and/or another object, such as a car or light pole, will provide light reflected from the source back to the receiver. A range or distance to that object is determined by the LIDAR receiver from the reflected light. The LIDAR receiver calculates range information based on time-of-flight measurements of light pulses emitted from the light source.
In addition, information about the optical beam profile that illuminates the scene in a target plane associated with a particular range that is known from, for example, the particular design of the source and projector system, is used to determine location information about the reflecting surface in order to generate a complete x,y,z, or three-dimensional picture of the scene. In other words, the pointwise three-dimensional map of the surrounding environment represents a collection of measurement data that indicates position information from all the surfaces that reflect the illumination from the source to the receiver within the field-of-view of the LIDAR system. In this way, a three-dimensional representation of objects in the field-of-view of the LIDAR system is obtained. The pointwise three-dimensional data map may also be referred to as a measurement point cloud.
Various embodiments of LIDAR systems of the present teaching operate with various laser pulse durations and laser pulse repetition rates, depending on the desired performance. One example is the sampling rate required for one embodiment of an automotive LIDAR system. A car moving at 100 kilometers per hour (kph) is traveling at roughly 28 millimeters per millisecond (mm/msec). If two cars are approaching each other, then the relative distance will decrease at twice that rate, or 56 mm/msec. For a system that is accurate across the full field-of-view, with a distance accuracy of 50 mm (˜2 inches) for each measurement point, we need to be able to scan the complete FOV during that time. The eye-safe LIDAR systems of the present teaching may be applied to other types of LIDAR sensing applications, and are not restricted to sensing for a vehicle or automobile.
Multi-source and multi-wavelength LIDAR system have been proposed by the assignee of the present application. See, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/456,789, filed on Mar. 13, 2017 and entitled Multi-Wavelength LIDAR System. The entire contents of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/456,789 are incorporated herein by reference. For purposes of illustration, assume a multi-source LIDAR system using 1,000 laser clusters corresponding to particular desired three-dimensional pointwise measurement locations. In order to achieve positional accuracy across the full FOV, as described above, one would need to scan through all 1,000 lasers every millisecond. For a single-wavelength system, where we can only operate and detect one laser at a time, this means we have only one microsecond per laser to acquire the position information for that measurement point.
One feature of the multi-wavelength LIDAR system of the present teaching is that it provides a relatively high refresh rate. Refresh rate is sometimes referred to as frame rate. The refresh rate relates directly to how frequently the distance measurements of a three-dimensional or two-dimensional scene being sensed by the LIDAR are updated. Some embodiments of the present teaching provide a system refresh rate that is at least the same as current low-cost CMOS camera systems that typically have a refresh rate of 30 Hz. However, the refresh rate can be 1 kHz or higher. To understand why a high refresh rate is important, consider an automobile traveling at 100 km/hour. Under these conditions, the automobile will move about 3 meters in 0.1 seconds. So, if the refresh rate is only 10 Hz, objects in front of the car will move significantly in that time causing a significant loss of resolution.
For example, a LIDAR system of the present teaching that uses four wavelengths with 4,096 lasers that are being measured in one frame, and a pulse duration of one microsecond, the refresh rate would be 1 kHz for a single system. If multiple systems are used to cover the complete 360-degree field-of-view, then the refresh rate would still need to be 1 kHz. This assumes a single pulse per measurement. However, if multiple pulses per measurement are used, the refresh rate will be lower.
Laser eye-safety regulations have been established to set standards for the allowable amount of laser radiation that enters the eye without causing eye damage. The standards ensure that products emitting laser light are labeled in such a fashion that consumers understand the safety risks associated with a particular product. The most commonly referenced standard worldwide is IEC 60825-1, published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), which has been adopted in Europe as EN 60825-1. In the US, laser products are covered by CDRH 21 CFR 1040.10. Compliance with EN 60825-1 has been established as acceptable to meet the U.S. federal standard.
Laser eye-safety standards have different safety categories that are classified by wavelength and maximum output power. The standards define the maximum permissible exposure (MPE), which is specified as the optical power or energy that can pass through a fully open pupil, without causing any damage. The MPE is a function of energy so it is related to the laser pulse duration and repetition rate in a system where the laser pulsed (i.e. not operated continuously).
A Class 1 laser is safe under all conditions of normal use. The maximum permissible exposure (MPE) cannot be exceeded in a Class 1 product. It is highly desired for an automotive LIDAR system to be Class 1 eye safe. In a Class 1 rated LIDAR system, the laser light produced by the LIDAR system will not exceed the MPE in all cases where exposure to a human eye is possible.
Care must be taken in LIDAR systems to ensure Class 1 eye safety while also providing the highest system performance. System performance may include parameters such as angular resolution, refresh rate, field-of-view and range. Many of these performance parameters are linked directly to the laser power and/or the intensity of an optical beam produced at a target plane of the LIDAR system. For example, in order to have the best possible signal-to-noise ratio in the receiver, and also to provide a long maximum distance range, it is desired to have the highest peak optical power for the transmitted laser pulses. However, Class 1 eye safety restricts the maximum peak optical power of each pulse.
For example, calculating from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard IEC 60825-1 that for an exposure duration between 10 psec and 5 μsec, the allowable exposure energy for a 903-nm laser will be 0.392 μJoules. For a single laser pulse of duration of 5 nsec, transmitted every 5 μsec, assuming a square pulse shape with zero rise and fall times, the maximum peak power of this pulse would be 78.4 W. For a square pulse with a 50-nsec duration transmitted every 5 μsec, the maximum peak power would be ten times less, or 7.84 W.
The exposure energy is the energy calculated to pass through a fully open pupil of the eye. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard includes instructions on how this should be measured, and for a system with wavelength of 400 nm to 1,400 nm wavelength, there are two conditions that apply. Condition 1 applies to a beam collimated by a telescope or binoculars so that the hazard is increased where the aperture stop equals 50 mm at 2,000 mm. Condition 3 applies to determining irradiation relevant for the unaided eye, for scanning beams that define an aperture stop/limiting aperture of 7 mm at 100 mm. The reference point for scanned emission is the scanning vertex (pivot point of the scanning beam). A LIDAR system according to the present teaching with a 100 meter range would nominally fire pulses every microsecond to maximize the refresh rate. In this example, the optical peak power is constrained so that a pulse every one microsecond would need to be five times less in magnitude then if a pulse was fired every five microseconds.
One aspect of the present teaching is that LIDAR systems that use a plurality of lasers can be operated such that the lasers are energized in a way that reduces, or substantially eliminates, the overlap in optical power of the plurality of optical beams so as to create an eye safe system. As described herein, MPE provides a maximum energy measured at any fixed 7-mm aperture at a distance of 100 mm from the laser array, as well as at 50 mm at a distance of 2,000 mm. The added power at particular measurement points from the overlap of the plurality of optical beams will affect the maximum powers allowed for each optical beam. However, the performance, e.g. signal-to-noise, for each measurement point will be limited by this maximum power.
The LIDAR system illuminator 200 is designed such that at a distance of 100 mm 202 from the laser array 204, the four beams 206 corresponding to discrete lasers 208, are spaced further apart then 7 mm. Said another way, none of the optical beams 206 are closer than 7 mm at the 100 mm distance so they do not overlap at 100 mm. In this optical configuration, all four lasers 206 could be fired simultaneously without any two of the optical beams combining to form a combined beam that has more optical power than any of the individual optical beams in a manner that impacts eye safety. This is true regardless of whether each laser emits an optical beam with a unique wavelength or whether at least two of the optical beams emit optical beams with the same wavelength. Various embodiments of the scanning LIDAR system of the present teaching utilize illuminators comprising lasers or laser arrays operating at a single wavelength and illuminators comprising lasers or laser arrays operating at multiple wavelengths.
In some embodiments of the LIDAR system illuminators of the present teaching that utilize numerous lasers, such as hundreds of lasers, it is likely that the optical beams from some lasers would overlap at the eye safety measurement aperture, and some would not. In such systems, the sequence of firing of the lasers cannot be totally random in order to prevent overlapping beams that could present an eye safety danger. Thus, one aspect of the present teaching uses a pseudorandom sequence of firing of the lasers. The pattern of firing satisfies a set of mathematical rules which results in an allowed sequence of firing that meets the eye safety limit.
Another aspect of the present teaching is to select preferred firing sequences that would maximize the refresh rate of the system while maintaining an eye safe environment. For example, a non-random firing pattern can be determined which would maximize the overall pulse rate, while maintaining an eye-safe environment. Such a firing pattern could be implemented through a set of rules established in, for example, the firmware of the controller that fires the lasers.
In different embodiments of the LIDAR illuminators of the present teaching, each laser source generates an optical beam with a particular energy based on the pulse width, repetition rate, and peak power of the optical pulses. It is understood by those skilled in the art that the optical beam generated by each laser source has a particular energy density as a function of position in a plane located at the measurement distance. The energy density of the light produced from multiple laser sources in the plane located at the measurement distance is the sum of the individual energy densities as a function of position in the plane resulting from the combination of optical beams. An eye-safe classification is met, for example, if the combined energy density of the combined optical beam as a function of position results in a peak energy, sampled in a 7-mm aperture diameter across the plane at a 100-mm measurement distance, which does not exceed the MPE.
By controlling the pattern of electrical signals that fire the plurality of laser sources, it is possible to control the energy density produced in a plane by the combined optical beams of those plurality of lasers. In particular, it is possible to produce a combined optical beam from the plurality of laser sources wherein a peak optical energy of the combined optical beam in a measurement aperture at a particular measurement distance is less than a desired value. In some embodiments, the measurement aperture is the 7-mm aperture defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission, the measurement distance is 100 mm, and the peak optical energy is the MPE as defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission and based on the particular laser wavelength.
In this firing rule, lasers 302 on bars 304 labeled B1 in
In some embodiments of the scanning LIDAR system of the present teaching, the rules for firing patterns for lasers are generated based on monitoring the illumination pattern that is emitted from the illuminator. That is, a monitor would determine the peak energy in a particular aperture at a particular distance, and a firing pattern would be determined that ensured the peak energy in a particular aperture at a particular distance was less than a particular value. In some embodiments, a rule for the firing pattern of the lasers would be no lasers that produce two or more optical beams that overlap in any eye-safety measurement aperture associate with the illuminator are operated simultaneously. This rule would apply to a system in which each laser generated an optical beam that produced the maximum energy allowed within the eye-safety measurement aperture.
Another aspect of the present teaching is that various operating specifications, such as laser power operating variations and the mechanical tolerances for positioning the optical beams in the illuminator can be achieved by appropriate choice of the rules for firing (energizing or activating) patterns for the lasers.
Various embodiments of the LIDAR systems of the present teaching utilize multiple cluster VCSEL devices on a single chip.
For the particular confirmation shown in
The use of one contact connected to anodes of one group of laser emitters and a second contact connected to cathodes of a second group of laser emitters can be used to energize one laser emitter, or groups of laser emitters, for a particular bias condition, depending on the configuration of the connections. The anodes connections of various lasers to various contacts and the cathodes connections of various lasers connected to various contacts determine the rules for firing patterns. For example, the known pattern of individual laser emitters, or groups of laser emitters, that are energized together, and the energy the optical beams these lasers generate at a particular eye-safety measurement aperture, are all accounted in a fire control scheme when determining which individual lasers or groups are allowed to fire simultaneously.
The system processor 516 is connected via a digital input/output connection 518. The system processor 516 generates a set of instructions that instructs the laser to fire and for how long. These instructions will determine the firing pattern type. But, the firing pattern generation and biasing of the lasers is done locally on the VCSEL assembly. Generating the laser driver pulse patterns locally on the VCSEL assembly greatly simplifies the required interface to the overall LIDAR system. In some embodiments, the pulse controller 506, memory 508, pulse pattern generator 510 and laser driver 512 functions are all contained within a single IC package. In various embodiments, the VCSEL devices can be hermetically packaged or non-hermetically packaged.
The rules for firing the lasers can be stored in various places in the scanning LIDAR system. In some embodiments, the rules for firing the lasers are stored in memory 508. In some embodiments, the rules for firing the lasers are input via the digital I/O 518. In yet other embodiments, the rules for firing the lasers are generated in the system processor based on operating parameters of the LIDAR system. In yet other embodiments, the rules for firing the lasers are generated in the controller based on operating parameters of the LIDAR system. In yet other embodiments, the rules for firing the lasers change over time based on changes in output power, pulse widths, and repetition rates provided by the laser driver assembly 500.
One feature of the present teaching is that a combination of the spacing of the transmitter elements and/or the transmitter arrays, the firing pattern of the transmitter elements, and the optics used for projection and/or collimation determine if and where in space laser beams will overlap. In addition, separate arrays with separate wavelengths may be used.
However, if the beams are highly collimated, then we need to consider the other eye safety criteria corresponding to use of binoculars.
While the Applicant's teaching are described in conjunction with various embodiments, it is not intended that the Applicant's teaching be limited to such embodiments. On the contrary, the Applicant's teaching encompass various alternatives, modifications, and equivalents, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, which may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the teaching.
The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/915,840, filed on filed on Mar. 8, 2018, entitled “Eye-Safe Scanning LIDAR System”, which claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/470,827, entitled “Eye-Safe Scanning LIDAR System”, filed on Mar. 13, 2017. The entire contents of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/915,840, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/470,827 are all herein incorporated by reference.
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Office Action received for Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-7036873, dated Mar. 29, 2023, 22 pages (12 pages of English Translation and 10 pages of Official Copy). |
Notice of Allowance received for Japanese Patent Application Serial No. 2021-100687, dated Aug. 31, 2023, 03 pages of Official Copy. |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application Serial No. 2023-000154, dated Sep. 1, 2023, 9 pages (6 pages of English Translation and 3 pages of Official Copy). |
Notice of Allowance received for Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 201880017776.0, dated Sep. 27, 2023, 4 pages of Official Copy Only. |
Non-Final Office Action received for U.S. Appl. No. 18/183,748, dated Jun. 12, 2023, 8 pages. |
Non-Final Office Action received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/523,459, dated Sep. 13, 2022, 11 pages. |
International Preliminary Report on Patentability received for PCT Application Serial No. PCT/US2021/020749, dated Sep. 15, 2022, 8 pages. |
Notice of Allowance received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/805,733, dated Nov. 10, 2022, 5 pages. |
Notice of Allowance received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/841,930, dated Oct. 3, 2022, 8 pages. |
Non-Final Office Action received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/168,054, dated Oct. 20, 2022, 16 pages. |
Notice of Allowance received for U.S. Appl. No. 17/164,773, dated Nov. 2, 2022, 8 pages. |
Notice of Allowance received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/805,733, dated Jan. 25, 2023, 5 pages. |
Office Action received for Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 201780024892.0, dated Sep. 2, 2022, 28 pages (11 pages of English Translation and 17 pages of Official Copy). |
Extended European Search Report received in European Application No. 20787345.6, dated Dec. 5, 2022, 8 pages. |
Final Office Action received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/878,140, dated Feb. 1, 2023, 26 pages. |
Notice of Allowance received for U.S. Appl. No. 17/164,773, dated Feb. 1, 2023, 8 pages. |
Notice of Allowance received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/841,930, dated Jan. 30, 2023, 9 pages. |
International Search Report and Written Opinion received for PCT Patent Application No. PCT/US2022/028297, dated Mar. 13, 2023, 11 pages. |
Restriction Requirement received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/941,896, dated Jan. 24, 2023, 06 pages. |
Partial European Search Report received for European Patent Application No. 22178999.3, dated Oct. 10, 2022, 22 pages. |
Decision to Grant received for Korean Patent Application Serial No. 10-2022-7021139, dated Dec. 14, 2022, 3 pages (1 page of English Translation and 2 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-020502, dated Jan. 23, 2023, 6 pages (4 pages of English Translation and 2 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-7016081, dated Oct. 25, 2022, 4 pages (2 pages of English Translation and 2 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application Serial No. 2021-199077, dated Dec. 23, 2022, 9 pages (6 pages of English Translation and 3 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-7028820, dated Dec. 15, 2022, 12 pages (6 pages of English Translation and 6 pages of Official Copy). |
Extended European Search Report received for European Patent Application No. 20815113.4, dated Jan. 31, 2023, 14 pages. |
Partial European Search Report received for European Patent Application No. 20822328.9, dated Feb. 6, 2023, 20 pages. |
Office Action received for Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-7004969, dated Jan. 9, 2023, 11 pages (6 pages of English Translation and 5 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application Serial No. 2020-552870, dated Nov. 29, 2022, 11 pages (7 pages of English Translation and 4 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application Serial No. 2022-002790, dated Dec. 26, 2022, 10 pages (7 pages of English Translation and 3 pages of Official Copy). |
Decision to Grant received for Korean Patent Application Serial No. 10-2020-7029872, dated Nov. 28, 2022, 3 pages (1 page of English Translation and 2 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-7015754, dated Dec. 12, 2022, 21 pages (11 pages of English Translation and 10 pages of Official Copy). |
Notice of Allowance received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/366,729, dated Mar. 8, 2023, 7 pages. |
Extended European Search Report received for European Patent Application No. 22178999.3, dated Mar. 6, 2023, 25 pages. |
International Search Report and Written Opinion received for PCT Patent Application No. PCT/US2022/019054, dated Feb. 20, 2023, 13 pages. |
Office Action received for Korean Application Serial No. 10-2021-7036300, dated Feb. 9, 2023, 14 pages (7 pages of English Translation and 7 pages of Official Copy). |
Decision to Grant received for Korean Patent Application Serial No. 10-2021-7040665, dated Feb. 23, 2023, 3 pages (1 page of English Translation and 2 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 201880017776.0, dated Feb. 16, 2023, 22 pages (10 pages of English Translation and 12 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 201880074279.4, dated Mar. 1, 2023, 23 pages (9 pages of English Translation and 14 pages of Official Copy). |
Notice of Allowance received for U.S. Appl. No. 17/164,773, dated Apr. 5, 2023, 8 pages. |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application Serial No. 2021-100687, dated Mar. 14, 2023, 05 pages. (3 pages of English Translation and 2 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-526502, dated Mar. 14, 2023, 8 pages (5 pages of English Translation and 3 pages of Official Copy). |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-168642, dated Mar. 15, 2023, 2 pages. |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-80688, dated Mar. 17, 2023, 11 pages (7 pages of English Translation and 4 pages of Official Copy). |
Non-Final Office Action received for U.S. Appl. No. 17/155,626, dated Apr. 12, 2023, 24 pages. |
Notice of Allowance received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/841,930, dated Apr. 17, 2023, 9 pages. |
Final Office Action received for U.S. Appl. No. 16/523,459, dated Apr. 14, 2023, 13 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20210231779 A1 | Jul 2021 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62470827 | Mar 2017 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15915840 | Mar 2018 | US |
Child | 17227295 | US |