CN115267727A - Optical detection device and running vehicle - Google Patents

Optical detection device and running vehicle Download PDF

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Publication number
CN115267727A
CN115267727A CN202110489208.4A CN202110489208A CN115267727A CN 115267727 A CN115267727 A CN 115267727A CN 202110489208 A CN202110489208 A CN 202110489208A CN 115267727 A CN115267727 A CN 115267727A
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CN
China
Prior art keywords
light
signal
optical
detection device
detection
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Pending
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CN202110489208.4A
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Chinese (zh)
Inventor
朱雪洲
杨晋
曾昭明
孙恺
向少卿
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Hesai Technology Co Ltd
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Hesai Technology Co Ltd
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Filing date
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Application filed by Hesai Technology Co Ltd filed Critical Hesai Technology Co Ltd
Priority to CN202110489208.4A priority Critical patent/CN115267727A/en
Priority to DE112022001295.1T priority patent/DE112022001295T5/en
Priority to JP2023563335A priority patent/JP2024515659A/en
Priority to PCT/CN2022/073477 priority patent/WO2022227733A1/en
Priority to EP22794214.1A priority patent/EP4332617A1/en
Priority to KR1020237034759A priority patent/KR20230158019A/en
Publication of CN115267727A publication Critical patent/CN115267727A/en
Priority to US18/385,065 priority patent/US20240061114A1/en
Pending legal-status Critical Current

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    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01SRADIO 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
    • G01S7/00Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/481Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements
    • G01S7/4814Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements of transmitters alone
    • G01S7/4815Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements of transmitters alone using multiple transmitters
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01SRADIO 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
    • G01S7/00Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/481Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements
    • G01S7/4816Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements of receivers alone
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01SRADIO 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
    • G01S7/00Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/483Details of pulse systems
    • G01S7/484Transmitters
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01SRADIO 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
    • G01S7/00Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/483Details of pulse systems
    • G01S7/486Receivers
    • G01S7/4861Circuits for detection, sampling, integration or read-out
    • G01S7/4863Detector arrays, e.g. charge-transfer gates

Abstract

The application provides optical detection device and vehicle that traveles, wherein optical detection device includes: a window; a light emitting terminal configured to output a transmission signal; a light detection end configured to detect an echo signal of the emission signal; the optical signal redirection component is configured to deflect the transmitting signal through movement, so that the transmitting signal is emitted out of a window of the optical detection device, the scanning of a field of view in a second direction is realized, and the echo signal is redirected, so that the echo signal is transmitted to the optical detection end; wherein, the light path of emission signal and the light path of echo signal constitute the overlap at least between window to light signal redirection subassembly. Through setting up the receiving and dispatching end about relatively in this application embodiment, rather than piling up from top to bottom, can keep or even reduce the device height under the prerequisite that does not influence the detection performance, and can reduce closely the blind area.

Description

Optical detection device and traveling vehicle
Technical Field
The application relates to the technical field of optical ranging, in particular to an optical detection device and a traveling carrier.
Background
The laser radar is a device which can realize external detection by emitting laser and receiving an echo signal which is returned after the laser reaches the surface of a target object. The laser radar used on the automatic driving vehicle needs to meet a plurality of parameter requirements, including large point cloud density, wide view field, no blind area, high refreshing frequency, small volume, low energy consumption, low price and the like.
Generally, the lidar is configured such that a transmitting module and a receiving module are stacked up and down. Wherein the transmitting module may comprise a laser and the receiving module may comprise a detector.
However, such a solution brings with it a number of problems. Firstly, such lidar is bulky and difficult to hide in the typical installation space of a vehicle, such as in the vehicle lights, in the roof of the vehicle. In the case where the receiving module and the transmitting module are stacked one on top of the other, since the total height of the product needs to be greater than the total height of the two modules after stacking, it is difficult to reduce the total height of the lidar product. The forced reduction of the height of the radar can cause the sacrifice of parameters such as the field angle of the radar or the wiring harness and the like; accordingly, the amount of echo signals that may be received by the detector decreases, and the signal-to-noise ratio parameters, that is, the distance and reflectivity data of the target object detected by the radar may be inaccurate, thereby deteriorating the performance of the radar. In such a case, a high beam quantity lidar, such as 32-line or more (e.g., 32-line, 64-line, 128-line, etc.) lidar, cannot be implemented.
Secondly, such lidar suffers from close range blind spots. Because emission module and receiving module set up from top to bottom, when surveying apart from the target object of laser radar closely within range, the echo signal that laser instrument outgoing laser obtained through the reflection can mostly fall outside the visual field of detector, so cause that laser radar's detector can not receive echo signal or received echo signal extremely weak to produce closely the blind area.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of the above disadvantages of the prior art, the present application provides an optical detection apparatus and a traveling vehicle, which solve the problems of the prior art.
To achieve the above and other related objects, a first aspect of the present application provides a light detecting device, including: a window; a light emitting end including a light emitter array configured to output a transmission signal; the light emitter array comprises N rows of light emitters which are staggered with each other, each row of light emitters extends along a first direction, and N is more than 1; an optical probe end comprising: a photodetector array configured to detect an echo signal reflected by the transmitted signal after encountering an obstacle; the light detector array comprises M rows of light detectors which are staggered with each other, each row of light detectors extends along the first direction, and M is more than 1; the light emitter array and the light detector array form a plurality of detection channels to form scanning of a first-direction field of view, each detection channel comprises at least one light emitter and at least one light detector, and each detection channel corresponds to one first-direction field of view; the optical signal redirection assembly is configured to deflect the emission signal through movement, so that the emission signal is emitted out of a window of the optical detection device, scanning of a field of view in a second direction is achieved, and the echo signal is redirected, so that the echo signal is transmitted to the optical detection end; wherein, the light path of transmission signal and the light path of echo signal constitute the overlap at least between window to light signal redirection subassembly.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the light emitters in the array of light emitters are vertical cavity surface laser emitters; the light emitter contained in the light emitting end is provided with a micro lens array for collimating the emitted signal.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, each of the light emitters comprises a plurality of light emitting units, each of the microlens units in the microlens array being disposed in one-to-one correspondence with and in shape-matching relation with a light emitting unit; the plurality of light emitting units are arranged in a polygon shape, and each micro lens unit is in a corresponding polygon shape and is spliced with each other.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the microlens array is separately disposed from the light emitters or imprinted on the light emitting faces of the light emitters.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the light emitter is a back-emitting semiconductor structure, and the microlens array is imprinted on a surface of a substrate of the semiconductor structure.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, during one signal transmission process from sending a transmission signal to detecting a corresponding echo signal, a plurality of optical signal transmission detection channels in an operating state are formed between the activated plurality of optical transmitters in the optical transmitter array and the activated plurality of optical receivers in the optical receiver array respectively; the optical transmitter array comprises a plurality of optical transmitter groups and/or the optical receiver array comprises a plurality of optical receiver groups; the activated light emitters belong to different light emitter groups respectively and/or the activated light receivers belong to different light receiver groups respectively.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the individual light emitters of each light emitter group and/or the individual light detectors of each light detector group are activated in turn during multiple signal transmissions.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the optical detection device performs the distance measurement operation during a predetermined number of signal transmission processes, and then performs the proximity measurement operation during the next signal transmission process.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, a first number of the light emitters of the central region of the array of light emitters in the first direction are activated in a distance measuring motion, and a second number of the light emitters are activated in a near measuring motion; the first number is greater than the second number.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, there are a plurality of detection distances corresponding to the distancing actions; wherein the closer the position of the activated light emitter in the array of light emitters is to the center, the farther away the distance corresponding to the desired detection.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the signal characteristics differ between optical signals transmitted in respective probe channels operating in the same signaling process.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the transmitted signal comprises one or more pulsed signals; the dimensions of the signal features include: wavelength, pulse width, number of pulses, pulse peak value, and inter-pulse time interval.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the light emitter array and the light detector array are cooperatively configured to achieve a beam size of 32 wires or more.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the optical signal redirection component comprises: the rotating piece is controlled to rotate and comprises at least one reflecting surface and is suitable for receiving echo signals and/or outputting transmitting signals; and a first redirection member which is positioned in the optical path of the transmitting signal and the optical path of the receiving signal, is configured to output one of the transmitting signal and the echo signal to the rotating member, and is provided with a passing part for the other of the echo signal and the transmitting signal to pass through.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the passage comprises: one or more voids formed laterally and/or medially of the first redirection.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the first redirection member comprises: a first region for outputting the transmission signal to the rotary member, and a second region outside the first region for transmitting the echo signal.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the light detecting means comprises: and the light shielding part is arranged on a transmission path of the emission signal which transmits the first redirection part.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, at least part of an end surface of the first redirecting element remote from the end of the rotating element is configured as a first reflecting surface; the first reflecting surface and the axis of a first optical path section leading to the first redirection piece in the optical path of the transmitting signal are configured to form a first preset included angle so as to deviate the optical signal transmitted along the first optical path section from the optical path of the receiving signal; and/or at least part of the end surface of one end of the first redirection part far away from the rotating part is configured as a second reflection surface; and a second preset included angle is formed between the second reflecting surface and the axis of a second optical path section starting from the first redirection piece in the optical path of the received signal, so that the optical signal transmitted along the second optical path section deviates from the optical path of the transmitted signal.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, an end surface of the first redirection member near one end of the rotation member is configured to be parallel to an axial direction of a light path segment of a light path between the rotation member and the first redirection member receiving the signal.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the rotating member comprises more than two reflective surfaces.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the first redirecting element is encapsulated in a first sheath that extends along the optical path of the transmitted signal in a direction towards the light-emitting end.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the first redirection member has a size proportional to the divergence angle of the outgoing light beam and inversely proportional to the cross-section of the return light beam.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the light detecting device includes: and the transmitting and receiving lens is arranged between the rotating piece and the first redirecting piece, and is used for converging the echo signals from one side of the rotating piece, transmitting the echo signals to the passing part of the first redirecting piece and allowing the transmitting signals from one side of the first redirecting piece to pass.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the light emitting end corresponds to a second sleeve end; the second sleeve body extends to the first redirection piece along the optical path of the emission signal, and an optical output port is formed at the other end of the second sleeve body; and/or the optical detection end corresponds to one end of the third sleeve; the third sleeve extends along the optical path of the received signal to the first redirection member and forms an optical input port at the other end.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the light detecting device includes: and the second lens is arranged in the optical path of the received signal and positioned between the optical detection end and the first redirection piece.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the second lens is erected at a predetermined offset angle with respect to a longitudinal direction of the light detecting device to deflect the light incident at the edge field angle away from the light detector array.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the light detection device comprises: and the control module is used for compensating echo signals received by the optical transmission detection channels corresponding to the corresponding field angles far away from the rotating piece.
In some embodiments of the first aspect, the light detection device is a forward-facing lidar, M = N > 32.
To achieve the above and other related objects, a driving vehicle according to a second aspect of the present application includes: a light detection device as claimed in any one of the first aspect.
In some embodiments of the second aspect, the vehicle is a vehicle, and the light detection device is a forward lidar and is mounted to a front portion of the vehicle.
In summary, the present application provides an optical detection device and a traveling vehicle, wherein the optical detection device includes: a window; a light emitting terminal configured to output a transmission signal; an optical detection end configured to detect an echo signal of the emission signal; the optical signal redirection component is configured to deflect the transmitting signal through movement, so that the transmitting signal is emitted out of a window of the optical detection device, the scanning of a field of view in a second direction is realized, and the echo signal is redirected, so that the echo signal is transmitted to the optical detection end; wherein, the light path of transmission signal and the light path of echo signal constitute the overlap at least between window to light signal redirection subassembly. The embodiment of the application realizes the overlapping of the light paths of the transmitting signals and the echo signals, is not limited by the up-down stacking mode of the transmitting and receiving modules, can effectively reduce the height of the device without influencing the detection performance, and can eliminate the close-range blind area due to the overlapping of the transmitting and receiving light paths.
Drawings
Fig. 1 shows a schematic structure of a transmirror lidar in an example.
Fig. 2A shows a schematic diagram of an optical path in a lidar detection process in an example.
Fig. 2B shows a schematic diagram of a short-distance blind area in an example.
Fig. 3A shows a schematic top perspective structure view of a light detection device in an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 3B shows a front view of an arrangement of the light emitter array according to an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 3C is a left partial structural view of fig. 3B.
Fig. 4A is a schematic top perspective view of a light detecting device according to an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 4B is a schematic top perspective view of a light detecting device with a shape-changing rotating member according to another embodiment of the present application.
FIG. 4C shows a side view schematic diagram of the light detecting device in FIG. 4A.
Fig. 5 shows a schematic top-down perspective structure of the light detection device according to the first modified example of the present application.
Fig. 6 shows a schematic top-down perspective structure of a light detection device according to a second variation of the present application.
Fig. 7 shows a schematic plan view of a first redirection member in a third variant example of the application.
Fig. 8 is a partial structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present application including a first reorienting member and a rotating member.
Fig. 9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a first redirection member in a fourth variation example of the present application.
Fig. 10 shows a schematic top-down structure of a light detection device in another embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 11A and 11B are schematic top perspective views illustrating an optical detection apparatus according to two embodiments of the present disclosure.
Fig. 12A is a schematic view showing a structure in which division of the light emitter group is performed according to the example of fig. 3B.
Fig. 12B is a waveform diagram showing the pulse width as the signal characteristic of the corresponding detection channel according to an embodiment of the present application.
FIG. 12C is a waveform diagram showing the pulse time interval as the signal characteristic of the corresponding detection channel according to an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 13A shows a schematic structural diagram of a microlens array in an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 13B shows a schematic structural diagram of a microlens array in another embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 14A is a schematic top perspective view of a window structure of a light detecting device according to an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 14B shows a perspective view of the window structure of the light detection device in fig. 14A.
Detailed Description
The following description of the embodiments of the present application is provided by way of specific examples, and other advantages and effects of the present application will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein. The present application is capable of other and different embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways, and its several details are capable of modification in various respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. It should be noted that, in the present application, the embodiments and features of the embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict.
Embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art to which the present application pertains can easily carry out the present application. The present application may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.
In order to clearly explain the present application, components that are not related to the description are omitted, and the same reference numerals are given to the same or similar components throughout the specification.
Throughout the specification, when a device is referred to as being "connected" to another device, this includes not only the case of being "directly connected" but also the case of being "indirectly connected" with another element interposed therebetween. In addition, when a device "includes" a certain component, unless otherwise stated, the device does not exclude other components, but may include other components.
When a device is said to be "on" another device, this may be directly on the other device, but may also be accompanied by other devices in between. When a device is said to be "directly on" another device, there are no other devices in between.
Although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements in some instances, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, the first interface and the second interface, etc. are described. Also, as used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes" and/or "including," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, components, items, species, and/or groups, but do not preclude the presence, or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, items, species, and/or groups thereof. The terms "or" and/or "as used herein are to be construed as inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Thus, "a, B or C" or "a, B and/or C" means "any of the following: a; b; c; a and B; a and C; b and C; A. b and C ". An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or operations are inherently mutually exclusive in some way.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural forms as long as the words do not expressly indicate a contrary meaning. The terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of other features, regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
The use of spatially relative terms such as "lower," "upper," and the like may be used to more readily describe one device's relationship to another device as illustrated in the figures. This term is intended to include not only the meaning indicated in the drawings, but also other meanings or operations of the device in use. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as "below" other elements would then be oriented "above" the other elements. Thus, the exemplary terms "under" and "beneath" all include above and below. The device may be rotated 90 or other angles and the terminology representing relative space is also to be interpreted accordingly.
Although not defined differently, including technical and scientific terms used herein, all terms have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. The terms defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having meanings consistent with those of the related art documents and the present prompts, and must not be excessively interpreted as having ideal or very formulaic meanings unless defined otherwise.
In general, the laser radar is in a form in which a transmitting module and a receiving module are stacked up and down.
Take a rotating mirror scanning laser radar as an example. Referring to fig. 1, a schematic diagram of a structure of a relay-type lidar in an example is shown.
The mirror scanning lidar 10 includes a single laser 11, a transmitting lens 12, a mirror 13, a receiving lens 14, and a single photodetector 15. Wherein, the laser 11 and the light detector 15 are stacked up and down. The laser 11 is positioned above and used for emitting light to emit laser as an emission signal, and the central axis of the light emitting surface of the laser 11 is A1; the optical detector 15 is located below the laser 11 and configured to receive light of an echo signal of the transmitted signal, and a central axis of a receiving surface of the optical detector 15 is B1. The transmitting lens 12 is used for processing such as collimating the transmitted signal, and the receiving lens 14 is used for processing the echo signal converged to the optical detector 15.
The turning mirror 13 is controllably rotatable, shown in the figure as being rotatable in the counterclockwise direction of the X arrow. In this example, the turning mirror 13 is dimensioned larger to be able to transmit the transmit signal and the echo signal separately in different areas on one or more surfaces, the transmit signal emitted by the transmission laser 11 being transmitted via the transmit lens 12 to the turning mirror 13. In cooperation, the rotating mirror 13 rotates to a predetermined position, so that one surface of the rotating mirror receives a transmitting signal, the signal is reflected and then emitted to the external environment along an arrow C, and the optical axis of an emitting optical path is A2. Accordingly, the echo signal is incident on the photodetector 15 through the receiving lens 14 along the optical path with the optical axis B2 as indicated by arrow D, where the optical axes B2 and B1 are connected, and the dotted shading schematically shows the spot where the light beam falls.
As will be understood from the drawings, since the height of the entire radar is at least equal to the total height of the laser 11 and the photodetector 15, the structure in which the laser 11 and the photodetector 15 are stacked one above the other has a problem that the height is difficult to be reduced, and the size of the turning mirror 13 is made larger to cover the landing points of the transmission signal and the return signal in cooperation with the structure in this example, which increases the size of the entire turning mirror scanning lidar. If the size of the laser radar scanned by the rotating mirror is reduced, the effective aperture of radar receiving and transmitting is inevitably reduced, the field angle of the radar is reduced, and the performance of the radar is obviously deteriorated. In addition, the solution shown in fig. 1 cannot meet the high beam quantity (such as 32 lines or more, for example, 32 lines, 64 lines, 128 lines) radar product requirement of the mainstream requirement of the future automatic driving field,
in addition, the structure of stacking up and down can cause the problem of short-distance detection blind area.
As shown in fig. 2A, a schematic diagram of an optical path during lidar detection in an example is shown.
In order to detect a distant target object E1, the field of view of the receiving module 22 is configured to correspondingly receive an echo signal of a transmission signal reflected at a distant position (for example, 200 meters away from the laser radar, as shown by the rightmost vertical solid line in fig. 2A). Therefore, in a range of a certain distance (for example, several meters, tens of meters, or tens of meters) close to the laser radar, the transmitting signal transmitted by the transmitting module 21 may fall outside the field of view (FOV) of the receiving module 22 after being transmitted through the transmitting lens 23, so that the receiving module 22 may not receive the echo signal reflected by the target object or the received echo signal is very weak, and thus a short-distance blind area is formed. In fig. 2A, the near blind area is schematically represented by an area F between two broken lines.
Specifically, referring to fig. 2B, if there is an object E2 in the area a, when the transmitting signal is reflected to the object E2 to form an echo signal, the imaging point G formed by the receiving lens 24 of the echo signal does not fall on the focal plane of the receiving lens 24, but is behind the focal plane. In addition, since the close-distance target is above the optical axis of the receiving lens 24, its imaging point by the receiving lens 24 is necessarily below the optical axis of the receiving lens 24. Combining these two factors, it can be known that the position of the imaging point G of the target object E2 at a short distance is completely deviated from the receiving module 22, so that the receiving module 22 of the laser radar cannot completely receive the reflected signal of the target.
The reason why the above-mentioned close range blind zone is caused is that an optical path of a transmission signal of the transmission signal and an optical axis of an optical path of a reception signal of the echo signal have an angle therebetween, as shown by α in fig. 2A, such an optical path structure may also be referred to as "paraxial".
In addition to the above, such paraxial optical path structures may also affect performance of lidar signal detection, for example, causing variability between detection channels. First, defining a "detection channel," if the lidar is provided with a plurality of lasers or a multi-beam lidar, each row/column of light emitters may extend along a certain direction, and similarly, each row/column of light detectors may extend along a certain direction, thereby collectively forming a scan of a field of view corresponding to the extending direction (for example, a vertical field of view corresponding to the column direction, a horizontal field of view corresponding to the row direction, and the like). The measurement dimension of the Field of view (FOV) is often referred to as the Field angle, and the horizontal FOV is 100 ° and the vertical FOV is 120 °. Each detection channel may include at least one laser and at least one detector, and each detection channel corresponds to one of the directional fields of view (which may be, for example, a vertical field of view or a horizontal field of view). In other words, the 1 detection channel may be composed of a plurality of lasers and 1 detector, may be composed of one laser and a plurality of detectors, or may be composed of one laser and one detector. In other words, one or more lasers and one or more corresponding photodetectors form a detection channel, where the correspondence refers to the correspondence between the laser emitting the transmission signal and the photodetector receiving the echo signal of the transmission signal, that is, the lasers and the photodetectors corresponding to the same detection field, for example, 1 laser and 1 detector form 1 detection channel of the lidar, and the multiple detection channels are also called "multilines" in the radar field.
Due to the paraxial light path structure in fig. 2A, the position and orientation of each detection channel with respect to the same obstacle are different, and further, the optical response curves (for example, describing the relationship between the light intensity and the distance of the target) of each channel are different and have a large difference, and finally, it is difficult to measure the distance and the reflectivity of the obstacle according to the echo signal.
In view of the problems in the above examples, the light detection device provided in the embodiments of the present application innovatively abandons the paraxial optical path, and utilizes the at least partially overlapped light receiving and emitting paths to solve the above problems.
FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram showing a top perspective structure of a scanning type optical detection device with high beam (the beam may be greater than or equal to 32) according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The internal perspective result of the light detection device in the transverse plane is shown in fig. 3A in a top view. For clarity, the housing of the light detection device is not shown in the figures. The transverse plane may be a plane perpendicular to the height direction of the light detection means, which may for example be a horizontal plane or other plane.
The light detection means 30 comprises a window 31, through which window 31 both the emission signal is emitted and the echo signal is received. Wherein the echo signal is formed by the reflection of the transmitted signal after encountering an obstacle. For example, a flat window glass may be installed at the window 31. In other embodiments, the window 31 may have a curved surface. The light detecting means 30 comprises a light emitting end 32 and a light detecting end 33. The light emitting end 32 is configured to output a transmission signal; and the optical detection end 33 configured to detect an echo signal of the transmission signal. Illustratively, the housing may define a space therein for the light emitting end 32 and the light detecting end 33.
The light emitting end 32 may comprise an array of light emitters. Fig. 3B shows a schematic front view of an arrangement of the light emitter array according to an embodiment of the present application.
The light emitter array may include N columns of light emitters staggered with respect to each other, each column of light emitters extending in a first direction forming a scan of a field of view in the first direction, N > 1. Illustratively, the first directional field of view may be a vertical field of view. Alternatively, the fields of view of adjacent light emitters in a column may not overlap each other. Specifically, in a light emitter column, each light emitter corresponds to a vertical field of view, so the combination of the vertical fields of view of the individual light emitters in a column corresponds to the vertical field of view of the light emitter column (the field of view of the light emitter row is obtained in the same way), and the combination of the vertical fields of view of the individual light emitter columns corresponds to the vertical field of view of the light detection device.
For clarity of the staggered structure of the light emitter rows, please refer to fig. 3B and fig. 3C. Fig. 3C is a left partial structural view of fig. 3B. The light emitter array 321 is disposed on a circuit board 322 (PCB). The light emitter columns on the left side are not aligned with the adjacent light emitter columns on the right side in the column direction, so that the staggering is formed. More specifically, the first light emitter b1 in the light emitter column on the right side is slightly lower than a1, and is higher than the second light emitter a2 on the left side. Wherein, the absolute value of the vertical field angle corresponding to a1 is larger than the absolute value of the vertical field angle corresponding to the optical emitter b1 is larger than the absolute value of the vertical field angle corresponding to a2. The offset is a displacement of the two rows of light emitters from each other in the first direction, and may be understood as a non-overlapping of at least some of the angles of view of each laser in the first direction (e.g., the vertical direction).
As can be seen from fig. 3C, b1 fills the gap between a1 and a2 in the column direction when viewed from the side, so that the light emitters in the column direction are more densely distributed, thereby improving the vertical resolution of the light detection device. Solid-state scanning (1D solid-state) in one dimension in the column direction (corresponding to the vertical field of view) may be achieved by, for example, an arrangement of linear arrays of light emitters in fig. 3B. Similarly, in other embodiments, the adjacent light emitter rows may also be staggered in the row direction, which is not described herein.
On one hand, the linear array light emitter arrays shown in fig. 3B and 3C reduce the number of light emitters and reduce the cost compared to, for example, a square array. On the other hand, compared with the multi-column laser, the staggered structure of the adjacent light emitter columns in the linear array has smaller size and higher resolution.
In some embodiments, each optical transmitter may be a Laser, such as a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL), an Edge Emitting Laser (EEL), or the like. Accordingly, the light detecting end 33 may include a photodetector array, wherein each photodetector (also referred to as a detector or a photodetector) may be implemented by an Avalanche Photodiode (APD) or a Silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), for example.
The light detection device 30 also includes a light signal redirection assembly 34. The redirection refers to changing/deflecting the direction of an input optical signal and re-determining the transmission direction of an output optical signal through optical reflection, refraction, transmission and other processing modes of the optical signal. As shown in fig. 3, the optical signal redirecting assembly 34 is configured to move to deflect the transmission signal so that the transmission signal exits from the window 31 of the optical detection device 30, to scan the field of view in the second direction, and to redirect the echo signal so that the echo signal is transmitted to the optical detection end 32. The light signal redirection assembly 34 may move in different patterns. If the optical signal redirection assembly is a turning mirror, the movement may be a turning, specifically, a clockwise turning of 300 ° or 360 ° rotation, or may be a reciprocating movement, such as reciprocating back and forth between-50 ° - +50 °. Alternatively still, if the optical signal redirection component is a galvanometer, this motion may be oscillatory.
Wherein the optical paths of the transmitted signal and the received signal at least include an overlap between the window 31 and the optical signal redirection component 34. The overlap may mean that the optical paths are coaxial, i.e. the two optical path segments have coinciding optical axes, as shown by J in the figure. It will be appreciated that the coaxial optical path structure avoids the problems associated with the paraxial optical path structure of the previous example, in which both the transmit signal and the echo signal pass through overlapping optical paths within the optical detection device 30. Further, under the reflection action of the reflection surface 341, the optical path of the transmission signal and the optical path of the reception signal are also overlapped in the optical path segment with the optical axis K.
The optical signal redirection component 3 may further implement separation between the optical path of the transmitted signal and the optical path of the received signal between other optical path segments. For example, a reflecting surface 37 is provided in the optical path of the optical axis K for deflecting the emission signal of the light emitting end 32 into the overlapping optical path section.
Here, by using the optical path of the transmission signal and the optical path of the reception signal which are overlapped, it is not necessary to adopt the structure in which the transmission and reception modules are stacked up and down in the foregoing example, and the height of the optical detection device 30 is effectively reduced. As can be seen from the structure illustrated in fig. 3A, in a transverse plane presented by a top view of the optical detection apparatus 30, the window 31, the light emitting end 32, the light detecting end 33 and the light signal redirecting component 34 are arranged relatively left and right on the transverse plane; at least one vertical side surface of each of the window 31, the light emitting end 32, the light detecting end 33 and the light signal redirecting assembly 34 is an optical surface, and the vertical side surfaces are correspondingly arranged to form a transversely extending light path for emitting signals and a transversely extending light path for receiving signals, so that the overall height of the radar is not increased.
In a specific example, the optical signal redirection component 34 may include: one or more optical surfaces for effecting light redirection, e.g., by one or more combinations of reflection, refraction, convergence, diffusion, and the like. The one or more optical surfaces may be located on the carrier member. By way of further example, the carrier member may be rotating (e.g. a rotating mirror in a rotating mirror scanning lidar) or stationary (e.g. a mirror, a refractor, a lens assembly, etc.).
In a specific example, a first lens 35 may be disposed in front of the light emitting end 32 for collimating and transmitting the emission signal of the light emitting end 32. The first lens 35 may be, for example, a plano-convex lens with a convex surface facing the light emitting end 32. A second lens 36 may be disposed in front of the optical detection end 33 for focusing the passing echo signals toward the optical detection end 33. The second lens 36 may be, for example, a plano-convex lens with its plane facing the optical detection end 33. It should be noted that the light emitting end 32, the first lens 35 (or lens group) and the reflector 37 can be packaged as a emitting module, and the light detecting end 33 and the second lens 36 can be packaged as a receiving module, so as to improve the convenience of assembly.
Fig. 4A is a schematic top perspective view of a light detecting device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the example of FIG. 4A, the specific structure of the optical signal redirection assembly 34 in one embodiment is illustrated.
In the example of fig. 4A, in addition to the window 31, the light emitting end 32, the light detecting end 33, the first lens 35, and the second lens 36 illustrated in fig. 3A, it is also illustrated that the optical signal redirecting component 34 may specifically include: a rotating member 41 and a first redirection member 42.
The rotating member 41, which is controlled to rotate, is shown in the example of fig. 4A as a one-dimensional rotation in a transverse plane (in the figure schematically in a counterclockwise direction as indicated by the arrow), so that a scanning of a horizontal field of view (with respect to a vertical field of view) can be achieved. It will be appreciated that although the above examples show vertical field of view scanning by the light emitters arranged in a column direction, and horizontal field of view scanning by one-dimensional rotation of the rotating member in a transverse direction, the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the angle of the light detecting device may be changed, for example, compared to 90 degrees in fig. 4A, so as to realize vertical field scanning by one-dimensional rotation of the rotating member and horizontal field scanning by the light emitters changed from "column" to "row".
For example, the rotating member 41 may be sleeved outside the rotating shaft of the motor to rotate therewith when the motor drives the rotating shaft to rotate. The rotating member 41 includes at least one reflecting surface used by an optical path of a transmission signal and an optical path of a reception signal. When there is only one reflecting surface, the optical path of the transmitting signal and the optical path of the receiving signal can share the reflecting surface; when there are a plurality of reflecting surfaces, the optical path of the transmission signal and the optical path of the reception signal may not share the same reflecting surface of the rotating member 41. In the example of fig. 4A, the rotating member 41 is exemplarily illustrated as a rectangular body, and two opposite vertical sides 411 and 412 thereof may be reflecting surfaces. When the rotating member 41 rotates to a predetermined position, such as the position shown in the figure, a reflective surface 411 deflects the emission signal and strikes the window 31, and the emission signal passes through the window 31 and is emitted to the environment outside the optical detection device for detection; when the transmission signal encounters an obstacle to form an echo signal, the echo signal reaches the reflecting surface 411 through the window 31, is deflected by the reflecting surface 411, and reaches the detector 33.
The first redirecting member 42 is located in the optical path of the transmission signal and the optical path of the reception signal, is configured to output the transmission signal to the rotating member 41, and is formed with a passing portion through which the echo signal passes. In the example of fig. 4A, the first redirection member 42 may be implemented as a mirror, which may have a reflective surface 421. In the optical path of the emission signal, the reflection surface 421 is used to reflect the emission signal emitted from the light emitting end 32 to the rotating member 41, and when the rotating member 41 is located at the position shown in fig. 4A, the reflection surface 411 or 412 can receive the emission signal and deflect the signal to the window, and then emit the signal to the outside.
In the example of fig. 4A, said through portions are shown as gaps 43 at both sides of the first redirection member 42, said gaps 43 may be formed between the first redirection member 42 and the inner wall of the housing of the light detection device or other parts arranged within the housing, such as brackets or the like. In the structure illustrated in fig. 4A, in the optical path of the received signal, the echo signal is reflected by one of the reflecting surfaces 411 of the rotating member 41 and transmitted to the first redirecting member 42, and passes through the gap 43 beside the first redirecting member 42 to be received by the optical detection end 33.
Referring to fig. 4A, 4B and 4C together, fig. 4C shows a schematic side view of the light detecting device in fig. 4A or 4B. Specifically, fig. 4C is a schematic structural diagram of the window 31 shown in fig. 4A from a downward viewing angle. In fig. 4A, the structure standing between the light emitting end 32, the light detecting end 33, the rotating member 41 and the first re-directing member 42 can be seen more clearly. For easier understanding, the window 31, the first lens 35 and the second lens 36 are omitted in fig. 4C, and portions of the housing at the upper and lower boundaries are exemplarily added for reference. Therein, it is exemplarily shown that the light emitting end 32 includes a light emitter array 321, and the light detecting end 33 includes a light detector array 331, so as to construct a detecting channel for transmitting and receiving each light signal.
The rotating member 41 may rotate continuously to transmit the transmission signal and receive the echo signal at different times, or may rotate reciprocally to transmit the transmission signal and receive the echo signal at different times. It can be understood that the rotation speed of the rotating member 41, the number of reflecting surfaces, and the switching speed of the light emission of the adjacent laser affect the frame rate of the radar point cloud detection, and each factor needs to be matched to achieve the detection of the preset frame rate. When the detection frame rate is fixed, the required rotation speed can be reduced if the number of the reflecting surfaces is increased. Therefore, the rotating speed of the rotating member 41 and the number of the reflecting surfaces can be set according to actual detection requirements. The number of reflecting surfaces may also be at least two, such as 2, 3, 4 or more, depending on the configuration of the rotating member 41. In a specific example, the rotating member 41 may be a prism. The cross section of the rotating member 41 may be axisymmetric or centrosymmetric to achieve uniform time light signal transmission and reception. For example, in the case of the prism of fig. 4A in which the cross section of the rotating member 41 is rectangular, two opposite surfaces thereof may be reflective surfaces. Alternatively, the rotating member 41 is a prism with a square cross section, and 4 sides thereof may be reflective surfaces. Alternatively, in fig. 4B, the rotating member 41B is shown as a prism with a regular triangle cross section, and 3 side surfaces thereof can be reflective surfaces, and during the rotation, three reflective surfaces can be used for transmitting optical signals in turn, and there is no side surface which is not used for transmitting optical signals. It should be noted that in other examples, the rotating member 41 can be implemented as a prism with a cross section having more polygonal shapes (such as a pentagonal prism, a hexagonal prism, etc.), and is not limited to the above examples.
It will be appreciated that the size, structure and shape of the first redirecting element may affect the performance of the optical detection end in detecting the echo signal. For this reason, the present application provides various modified examples based on the structure in fig. 4B described above to help further improve the performance of the light detection device.
Fig. 5 is a schematic top perspective view of a light detecting device according to a first modified example of the present application.
In the example of fig. 5, the main difference compared to the previous embodiment is that the position between the light emitting end 52 and the light detecting end 53 is interchanged and the first redirection member is changed to two sub-redirection members 54 and 55 at intervals. The two sub-redirectors 54 and 55 have a gap between them as a pass-through for passing the transmitted signal and reflecting it out of the viewing window 51 via the rotating element 57. Accordingly, alternatively, the first lens 56 may correspond to the size of the gap. The surfaces of the two sub-redirecting- members 54 and 55 on the side opposite to the rotating member 57 are reflective surfaces for reflecting the echo signal incident on the window 51 and transmitted through the rotating member 57 to the optical detection terminal 53 through the second lens 58. Alternatively, the two sub-redirectors 54 and 55 may be parallel. As a further alternative, the two sub-redirectors 54 and 55 may be in the same plane and aligned along a straight line with both sides aligned, such as illustrated in fig. 5.
Fig. 6 is a schematic top perspective view of a light detecting device according to a second variation of the present application.
In the example of fig. 6, the main difference compared to the embodiment of fig. 4B is that the transceiver lens 64 is shared between the light emitting end 62 and the light detecting end 63, said transceiver lens 64 being arranged in the path of the optical path of the transmitted signal and the optical path of the received signal in the overlapping optical path section between the rotating member 65 and the first redirecting member 66. Alternatively, the transceiver lens 64 may be, for example, a plano-convex lens, the convex surface of which is disposed toward the rotating member 65.
When an echo signal is emitted from the window 61 and is received by the transceiver lens 64 from the rotating member 65, the transceiver lens 64 converges the echo signal and then transmits the converged echo signal to the optical detection end 63 through a gap, so that the efficiency of detecting the echo signal is improved; when the transmission signal emitted from the light emitting end 62 is reflected from the first redirecting part 66 to the transceiver lens 64 along the optical path of the transmission signal, the transmission signal is reversely incident to the transceiver lens 64, and is not converged and is reflected by the rotating part 65 to be transmitted outside the window 61. With this configuration, the same transmitting/receiving lens 64 (or lens group) can be shared for transmitting/receiving, so that the number of lenses (or lens groups) can be reduced.
In some embodiments, the circuit board carrying the light emitter array at the light detection end may be flexible and may be bent into a curved surface, and the formed notch is disposed corresponding to the first redirection member, so that the light-emitting optical axis of each light emitter in the light emitter array is directed to the first redirection member in a concentrated manner.
It will be appreciated that since the optical paths of the transmit signal and the receive signal may also form an overlap between the rotating member and the first redirecting member, the echo signal and the transmit signal will pass through the first redirecting member from different directions in the two optical paths, respectively. Therefore, the first redirecting element may be formed as a reflecting surface to reflect one of the echo signal and the transmission signal, or as a passing portion to pass the other of the echo signal and the transmission signal.
In each optical path architecture, the size of the first redirection member needs to be balanced by a plurality of factors and is set appropriately. For example, for the optical path architecture shown in fig. 4B, the size of the first redirection member 42, if too large, may prevent the reception of too many echo signals, thereby reducing the signal-to-noise ratio. And if too small, it will affect the reflection of the transmitted signal, since the outgoing beam itself also has a certain divergence angle. Therefore, the relationship between the divergence angle of the transmitted signal and the throughput of the echo signal at the passing part (influencing the signal-to-noise ratio of the echo signal) needs to be considered, the relationship is balanced to achieve a preset optimized target, the transmitted signal is deflected to the rotating mirror as much as possible and then deflected to an external obstacle by the rotating mirror, the echo signal reflected by the obstacle can be shielded as little as possible, so that the echo signal as much as possible can be received by the optical detection end, and the information of the distance and the reflectivity is further calculated and can be used for further generating a point cloud chart. Thus, the size of the first redirection member 42 is proportional to the divergence angle of the outgoing light beam at the first redirection member 42. For example, for the optical path architecture shown in fig. 5, the size of the first redirecting elements (54 and 55) may not be sufficient to deflect the echo signal, thereby reducing the signal-to-noise ratio. And if it is too large, it will affect the emergence of the emitted signal, because the emergent beam itself also has a certain divergence angle. Therefore, in different optical path architectures, the relationship between the emergent quantity of the emission signal and the throughput of the echo signal (influencing the signal-to-noise ratio of the echo signal) needs to be considered, a preset optimized proportion is balanced, and the aims of measuring farther and smaller signal-to-noise ratios with relatively smaller overall size can be comprehensively achieved. Furthermore, the structural arrangement of the first redirection member may also have an influence on stray light, as will be exemplified below with respect to possible deformations of the first redirection member.
In the above embodiments, there is a gap formed laterally or centrally of the first redirection member through which the optical signal passes. However, the light signal can pass through the gap, and the light signal can also be a light-transmitting material such as glass. Based on this idea, the present application may also provide in some embodiments a first redirection member consisting of different parts that are light transmissive and reflective.
As shown in fig. 7, a schematic plan view of a first redirection member in a third variant example of the present application is shown.
A face of the first redirection 70 shown in fig. 7 corresponds to the reflective surface 421 in fig. 4. In this example, the first redirection member 70 comprises a first region 71 for outputting the transmission signal towards the rotation member, and a second region 72 outside the first region 71 for transmitting the echo signal. For example, the first region 71 may be coated with a light-reflecting material, and the second region 72 may be a light-transmitting material (e.g., glass, etc.); in this example, the second regions 72 may surround the first regions 71 and be fixed to each other to constitute the first reorienter 70. Through this first redirection piece 70, more be favorable to the high-efficient transmission of echo signal and transmission signal, promote the detection performance of optical detection device.
Furthermore, the structure of the end surface of the first redirection member may also affect the detection performance of the light detection arrangement. As shown in fig. 8, it is a partial structural schematic view of the first reorienting member and the rotating member in an embodiment of the present application. In this example, the first redirecting element 81 has a rectangular cross section, and its convex angle near one end 821 of the rotating element 82 may hinder the transmission of the echo signal W to the optical detection end; in addition, the other end 822 of the first redirecting element 80 far away from the rotating element 82 in fig. 8 may have a reflection effect on the end surface capable of being irradiated by the emission signal, such as the emission signal Y1 is normally reflected by the first redirecting element 80 and transmitted along the first optical path, while the emission signal Y2 is reflected by the end surface of the other end 822 of the rotating element 82 and reflected into the second optical path (as indicated by the arrow with the dashed right line in the figure), and once reflected into the second optical path, the emission signal Y2 may reach the optical detection end along the second optical path to form interference. The approaching or departing refers to approaching or departing from a fixed point on the rotating member 82, such as the axial center position of the rotating shaft of the rotating member 82.
As shown in fig. 9, it is a schematic structural diagram of the first redirection piece in the fourth modified example of the present application.
The first redirection member 90 in the example of fig. 9 is an improvement over the example of fig. 8.
In the embodiment of fig. 9, the first redirection member 90 in fig. 8 is optionally chamfered near one end (i.e. the upper end in fig. 8) of the rotation member, so that the end surface 91 of the end is arranged parallel to the axial direction of the optical path section of the optical path from the rotation member to the first redirection member for receiving signals.
In the embodiment of fig. 9, optionally, at least a part of an end surface of the first redirecting element 90 away from one end of the rotating element (i.e. the lower end in fig. 9) is configured as a first reflecting surface 92, and a first preset included angle, such as the illustrated included angle β, which may be a right angle or an obtuse angle, is configured between the first reflecting surface 92 and an axis of a first optical path section leading to the first redirecting element 90 in the optical path of the transmitted signal, so that the incident optical signal cannot enter the optical path of the received signal after being reflected, i.e. deviates from the optical path of the received signal without interfering with the optical detection end.
Furthermore, it is also possible for the first redirection member to have a transparent portion through which the emitted signal is transmitted and thus further reflected, which may cause interference.
Fig. 10 is a schematic view showing a top-down structure of the optical detection apparatus in an embodiment of the present application, which is an example based on the combination of the embodiments of fig. 4B and fig. 9. In order to reduce the interference caused by the transmission of the emission signal through it, the light detection device in this example further comprises a light shielding member 101 disposed on the propagation path of the emission signal transmitted through said first redirection member 90. In some examples, the light blocking member 101 may also be integral with the first redirection member 90, such as a light absorbing material coated on a surface of the first redirection member 90.
Fig. 11A is a schematic top perspective view of a light detecting device according to another embodiment of the present invention.
In this example, a base plate 1100 of the housing of the light detecting device 110 is shown, and a window 1101, a light emitting end 1102, a light detecting end 1103, a rotating member 1104, a first redirecting member 1105, a second redirecting member 1106, a third redirecting member 1107, a first sleeve 1108, a second sleeve 1109, a third sleeve 1110, a first lens 1111, a second lens 1112, etc. are located on the base plate 1100. The black dashed line shows the course of the outgoing beam: and then the light beam is emitted from an emitter (array) 1102, is deflected by a reflector 1106, is deflected by a reflector 1105, and then is incident on a rotating mirror 1104, and is emitted to the outside after being deflected.
The thick arrow with gray bottom shows the incident path of the echo reflected by the obstacle in the field of view right in front of the product, and the echo first strikes the turning mirror 1104, is deflected, passes through the peripheral side of 1105, is deflected by the lens (group) 1112 and the reflecting mirror 1107, and finally enters the detector (array) 1103.
Since there may be strong light incident at the edge of the window (e.g., the left edge of the window 1101 in fig. 4A and 11A, or the leftmost viewing angle of the farthest detection field of view of the light detection device), especially when encountering an obstacle with high reflectivity, the light detection end will also be strongly interfered if the light enters the optical path of the received signal. In some examples, as shown in fig. 11B, the standing direction of the second lens 1112B may not be a vertical direction (i.e. height direction) along the lateral plane, but may be a certain off-angle (downward inclination) compared to the vertical direction, such as a value in 3 ° to 6 ° or 6 ° to 9 °, so that the stray light incident at the edge field angle can be deflected to a position away from the photodetector array on the photodetector end 1103 after passing through the inclined lens 1112B and the mirror 1107B, such as hitting a sidewall of the optical detector array 1110 as shown by the ground-stripe arrow on the image, thereby improving the field-of-view stray condition.
Optionally, at least one said second redirection member 1106, such as a mirror, may be arranged in the optical path of the transmission signal to form a folded optical path of the transmission signal. Accordingly, the position of the light emitting end 1102, which emits a signal reflected by the second redirection member 1106 toward the first redirection member 1105, can be adjusted, for example, to the left side wall in fig. 11A. Similarly, optionally, at least one third redirection member 1107, such as a mirror, may be disposed in the optical path of the received signal to form a bent optical path of the received signal, so that the position of the optical detection end 1103 can also be changed, for example, located near the back wall of the optical detection apparatus in the figure. The positions of the light emitting end 1102 and the light detecting end 1103 are variable, and can be set at a desired position to match the space layout requirements in the light detecting device, and the positions of the light emitting end 1102 and the light detecting end 1103 can be set farther apart to reduce the possibility of crosstalk.
In fig. 11A, the optical path of the transmission signal is shown by a broken line arrow, and the optical path of the reception signal is shown by a shading arrow.
Illustratively, the first redirecting element 1105 may be enclosed in a first sleeve 1108, the first sleeve 1108 extends along the optical path of the transmitted signal toward the light emitting end 1102, and a surface of the first sleeve 1108 corresponding to the second lens 1112 may be provided with a light-transmitting portion (an opening, or a window provided with a light-transmitting element, etc.). Within the coverage range of the first sleeve 1108, the transmitting signal and the echo signal can be effectively isolated, so that the crosstalk between the transmitting signal and the echo signal can be reduced. Optionally, the first sleeve 1108 may be implemented as a sleeve, which may be rigid.
In order to reduce the interference of the echo signal on the optical path section from the light emitting end 1102 to the first redirecting element 1105, a second sleeve 1109 may be disposed on the optical path section, and the light emitting end 1102 corresponds to one end of the second sleeve 1109. The second body 1109 extends along the optical path of the transmitted signal towards the first redirection member 1105 and forms an optical output port at the other end. Alternatively, the first lens 1111 may be disposed at the light output port of the second housing 1109. Alternatively, the second sleeve body 1109 may be implemented as a sleeve, which may be rigid.
Further optionally, in the case where the first sleeve 1108 is present, one end of the optical output ports of the second sleeve 1109 may be connected to the end of the first sleeve 1108 where it extends, so as to reduce crosstalk as much as possible. The connection may be seamless or may be slotted.
Similarly, optionally, the third sleeve 1110 may be disposed corresponding to the optical path of the received signal. The optical detection end 1103 may correspond to one end of the third sleeve 1110; the third casing 1110 extends along the optical path of the received signal towards the first redirection member 1105 and forms an optical input port at the other end for receiving the echo signal. Alternatively, the third casing 1110 may be implemented as a sleeve, and the sleeve may be hard.
Illustratively, the first sleeve 1108, the second sleeve 1109 and the third sleeve 1110 may be fixed to the housing of the optical detection apparatus or a bracket mounted on the housing by, for example, screwing, bonding or snapping.
It should be noted that, although the first sleeve 1108, the second sleeve 1109 and the third sleeve 1110 are shown in the embodiments, any one or more of them may be selected to be used in combination in the practical example, and the embodiments are not limited to the above embodiments.
Optionally, a blocking portion 1113 may be disposed between the optical paths of the transmitting signal and the receiving signal to reduce mutual crosstalk. The blocking portion 1113 is, for example, a curved portion, and the surface of the curved portion may be, for example, a sharp convex surface as shown in the figure, or may be an arc surface or a flat surface, and the structure is not limited. The meandering portion can block a direct transmission path of the light emitting end and the light detecting end, thereby reducing crosstalk. In some alternative examples, the second sleeve body 1110 may also be provided with a recess complementary to the bend, so as to further increase the resistance to the falling optical signal.
As in the previous embodiment, a plurality of detection channels are formed between the light emitter array and the light detector array, and in the sending and receiving of the primary light signal, a plurality of light emitters in the light emitter array are activated to emit light, and a plurality of light detectors in the light detector array are activated to detect, which form a plurality of detection channels. In this process, crosstalk may develop between the cooperating probe channels.
To reduce cross-talk between detection channels, in some embodiments, each optical transmitter row or column may be divided into multiple optical transmitter groups (banks), each of which may correspond to a detection channel. In one signal transmission process, when the light emitter array works, the light emitters are respectively selected from each light emitter group to emit light. This increases the space between the light emitters of different detection channels that are activated to operate in the same signaling process, i.e., the space occupied by each light emitter that is not activated between two activated light emitters, thereby reducing crosstalk. Similarly, the optical detector array can be divided into optical detector groups, optical detectors are respectively selected from the optical detector groups corresponding to different detection channels to be activated in a signal transmission process, and isolation spaces among the optical detectors of different detection channels which are activated to work in the same signal transmission process can be formed, so that crosstalk is reduced.
Optionally, the grouping of the light emitter arrays and the respective selection of the light emitters are activated in a signal transmission process, and the grouping of the light detector arrays and the respective selection of the light emitters are activated in a signal transmission process, which may be performed alternatively or in combination. When implemented together, crosstalk between multiple probe channels (particularly adjacent probe channels) operating together during transmission of a single signal can be reduced more effectively.
For simplicity of presentation, the following is illustrated by way of example only with the division of the array of light emitters into groups of light emitters. As shown in fig. 12A, a schematic view of a structure for division of the light emitter group according to the example structure of fig. 3B is shown. In this example, each 8 light emitters arranged in series in the column direction is one unit, and two units in one column, i.e., 16 light emitters, are one light emitter group, forming a total of 8 light emitter groups, i.e., bank0 to Bank7. In one sending and receiving of optical signals, one optical transmitter in each Bank can be selected to be activated, and 8 optical transmitters emit light in one signal transmission process, which is indicated by diagonal shading in the figure.
It can be seen that by grouping the light emitters and individually selecting the light emitters to emit light, the greater the number of light emitters contained in each light emitter group, the greater the separation space between activated light emitters.
It should be noted that the division of the light emitter groups in fig. 12A is only an example and not an exclusive one. For example, one Bank may be a unit of 8 light emitters arranged continuously in the column direction in the drawing, or one Bank may be more than 3 light emitters in a column, or one Bank may be a discrete arrangement, for example, a variable number of light emitters in different rows and different positions.
For example, the light emitter groups of adjacent light emitter rows or light emitter columns may be staggered in the extending direction. For example, in the case of one Bank in one unit in the figure, it is seen that adjacent columns of banks are arranged alternately in the column direction. This example is similar to the previous staggered arrangement between light emitters in adjacent columns or rows of light emitters for the purpose of increasing resolution.
In some examples, the signaling process by which the individual light emitters in each light emitter group and/or the individual light detectors in each light detector group are activated is different. Specifically, for example, during a signal transmission process, a1 in Bank0 is activated, b1 in Bank1 is activated, and each of the other banks selects one optical transmitter to be activated; in the next signal transmission process, a2 in Bank0 is activated, b3 in Bank1 is activated, etc., and the other banks each select another optical transmitter to be activated. And so on, until the light emitters in each Bank are activated, the light emitters are activated again in turn.
Similarly, the light detectors in each light detector group can be activated in turn during different signal transmission processes. For example, a detection channel is correspondingly formed between the optical detectors i2 and a1 in the optical detector group Bank9, and a detection channel is formed between i1 and a 2; bank10 has j1 and b1 forming a probing channel and j2 and b2 forming a probing channel. When a1 and b1 are activated during a signal transmission, i2 and j1 are also activated, and so on.
As shown in fig. 12A, there are 8 BANKs, each BANK having 16 light emitters for a total of 128 light emitters. If 1 light emitter and 1 light detector form one detection channel, there are 128 detection channels in total, that is, "128 lines". 8 of the 128 probe channels work together during each signaling, all probe channels being traversed over 16 signaling passes. Each optical transmitter may employ, for example, a VCSEL laser, achieving extremely high vertical resolution of about 0.2 °.
In a specific application scenario, the light detection device may be implemented as a lidar applied to a traveling vehicle (e.g., a vehicle). Typically in the lidar field, one detection result (e.g., 1 dot cloud) is obtained for every 1 frame of detection, and this dot cloud covers the entire horizontal and vertical fields of view.
In e.g. road driving scenarios, the obstacle may be a person or a vehicle on the road surface, which is very important for unmanned driving. In each detection channel of the laser radar, the field of view of the middle detection channel can cover more people or vehicles on the road surface; the closer the detection channel is to the edge, the further it is from the obstacle of the road surface. It will be understood that the light emitters of the middle area of the light emitter array belong to the middle detection channel and the light emitters of the edge area of the light emitter array belong to the edge detection channel.
In order to improve the effect of detecting obstacles in a short distance, in one detection (such as detection corresponding to a horizontal field angle), the lidar may emit light for detecting light in a near distance (e.g. 3 m) in addition to the light for detecting in a far distance (e.g. 150 m), and the results of the far distance detection and the near distance detection are combined together to obtain a detection result. In a specific example, the near-sensing action and the far-sensing action may be implemented by different time-of-flight windows, where the time-of-flight window refers to a time-of-flight range, and is calculated as τ =2 × d/c, where τ is the time of flight from the emission of the optical transmitter to the reception of the echo signal, d is the distance between the obstacle, c is the speed of light, and 2 times d represents the distance between the emission of the optical transmitter and the echo signal. For example, when an object with a distance of 150 meters is detected, only echo signals obtained in a possible preset flight time range within the distance of 150 meters are limited to be received, and echo signals exceeding the preset flight time range are excluded.
In a possible example, the distance corresponding to the distance measuring action may be 100 meters to 150 meters, or 150 meters to 200 meters, or 200 meters to 250 meters; the distance corresponding to the proximity action can be 3-5 meters, 5-10 meters, and the like.
In a possible example, a partially or fully repeating detection channel may be used between the proximal and distal movements, such as a light emitter in the middle of the first direction of the light emitter array for measuring 250 meters at a distance and 3 meters at a distance. In the case of mainly measuring distance and secondarily measuring distance, the motion frequency and the resources of the detection channel may be inclined toward the distance measuring motion in each detection, for example, 1 near measuring motion may be performed after every 4 distance measuring motions.
In a possible example, for the close-range measurement, the number of the used light emitters is smaller, and the number of the corresponding detection channels is correspondingly reduced. For example, only channels near the central region in 8 banks are limited to be selected for near measurement, and for example, a part of < 128, such as 40 phototransmitters, can be selected, and if each phototransmitter corresponds to one detection channel, 40 detection channels are formed, and the 40 detection channels are polled in sequence for near measurement. Optionally, the proximity detection action and the distance detection action are different in polling mode of the channel. For example, in one signal transmission process of each remote measuring action, a plurality of BANKs (such as BANKs 2, 3, 4 and 5 in fig. 12A) in the middle area respectively select one channel of optical transmitters to work together; in a signal transmission process of each proximity action, only one channel in one BANK is selected to work in a plurality of BANKs in the middle area.
In possible examples, the detection distances corresponding to the distance measuring action are various, such as 150 meters and 250 meters. The closer the position of the activated light emitter in the light emitter array is to the center, the longer the corresponding expected detection distance, i.e. the larger the detection time window is expected to be provided. For example, in fig. 3B the central region in the vertical direction provides a 250 meter ranging window (window τ =2 × d/c) compared to the middle light emitter, it is expected that the farthest can be detected 250m; the light emitters at the opposite edge provide a range window of 150 meters, with the farthest 150m expected to be detectable.
The above mentioned ways of activating the light emitters are only examples and do not limit the implementation possibilities. For example, in other examples, multiple light emitters corresponding to a vertical field of view (e.g., on the same row) may be configured, but the multiple light emitting units do not emit light together (e.g., polling light emission), which may increase the respective lifetimes and reliability.
In some embodiments, by configuring the driving manner of the light emitter array and the corresponding driving circuit, the independent control of each light emitter therein can be achieved; thus, the light emitters may be selected to be illuminated in a polling manner, together, or in any combination. For example, the individual light emitters in the light emitter array may be polled in any order, interval, signal characteristic (e.g., one or more combinations of wavelength, pulse width, number of pulses, pulse peak value, and inter-pulse time interval), etc., to enable flexible electronic scanning (e-scanning).
In some examples, to reduce cross-talk between probe channels, the signal characteristics differ between optical signals transmitted in respective probe channels operating during the same signaling process. Wherein the optical signal transmitted in each detection channel comprises a transmit signal and a corresponding echo signal. The optical detection device may further include a control module, which may be configured to determine the detection channel to which the signal belongs according to the signal characteristic.
Specifically, the optical detector at the optical detection end converts the received optical signal into an electrical signal, and the electrical signal can be transmitted to the control module after certain signal processing (such as filtering, analog-to-digital conversion and the like); the control module may determine whether the signal characteristics of the echo signal match the signal characteristics of the emission signal of the light emitter of the associated detection channel, and use the echo signal in the associated detection channel to calculate the detection result, such as calculating the distance to the target object. In specific examples, the control module may be implemented by, for example, a Micro Control Unit (MCU), a programmable gate array (FPGA), or a system on a chip (SoC).
In some examples, each light emitter is activated by a drive signal of a drive circuit, which may be generated by the drive circuit of the light emitter. Optionally, the driving signal may include one or more pulse electrical signals (e.g., periodic pulse signals), and the emission signal of the optical emitter correspondingly includes one or more pulse optical signals. In a respective example, the dimensions of the signal features may include: one or more combinations of wavelength, pulse width, number of pulses, pulse peak, and inter-pulse time interval.
The signal characteristics in various dimensions are illustrated schematically by way of example.
In an example of using a wavelength as a signal characteristic, the wavelengths at which each optical transmitter group transmits signals are not exactly the same, and further, the optical wavelengths at which optical transmitters operating in the same signal transmission process transmit signals are different. As an example, BANK0, BANK1, BANK2, BANK3 have one optical transmitter transmitting a signal in the same round, BANK0 is set as a plurality of optical transmitters transmitting optical signals of λ 0 wavelength, corresponding BANK1 to BANK3 are set as optical transmitters transmitting optical signals of λ 1 to λ 3 wavelength, respectively, λ 0 ≠ λ 1 ≠ λ 2 ≠ λ 3. Therefore, one optical transmitter is respectively selected from the four BANKs in each round to transmit optical signals, and the wavelengths of the signals transmitted by the four optical transmitters which transmit the signals together in any round are different.
Further, in the optical detector array, optical detector groups corresponding to the optical emitter groups are provided, an optical filtering unit may be disposed on an upstream of an optical path of each optical detector in each optical detector group, and each optical filtering unit may be configured to only allow an echo signal of a wavelength corresponding to the present detection channel to pass through, so as to filter echo signals of other detection channels and ambient light interference.
As another example, let the light emitter array be divided into n light emitter groups. The optical wavelengths of the signals emitted by each optical emitter group are different and are respectively lambda 1-lambda n. Thereby, in the array of light emitters, a maximum of n transmission signals are adapted to be transmitted together. When any of the plurality of optical transmitter groups in the n optical transmitter groups selects an optical transmitter for activation, the plurality of optical transmitters which emit together can emit signal beams of different wavelengths. When n light emitter groups are selected to be activated together, in the process of sending and receiving a light signal, each light emitter group respectively selects one light emitter to send a signal for detection, and a light beam of the sent signal is emitted through a sending lens and reflected by a target object to form an echo signal. The wavelength of each echo signal is the same as the corresponding incident transmitting signal and is lambda 1-lambdan, and n echo signals return to the optical detection device through the window and are sent to the optical detector array through the receiving lens. In the optical detector array, n optical detector groups may be provided corresponding to the n optical emitter groups, a filter unit may be disposed in front of each optical detector in each optical detector group, each filter unit may be configured to only allow an echo signal of a wavelength corresponding to the present detection channel to pass through, and one optical detector in one optical detector group is selected to be activated in transmission of an optical signal, so that the n echo signals can be respectively detected by the n optical detectors without detecting echo signals of other wavelengths, thereby reducing interference.
In an example that employs pulse widths as signal characteristics, each transmit signal may contain a plurality of pulses, and the ratio of these pulse widths may be configured differently, such as 2. In the same signal transmission process, the pulse width ratios of the emission signals of different detection channels working together are different. By way of example, this can be achieved by different BANK pulse width ratios, for example, as shown in fig. 12B, the multiple consecutive pulses contained in the transmission signal of each optical transmitter in BANK0 adopt a pulse width ratio of 1; the pulse width ratios of the other BANKs are also different. The pulse width ratios of the transmission signals of the phototransmitters selected from different BANKs are different from each other in the same signal transmission process, so that the pulse width ratios of the echo signals respectively generated are also different. Whether the echo signal belongs to the echo of the detection channel can be judged by judging whether the pulse width ratio of the echo signal is the same as that of the emission signal of the detection channel. When the pulse width proportion of the echo signal is different from the pulse width proportion of the emission signal of the detection channel, the echo signal is used as an interference signal for filtering. Therefore, the attribution of the echo signals of different detection channels is distinguished by taking different pulse widths as signal characteristics.
In the example of using inter-pulse time intervals as signal characteristics, the ratio of inter-pulse time intervals of the transmitted signals of different probe channels working together is different during the same signal transmission. This may be achieved, for example, by different ratios of the inter-pulse time intervals of the different BANK transmit signals. For example, as shown in fig. 12C, the transmission signal of the optical transmitter in BANK0 includes a plurality of consecutive pulses with a pulse interval ratio of 2:3:1: to turn, the pulse-time interval ratio of a plurality of continuous pulses contained in a transmitting signal of a light transmitter in the BANK1 is 2:2:3... Therefore, the pulse time interval proportion of the echo signals generated by the echo signal generating device is different, and the echo signals of different detection channels are distinguished by judging whether the pulse time interval proportion of the echo signals is consistent with the pulse time interval proportion of the signal transmitted by the detection channel.
In the example of using the number of pulses as the signal characteristic, the transmitted signals of different detection channels working together contain different numbers of pulses during the same signal transmission process. For example, the number of pulses included in the transmission signal of the optical transmitter of different BANKs is different, so that the number of pulses of the echo signal generated by each optical transmitter is also different, and whether the number of pulses of the echo signal is consistent with the number of pulses of the transmission signal of the detection channel is judged to distinguish the attribution of the echo signal of different detection channels.
In the example of using pulse peaks (corresponding to light intensity peaks or peaks converted into electrical signals) as signal features, the emitted signals of different detection channels working together have different peak intensity ratios of a plurality of pulses in the same signal transmission process. As an example, this is achieved by the fact that the peak intensity ratios of the pulses contained in the transmission signals of the light emitters of different BANKs are different. For example, the pulse peak ratio of a plurality of pulses included in the transmission signal of the optical transmitter in BANK0 is X: y: z: to turn, the pulse peak value of one or more pulses contained in the emission signal of the light emitter in the BANK1 is W: x: y. Therefore, the pulse peak value ratios of the echo signals generated by the two channels are different, and the echo signals belonging to different detection channels are distinguished by judging whether the pulse peak value intensity ratio of the echo signal is consistent with the pulse peak value intensity ratio of the signal transmitted by the detection channel.
In addition, the above signal characteristics may also be combined to generate signal characteristics of the optical signals of different detection channels.
The ratios, such as the pulse width ratio, the inter-pulse time interval ratio, and the pulse peak intensity ratio, and the integer ratio are merely illustrative, and in practical applications, the ratios may be any values.
It will be appreciated that in one or more of the various embodiments of the detection channel to which the signal characteristics are applied, the optical detection means may be a lidar, which may poll, freely select any one of the lasers or any combination of the lasers (which may be addressed), allowing a high degree of freedom of detection scanning, thereby achieving at least several purposes.
On one hand, the free selection of the detection target and the detection area can be realized. Specifically, the optical detection device may be a laser radar, and may be mounted on a traveling vehicle (e.g., a smart car) to detect the travel of the vehicle. If a specific target object or an interested area is identified according to the point cloud data of a certain scanning, when scanning is needed again next time, only the specific target object or the interested area can be selected to be started/scanned through free addressing, and the method can be applied to implementation of encrypted scanning and the like of the specific target object or the interested area.
On the other hand, probe channel crosstalk can be reduced. Because specific light-emitting or scanning areas can be freely selected, lasers with the physical spacing as large as possible can be selected to emit light in the same signal transmission process during detection as in the embodiment of fig. 12A, the detection channel crosstalk is greatly reduced, and compared with the existing laser radar products, the signal-to-noise ratio and the detection effect are better.
On the other hand, the detection times required by point cloud data acquisition can be reduced, so that the overall power consumption of the optical detection device is reduced. Because the amount of the wire harness increases with the trend of increasing the amount of the wire harness, the larger the amount of the wire harness is, the more the energy is consumed correspondingly, which causes additional heat dissipation and reliability problems.
In some embodiments, the light emitters may employ Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), with the advantage of a spatially symmetric distribution of divergence angles. In response to the problem of the VCSEL having a large scattering angle, the whole VCSEL is generally collimated by a single large aperture lens, which may enlarge the equivalent light emitting surface and reduce the power density. In this regard, a separate or directly imprinted micro-lens array (MLA) may be added to the light emitting face of the VCSEL.
A vertical cavity surface laser (VCSEL) includes a plurality of light emitting cells (e.g., light emitting dots), and each microlens cell in the microlens array is disposed in one-to-one correspondence with and in shape-matching with the light emitting cell. In order to avoid light leakage that cannot be collimated due to gaps existing between the microlens units and affect the power density of the vertical cavity surface laser emitter, in an alternative example, the plurality of light emitting units are arranged in a polygon, and each microlens unit is in a corresponding polygon shape and is spliced with each other. The polygon may be a more than three sided shape such as a triangle, parallelogram, rectangle, square, regular pentagon or other pentagon, regular hexagon or other hexagon, or other more sided shape.
Fig. 13A is a schematic structural diagram of a microlens array according to an embodiment of the present application. In this example, the light emitting units 131A are arranged in a rectangular shape, the corresponding microlens units 132A are square, and the microlens units 132A are joined side by side to form a substantially gapless microlens array.
Fig. 13B shows a schematic structural diagram of a microlens array in another embodiment of the present application. In this example, the light emitting units 131B are arranged in a regular hexagon, the corresponding microlens units 132B are in a corresponding regular hexagon, and the microlens units 132B are spliced into a substantially gapless microlens array on the edge of the honeycomb shape. In an alternative example, the size of the regular hexagonal microlens unit is set such that the diameter length of the inscribed circle is equal to the center-to-center distance between the adjacent light emitting units, achieving dense arrangement.
In addition, in alternative examples, the face shape of the microlens may be designed to be plano-convex (i.e., convex on one side and flat on the other side) according to the collimation requirements, and the convex side may be spherical or aspherical. In an alternative example, the flat side and/or convex side of the MLA may also be coated with an antireflection film for VCSEL wavelength to improve transmittance.
In some examples, the microlens array may be imprinted on the light emitting surface of the light emitter by a semiconductor process. When the light emitter is a Back Side Illumination (BSI) VSCEL, the difficulty of imprinting the microlens array is reduced. Specifically, the light emitting direction of each light emitting unit in the VSCEL is a direction from the active region to the substrate, that is, the light is emitted from the substrate side, and each microlens can be directly processed and formed on the substrate surface to form the microlens array.
In some examples, the shape of the window may also be configured to facilitate collection of the echo signals. Fig. 14A and 14B are schematic top perspective views illustrating a window structure of a light detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The window 140 is configured in a curved shape, and may specifically include a first portion 141 and a second portion 142 of the curved surface, where the first portion 141 is a region through which the transmission signal and the echo signal pass, the second portion 142 is a region through which the transmission signal and the echo signal do not pass, and the second portion 142 may be in any shape. Therefore, on one hand, the FOV of the optical detection device is increased, on the other hand, the FOV has a certain finger center convergence effect on the received echo signals, the quality of the echo signals is improved, and the detection performance is improved. The rotating member 143 is depicted in fig. 14 only for the current pose of the reference light detecting device.
In the light detecting device in the embodiments of fig. 2A, fig. 3A, fig. 4B, fig. 5, etc., the rotating member is disposed at the opposite left side of the inner side of the light detecting device in the transverse direction, i.e., near the left side of the window. The echo signal incident from the right viewing angle of the window may have a larger loss in the transmission process to the optical detection end than the echo signal incident from the left viewing angle, so that the echo signal corresponding to the detection channel from the right viewing angle can be compensated. Specifically, the compensation calculation may be performed by a control module (e.g., FPGA, soC, etc.) in the optical detection apparatus.
In an embodiment of the present application, a traveling vehicle may further be provided, which includes the light detection device in the foregoing embodiment. In a specific example, the driving vehicle may be implemented as a vehicle, such as an electric or gasoline-powered automobile, and may be a non-autonomous, semi-autonomous (assisted), unmanned automobile. The light detection device may be implemented as a mechanical lidar, and may be a forward lidar, that is, as shown in the previous embodiments (for example, fig. 2A, 3A, 4B, and 5), the light detection device is disposed on the vehicle in an attitude such that the window thereof faces forward to perform the detection operation.
In an alternative example, the light detection means may be arranged at the front of the vehicle, i.e. for example in the front of the vehicle. The light detection device can be mounted in a hidden manner, for example, embedded in the vehicle shell, beside the vehicle lamp, at the position of the vehicle logo, or the bumper. Because the light detection device does not need to adopt a structure that the receiving and sending modules are stacked up and down, the light detection device can be greatly reduced in the height direction, thereby being more flexibly adapted to the installation space of a vehicle and being capable of greatly eliminating the problem of a short-distance blind area by overlapping the receiving and sending light paths. In addition, the detection performance can be further improved by matching with the optional examples in the various embodiments.
The above embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and utilities of the present application and are not intended to limit the application. Any person skilled in the art can modify or change the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications or changes which may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical spirit of the present disclosure be covered by the claims of the present application.

Claims (30)

1. A light detection device, comprising:
a window;
a light emitting end including a light emitter array configured to output a transmission signal; the light emitter array comprises N rows of light emitters which are staggered with each other, each row of light emitters extends along a first direction, and N is more than 1;
an optical probe end comprising: a photodetector array configured to detect an echo signal reflected by the transmitted signal after encountering an obstacle; the light detector array comprises M rows of light detectors which are staggered with each other, each row of light detectors extends along the first direction, and M is more than 1; the light emitter array and the light detector array form a plurality of detection channels to form scanning of a first-direction field of view, each detection channel comprises at least one light emitter and at least one light detector, and each detection channel corresponds to one first-direction field of view; and
the optical signal redirection component is configured to deflect the transmitting signal through movement, so that the transmitting signal is emitted out of a window of the optical detection device, the scanning of a field of view in a second direction is realized, and the echo signal is redirected, so that the echo signal is transmitted to the optical detection end;
wherein, the light path of emission signal and the light path of echo signal constitute the overlap at least between window to light signal redirection subassembly.
2. The light detecting device according to claim 1,
the light emitters in the light emitter array are vertical cavity surface laser emitters; a micro-lens array is provided for collimating the transmitted signal.
3. The light detecting device according to claim 2, wherein each of the light emitters includes a plurality of light emitting units, and the microlens units in the microlens array are disposed in one-to-one correspondence with the light emitting units and in shape matching.
4. The light detecting device of claim 2, wherein the micro lens array is separately disposed from the light emitter or is imprinted on the light emitting surface of the light emitter.
5. The optical detection device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the light emitter is a back-light type semiconductor structure, and the micro lens array is printed on a surface of a substrate of the semiconductor structure.
6. The optical detection device according to claim 2, wherein during one signal transmission from the transmitting signal to the detecting of the corresponding echo signal, a plurality of optical signal transmission detection channels in an operating state are formed between the activated plurality of optical transmitters in the optical transmitter array and the activated plurality of optical receivers in the optical receiver array, respectively; the optical transmitter array comprises a plurality of optical transmitter groups and/or the optical receiver array comprises a plurality of optical receiver groups; the activated light emitters belong to different light emitter groups respectively and/or the activated light receivers belong to different light receiver groups respectively.
7. A light detection device as claimed in claim 6 wherein the light emitters of each light emitter group and/or the light detectors of each light detector group are activated in turn during a plurality of signal transmissions.
8. The optical detection device of claim 7, wherein the optical detection device performs the distance measurement operation during a predetermined number of signal transmission processes, and then performs the proximity measurement operation during a next signal transmission process.
9. The light detecting device of claim 8, wherein a first number of the light emitters of the central region of the light emitter array in the first direction are activated in a distance measuring motion, and a second number of the light emitters are activated in a near measuring motion; the first number is greater than the second number.
10. The optical detection device according to claim 8, wherein the distance measurement action corresponds to a plurality of detection distances; wherein the closer the position of the activated light emitter in the array of light emitters is to the center, the farther away the distance corresponding to the desired detection.
11. An optical detection device as claimed in claim 8 wherein the signal characteristics differ between optical signals transmitted in respective detection channels operating during the same signal transmission.
12. The light detection device of claim 11, wherein the emission signal comprises one or more pulsed signals; the dimensions of the signal features include: one or more combinations of wavelength, pulse width, number of pulses, pulse peak, and inter-pulse time interval.
13. The light detection device of claim 1, wherein the light emitter array and the light detector array are cooperatively configured to achieve a beam size of 32 wires or more.
14. The light detection device of claim 1, wherein the light signal redirection component comprises:
the rotating piece is controlled to rotate and comprises at least one reflecting surface and is suitable for receiving echo signals and/or outputting transmitting signals;
and a first redirecting part which is positioned in the optical path of the transmitting signal and the optical path of the receiving signal, is configured to output one of the transmitting signal and the echo signal to the rotating part, and is provided with a passing part for the other of the echo signal and the transmitting signal to pass through.
15. The light detecting device of claim 14, wherein the passing portion comprises: one or more voids formed laterally and/or centrally of the first reorienter.
16. The light detecting device of claim 14, wherein the first redirecting element comprises: a first region for outputting the transmission signal to the rotary member, and a second region outside the first region for transmitting the echo signal.
17. A light detection device as claimed in claim 16 comprising: and the light shielding part is arranged on a transmission path of the emission signal which transmits the first redirection part.
18. The light detecting device of claim 14, wherein at least a portion of an end surface of an end of the first redirecting element remote from the rotating element is configured as a first reflecting surface; the first reflecting surface and the axis of a first optical path section leading to the first redirection piece in the optical path of the transmitting signal are configured to form a first preset included angle so as to deviate the optical signal transmitted along the first optical path section from the optical path of the receiving signal; and/or at least part of the end surface of one end of the first redirection part far away from the rotating part is configured as a second reflection surface; and a second preset included angle is formed between the second reflecting surface and the axis of a second optical path section starting from the first redirection piece in the optical path of the received signal, so that the optical signal transmitted along the second optical path section deviates from the optical path of the transmitted signal.
19. The light detecting device of claim 14, wherein an end surface of the first redirecting element near one end of the rotating element is arranged parallel to an axial direction of a light path section of a light path between the rotating element and the first redirecting element for receiving the signal.
20. The light detecting device of claim 14, wherein the rotating member comprises more than two reflective surfaces.
21. The light detecting device of claim 14, wherein the first redirecting element is encased in a first sheath that extends along the optical path of the emitted signal in a direction that is closer to the light emitting end.
22. A light detection device as claimed in claim 14 wherein the first redirection member has a size proportional to the divergence angle of the outgoing light beam and inversely proportional to the cross-section of the return light beam.
23. A light detection device as claimed in claim 14 comprising: and the transceiving lens is arranged between the rotating member and the first redirecting member, and is used for converging the echo signals from one side of the rotating member, transmitting the converged echo signals to the passing part of the first redirecting member and allowing the transmitting signals from one side of the first redirecting member to pass.
24. A light detecting device according to claim 14, wherein the light emitting end corresponds to one end of the second housing; the second sleeve body extends to the first redirection piece along the optical path of the emission signal, and an optical output port is formed at the other end of the second sleeve body;
and/or the optical detection end corresponds to one end of the third sleeve; the third sleeve extends along the optical path of the received signal to the first redirection member and forms an optical input port at the other end.
25. A light detection device as claimed in claim 14 comprising: and the second lens is arranged in the optical path of the received signal and positioned between the optical detection end and the first redirection piece.
26. The optical detection device of claim 25, wherein the second lens is disposed at a predetermined offset angle with respect to a longitudinal direction of the optical detection device to deflect the light incident at the edge field angle away from the optical detector array.
27. A light detection device as claimed in claim 14 wherein the light detection device comprises: and the control module is used for compensating echo signals received by the optical transmission detection channels corresponding to the corresponding field angles far away from the rotating piece.
28. A light detection device according to claim 1, wherein the light detection device is a forward lidar, M = N > 32.
29. A running vehicle, comprising: the light detecting device of any one of claims 1 to 28.
30. The vehicle according to claim 29, wherein the vehicle is a vehicle, and the light detection device is a forward laser radar and is mounted on a front portion of the vehicle.
CN202110489208.4A 2021-04-30 2021-04-30 Optical detection device and running vehicle Pending CN115267727A (en)

Priority Applications (7)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN202110489208.4A CN115267727A (en) 2021-04-30 2021-04-30 Optical detection device and running vehicle
DE112022001295.1T DE112022001295T5 (en) 2021-04-30 2022-01-24 LIGHT DETECTION DEVICE AND VEHICLES, LIDAR AND DETECTION METHOD
JP2023563335A JP2024515659A (en) 2021-04-30 2022-01-24 Optical detection device and vehicle, laser radar, and detection method
PCT/CN2022/073477 WO2022227733A1 (en) 2021-04-30 2022-01-24 Optical detection device, driving vehicle, laser radar and detection method
EP22794214.1A EP4332617A1 (en) 2021-04-30 2022-01-24 Optical detection device, driving vehicle, laser radar and detection method
KR1020237034759A KR20230158019A (en) 2021-04-30 2022-01-24 Light detection device and traveling carrier, laser radar and detection method
US18/385,065 US20240061114A1 (en) 2021-04-30 2023-10-30 Optical detection device, driving vehicle, laser radar and detection method

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

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