CN115407314A

CN115407314A - Laser emission module and laser radar with same

Info

Publication number: CN115407314A
Application number: CN202110576684.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 党鹏辉; 赵忠尧; 郭敬
Original assignee: Ruichi Zhiguang Beijing Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Ruichi Zhiguang Beijing Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-05-26
Filing date: 2021-05-26
Publication date: 2022-11-29

Abstract

The invention discloses a laser emission module and a laser radar with the same. The laser emission module according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a substrate provided with a plurality of drive circuits; the supporting part is arranged on the substrate, a plurality of metal patterns are formed on the surface of the supporting part, the supporting part comprises a bottom surface connected with the substrate and two opposite side surfaces, and the metal patterns are formed on the two side surfaces and the bottom surface; the first light-emitting part and the second light-emitting part are respectively arranged on two side faces of the supporting part and respectively comprise a plurality of lasers capable of emitting laser, each laser comprises a cathode and an anode, the cathodes and the anodes of the lasers are respectively and electrically connected to the substrate through metal patterns, the two light-emitting parts are staggered along a first direction, the first direction is parallel to the boundary line of the substrate and the side faces, and the first electrodes of at least one laser of the first light-emitting part and at least one laser of the second light-emitting part are connected with each other through the metal patterns and can be driven by one driving circuit to emit laser.

Description

Laser emission module and laser radar with same

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of optics, in particular to a laser radar and a transmitting module of the laser radar.

Background

In the field of autonomous driving, autonomous vehicles may detect surrounding objects by means of a device such as a laser radar (LIDAR). The lidar may obtain related information such as a distance, a speed, and the like about a surrounding object by emitting a laser beam to a surrounding three-dimensional space as a detection signal, and causing the laser beam to be reflected as an echo signal and return after being irradiated to an object in the surrounding space, and comparing the received echo signal with the emitted detection signal.

The laser radar as described above comprises a transmitting module and a receiving module. The emitting module generates and emits laser beams, and the laser beams which are irradiated on surrounding objects and reflected back are received by the receiving module. Since the speed of light is known, the distance of surrounding objects relative to the lidar can be measured by the propagation time of the laser.

With respect to the emission of laser light, the existing laser radar has achieved 32-line or 64-line laser output. In such a multiline lidar, a configuration is adopted in which a plurality of edge-emitting lasers (EELs) are provided in a transmitting module. The laser light of the edge-emitting laser is emitted perpendicularly to the top surface, i.e. the laser light is emitted from the side surface of the edge-emitting laser. Therefore, in the related art, a multi-line lidar is implemented by disposing a plurality of edge emitting lasers on the edges of a plurality of substrates, respectively, and then laminating the plurality of substrates.

However, in the above-described configuration, since the multi-line laser radar is implemented by laminating a plurality of substrates, when the number of lines of the laser radar reaches 64 or 128 lines, the size of the transmitting module becomes large, and since the light correction needs to be performed for each substrate on which the edge-emitting laser is provided, a long time is required for correcting all the substrates, which causes a reduction in the production speed of the laser radar and an increase in the manufacturing cost.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a laser emitting module beneficial to miniaturization and a laser radar with the same.

The laser emission module according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a substrate provided with a plurality of drive circuits; the supporting part is arranged on the substrate, a plurality of metal patterns are formed on the surface of the supporting part, the supporting part comprises a bottom surface connected with the substrate and two opposite side surfaces, and the metal patterns are formed on the two side surfaces and the bottom surface; the first light-emitting part and the second light-emitting part are respectively arranged on two side surfaces of the supporting part and respectively comprise a plurality of lasers capable of emitting laser light, each laser comprises a cathode and an anode, the cathodes and the anodes of the lasers are respectively and electrically connected to the substrate through the metal patterns, the first light-emitting part and the second light-emitting part are staggered along a first direction, the first direction is parallel to an intersection line of the substrate and the side surfaces, a first electrode of at least one laser of the first light-emitting part and a first electrode of at least one laser of the second light-emitting part are connected with each other through the metal patterns and can be driven by a driving circuit to emit laser light, and the first electrodes are anodes or cathodes.

Also, the laser may be an edge-emitting laser that emits laser light in a direction perpendicular to the substrate.

In addition, at least one of the metal patterns may be continuously formed on both the side surfaces and the bottom surface, and may be electrically connected to the first electrode of at least one laser of the first light emitting portion and the first electrode of at least one laser of the second light emitting portion, so that the two lasers may be simultaneously driven by one driving circuit.

The plurality of lasers of the first and second light emitting portions may be located at different positions in the first direction.

Also, the metal pattern may be provided in an oblique direction with respect to the first direction on the bottom surface.

The number of metal patterns of one side surface may be at least one more than the number of lasers of the light emitting section provided on the side surface.

In addition, a part of the regions of the first and second light-emitting portions may overlap in the first direction, and the remaining regions may not overlap in the first direction.

Also, the support portion may be formed using a ceramic material.

A lidar according to an embodiment of the present invention may include: the laser emitting module as described above; and a laser receiving module having a sensor that senses light.

And, may further include: a rotating member that rotates the laser emitting module and the laser receiving module.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the laser emission directions of the plurality of lasers of the light emitting section can be adjusted to be directed to the direction perpendicular to the substrate, and thus the length of the laser emitting module in the laser emission direction can be reduced. In addition, the laser devices of the light emitting parts formed on both side surfaces of the supporting part and the driving circuit of the substrate can be connected by the metal pattern, so that the number of driving circuits required for driving all the laser devices can be reduced. Further, the light emitting portions formed on both side surfaces of the support portion are shifted by a predetermined distance, whereby the number of lines and the resolution of the laser beam can be increased.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the above-described effects, and those skilled in the art can derive the effects not described above from the following description.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a laser emission module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view illustrating a laser emission module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a side view illustrating a laser emission module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a plan view illustrating a light emitting part according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a view showing one long side of a support part according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a view illustrating a bottom surface of a support part according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a view showing a bottom surface of a support part according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a view showing another long side of a support part according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating laser light emitted from the laser light emitting module.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a lidar in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the symbols

10: the laser emitting module 20: laser receiving module

100: light emitting unit 200: supporting part

210: the metal pattern 300: substrate

600: the sensor 30: processor with a memory having a plurality of memory cells

Detailed Description

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that the following disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, and are not intended to be exhaustive or all exemplary embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without inventive effort based on the following examples, belong to the scope of protection of the present invention.

Also, in the description of the present invention, the terms "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "front", "rear", and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the drawings, and are simply for convenience of description of the present invention, and do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed in a specific orientation, and operate, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a laser emission module 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view illustrating the laser emission module 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 3 is a side view illustrating the laser emission module 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The laser emitting module 10 may be provided to the laser radar, and may emit laser light such that the laser light returns to the laser radar after being reflected by an object outside the laser radar, so that a distance between the surrounding object and the laser radar may be measured by a time of flight (TOF) method.

As shown in fig. 1~3, the laser emitting module 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include two light emitting parts 100, a supporting part 200, and a substrate 300.

The light emitting section 100 may include a plurality of lasers. The laser may be an Edge Emitting Laser (EEL) or a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL). The light emitting section 100 may have a structure in which a plurality of Edge Emitting Lasers (EELs) or a plurality of Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) are integrally coupled. In the following description, a case where the light emitting section 100 is configured by a plurality of Edge Emitting Lasers (EELs) will be described. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the case where the light emitting section 100 includes a plurality of Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) is also applicable.

Fig. 4 is a plan view illustrating the light emitting part 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 4, the plurality of edge-emitting lasers included in the light-emitting section 100 may be a structure in which cathodes or anodes are connected to each other while the other of the cathodes and the anodes are isolated from each other. For example, the anodes of the plurality of edge-emitting lasers included in the light-emitting section 100 may be connected to each other to form one anode, and the cathodes may be formed separately, or the cathodes of the plurality of edge-emitting lasers included in the light-emitting section 100 may be connected to each other to form one cathode, and the anodes may be formed separately. In the following description, a case will be described in which cathodes of a plurality of edge-emitting lasers included in the light-emitting section 100 are connected to each other and anodes thereof are formed independently.

As shown in fig. 4, the plurality of protruding portions on the upper portion of the light emitting portion 100 may be anodes of the respective side-emitting lasers, and the lower portion of the light emitting portion 100 may be cathodes of the plurality of side-emitting lasers. Fig. 4 shows a case where the light-emitting portion 100 has 8 anodes and 1 cathode. Further, a laser capable of emitting laser light may be formed between one anode and a cathode, a plurality of lasers may have individual anodes, respectively, and the cathodes of the plurality of lasers may be connected to each other to constitute one integrated cathode, and the number of anodes may be equal to the number of lasers included in the light emitting section 100. The light emitting section 100 shown in fig. 4 can emit laser light in the vertical direction, i.e., above the paper surface, by supplying a driving signal to the cathode and the anode. The cathode and the anode may be respectively connected to a driving circuit provided to the substrate 300.

The number of edge-emitting lasers that can be included in the light-emitting section 100 is not limited. For example, one light emitting section 100 may include 16, 32, or 64 edge-emitting lasers. The number of edge-emitting lasers included in the light-emitting section 100 can be variously changed according to the needs of the designer, the sizes of the support section 200 and the light-emitting section 100, the number of driving circuits provided on the substrate 300, and the like.

Although fig. 4 illustrates a case where a plurality of anodes are formed above and an integrated cathode is formed below, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the cathode may be extended to one side of the plurality of anodes by a semiconductor process or the like such that the plurality of anodes and the cathode are sequentially formed. For example, in fig. 4, the eight electrodes formed above may be 1 cathode and 7 anodes, and the light emitting section 100 includes 7 lasers. Alternatively, the 8 electrodes formed above may be 4 anodes and four cathodes, respectively.

The support portion 200 is provided on the substrate 300 as shown in 1~3. For example, the supporting part 200 may be disposed on one surface of the substrate 300. The support portion 200 may support the light emitting portion 100, and may electrically connect the light emitting portion 100 to the substrate 300.

The support 200 may have a hexahedral shape, and is preferably a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and more preferably a rectangular parallelepiped shape having two square surfaces. In the present embodiment, the surface of the support portion 200 contacting the substrate 300 is referred to as a bottom surface; a surface of the support 200 facing the bottom surface is referred to as a top surface; four surfaces other than the bottom surface and the top surface of the support 200 are referred to as side surfaces; the longer two sides among the four sides of the support 200 are referred to as long sides; the shorter two sides among the sides of the support 200 are referred to as short sides. Wherein both short sides may be square.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the supporting portion 200 may be formed by using a ceramic material. The ceramic material has high thermal conductivity and a thermal expansion coefficient more matched to the light emitting portion 100 than a general printed circuit board. Therefore, forming the supporting part 200 using a ceramic material can reduce the damage phenomenon caused by heat generation of the light emitting part 100.

In an embodiment of the invention, as shown in fig. 1~3, two light emitting parts 100 are respectively disposed on two long sides of the supporting part 200. Here, the left long side surface of the light-emitting portion in fig. 1 is referred to as a surface a, and the right long side surface of the support portion 200 in fig. 1 is referred to as a surface B. Further, the surface of the light emitting part 100 facing upward of the substrate may be flush with the top surface of the support part 200.

The light emitting section 100 is preferably provided on the support section 200 such that the light emitting region faces upward of the substrate 300, and more preferably, the direction of light emitted from the light emitting section 100 is perpendicular to the substrate 300. That is, the upper portion of the light emitting part 100 shown in fig. 4 may face the support part 200, and the lower portion of the light emitting part 100 shown in fig. 4 may face the outside of the support part 200. Further, the direction of the light emitted from the light emitting section 100 may not be perpendicular to the substrate 300, and the light emitting section 100 may emit laser light obliquely upward from the substrate 300.

By causing the light emitting portion 100 to emit laser light with the support portion 200 disposed toward above the substrate 300, the emission direction of the laser beam can be changed from parallel to the substrate to perpendicular to the substrate in the related art. Therefore, the length of the laser emission module 10 in the laser emission direction can be reduced, and the length of the laser radar in the laser emission direction can be reduced.

Further, as shown in fig. 2, the positions where the two light emitting portions 100 are provided on the support portion 200 may be asymmetrical when viewed from above. In other words, the two light emitting parts 100 may not be identical in position in the x direction, i.e., may be arranged to be shifted from each other, at the two opposite side surfaces (the a surface and the B surface). That is, as shown in fig. 2, the light emitting unit 100 on the a-plane may be disposed relatively offset to the left (or + x direction); the light emitting unit 100 on the B-plane may be disposed relatively shifted to the right side (or-x direction). Further, a part of the two light emitting parts 100 may overlap in the x direction, and the remaining part may not overlap. Wherein, the x direction may be a direction parallel to the boundary line between the a plane and the substrate 300; the y-direction may be a direction parallel to the boundary line of the short side of the support 200 and the substrate 300; the z direction may be a height direction of the support with respect to the substrate 300.

The substrate 300 may be a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). A circuit may be formed on the substrate 300. The substrate 300 may be provided with a driving circuit that drives each laser of the light emitting section 100 provided in the support section 200 to cause the light emitting section 100 to emit laser light.

The number of drive circuits may be the same as the number of laser beams included in two light emitting sections 100, or may be the same as the number of laser beams included in a single light emitting section 100. Also, the driving circuits may be distributed on both sides of the supporting part 200 on the substrate 300. Accordingly, the length of the substrate 300 required to arrange the driving circuit may be reduced compared to the case where the driving circuit is arranged at one side of the support portion 200.

Fig. 5 is a view illustrating a metal pattern 210 of one long side (a-side) of the supporting part 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A metal pattern 210 may be formed on a side surface of the support part 200. The number of the metal patterns 210 may be the same as the number of cathodes and anodes of the light emitting part provided at the side surface. For example, when the light emitting part includes 1 cathode and 7 anodes, 8 metal patterns 210 may be formed. Thus, the plurality of metal patterns 210 may be connected to the cathode and the plurality of anodes of the light emitting part 100, respectively. The anode above the light emitting portion as shown in fig. 4 may be directly welded to the corresponding metal pattern. The metal pattern corresponding to the cathode may be electrically connected to the integrated cathode below the light emitting part of fig. 4 through a metal wire; or may be directly welded to the cathode formed above the light-emitting portion shown in fig. 4. The metal pattern 210 can be electrically connected to the light emitting portion 100 in the above manner. Also, the metal pattern 210 may be electrically connected to a driving circuit of the substrate 300.

As shown in fig. 5, the plurality of metal patterns 210 may be formed offset to the left side (+ x direction) of the support portion 200 at the a-plane. As shown in fig. 3, the light emitting portion 100 formed on the a-plane is also provided on the side surface so as to be offset to the left. The metal pattern formed on the side surface (B-surface) opposite to the side surface may be disposed with a deviation to the right side (-x direction), and the other light emitting part 100 may be formed with a deviation to the right side on the B-surface. That is, the shape of the metal pattern 210 on the B-side may be a shape that is inverted right and left in fig. 5.

As shown in fig. 5, the metal pattern 210 may be formed in a metal strip shape on the long side of the support 200. And the plurality of metal patterns 210 may be spaced apart from each other, respectively. More specifically, the metal pattern 210 may be formed to extend from the top to the bottom at the long side of the support part 200, so that the length of the metal pattern 210 at the long side of the support part 200 may be equal to the width of the long side. Further, the width of the metal pattern 210 may be formed in such a manner that electrical connection can be formed with the cathode or anode of the light emitting part 100. Further, the plurality of metal patterns 210 may be parallel to each other to prevent electrical connection therebetween.

The metal pattern 210 may be, for example, a metal plate or a metal thin layer (e.g., gold foil), and may be formed on the surface of the support 200 by electroplating.

Fig. 6 is a view illustrating a metal pattern of a bottom surface of a support part according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 6, 8 metal patterns 210 may be formed on the bottom surface of the support portion 200, and the number thereof may be equal to the number of metal patterns 210 formed on one side surface of the support portion 200. The number of the metal patterns 210 is not limited thereto, and 9 metal patterns 210 may be formed as shown in fig. 7.

The metal pattern 210 formed on the bottom surface of the supporting part 200 may be connected with the metal pattern 210 formed on the side surface. Wherein the connection may be formed at the boundary of the side surface and the bottom surface. The metal pattern 210 formed on the bottom surface of the support part 200 may be used for soldering with the substrate 300. That is, after the substrate 300 is formed with the pad having a shape corresponding to the metal pattern 210 of the bottom surface of the support part 200, solder is preset at the pad, and then the support part 200 provided with the light emitting part 100 may be placed on the solder to fix the support part 200 to the substrate 300. The electrical connection of the metal pattern 210 and the substrate 300 may be achieved by the above-described manner. Further, the light emitting section 100 can be electrically connected to the driving circuit of the substrate 300 as described above.

As shown in fig. 6, the metal pattern 210 may be formed at the bottom surface of the support part 200 to be inclined with respect to each side of the bottom surface, and connect the metal pattern 210 formed at the a-surface and the metal pattern 210 formed at the B-surface. As shown in fig. 3, since the light-emitting part 100 and the metal pattern 210 on the a-surface are formed on the left side of the light-emitting part 100 and the metal pattern 210 on the B-surface, the positions where the metal pattern 210 is formed on the a-surface and the B-surface are different in the x-direction in fig. 1. Accordingly, the metal patterns 210 formed at the a-plane and the B-plane may be connected by the shape of the metal pattern 210 as shown in fig. 6, so that the anode of at least one laser of the a-plane and the anode of at least one laser of the B-plane may be connected. And, an electrical signal may be applied to each of the metal patterns 210 formed at the support part 200 through the substrate 300. The cathodes of the two lasers may be grounded separately without being connected.

The shape of the metal pattern 210 on the bottom surface of the support 200 is not limited thereto, and may be formed as shown in fig. 7. That is, it is not necessary to form it obliquely as shown in fig. 6. Since the metal pattern 210 of the a-plane is formed at the left side, the metal pattern 210 of the bottom plane of the supporting part 200 shown in fig. 7 may be directly connected with the metal pattern 210 of the a-plane. In the B-plane, the metal pattern 210 may be formed as shown in fig. 8, and the metal pattern 210 located at the right side of the upper end and the metal pattern 210 located at the left side of the bottom surface are connected by the inclined metal pattern 210 at the lower side. Therefore, the metal pattern 210 does not need to be formed obliquely on the bottom surface of the support 200.

As shown in fig. 7, the metal pattern 210 on the bottom surface of the support 200 may be disconnected from the surfaces a and B at predetermined positions on the bottom surface. So that different driving signals can be supplied from the substrate 300 to the metal patterns 210 of both sides of the disconnection. Fig. 7 shows a structure in which one metal pattern 210 is broken in the middle, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and more metal patterns may be broken.

The laser emitting module 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention is explained above. With the laser emitting module 10 as described above, the laser emission directions of the plurality of edge-emitting lasers can be adjusted to be perpendicular to the substrate, and therefore the length of the laser emitting module 10 in the laser emission direction can be reduced. Further, by providing the light emitting portion 100 on the ceramic support portion 200, heat dissipation of the light emitting portion 100 is facilitated as compared with a case where the light emitting portion 100 is provided on a printed circuit board, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the ceramic material is more matched to that of the light emitting portion 100. Further, since the plurality of light emitting sections 100 are provided on the support section 200 and the support section 200 is provided on the substrate 300, it is not necessary to optically align the edge-emitting lasers provided on different substrates each other when assembling the laser-emitting module 10, and it is only necessary to ensure the mounting accuracy of the light emitting sections 100 when providing the light emitting sections 100 on the support section 200. In the laser emitting module 10, since the plurality of light emitting units 100 are mounted on one support 200, the laser emitting module 10 can be advantageously downsized.

Hereinafter, the laser light emitted from the laser emitting module 10 will be described with reference to fig. 9. Fig. 9 is a schematic view showing laser light emitted from the laser light emitting module. Fig. 9 shows a case where each light emitting section 100 includes 8 lasers. Since the two light emitting portions 100 are partially overlapped in the x direction at the installation position of the support portion 200, the linear arrays of the laser beams emitted from the two light emitting portions 100 are also partially overlapped in the x direction. Further, since the mounting position of the light emitting section 100 on the support section 200 is set so that the respective lasers do not overlap in the x direction, the lasers emitted from the overlapping region of the light emitting section 100 may be shifted by a predetermined distance without overlapping. In the manner described above, the number of lines of the emitted laser beam in the x direction can be increased near the middle portion. Therefore, when the laser radar shown in fig. 1 is vertically arranged, that is, the x direction corresponds to the vertical direction, the number of lines of laser light near the middle portion can be increased, and then the number of lines of laser light near the horizontal direction passing through the transmitting lens can be increased, and then the vertical resolution of the laser radar near the horizontal direction can be increased. Therefore, the detection of the vehicle carrying the laser radar to the vehicle far ahead is facilitated.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the laser devices located on the a-side and the B-side of the same metal pattern 210 may be simultaneously driven by connecting the metal pattern of the a-side and the metal pattern of the B-side at the bottom surface of the support 200 and transmitting an electrical signal from the substrate 300 to the metal pattern 210 through the bottom surface of the support 200. For example, the upper laser in fig. 9 is assumed to be a laser emitted from a B-plane laser; the lower laser beam is a laser beam emitted from the a-plane laser, and the upper laser beam 1 and the lower laser beam 1 can emit laser beams simultaneously by applying a drive signal from the substrate 300. Alternatively, the connection manner of the metal patterns may be modified so that the laser 1 on the B-side and the laser 2 on the a-side emit laser light simultaneously. Among them, the lasers emitting light simultaneously are preferably spaced apart by a predetermined distance or more in the x direction. If the separation is below a predetermined distance, it may be impossible for the laser receiver to distinguish which laser the received laser light is emitted from.

According to the above-described embodiments of the present invention, the number of required driving circuits can be reduced by connecting the metal patterns 210 at the bottom surface, compared to separately driving the lasers provided at the a-plane and the B-plane. When the number of the a-plane and the B-plane lasers is n, n drive circuits may be provided, which can reduce the cost and the space of the substrate 300 required for providing the drive circuits compared to 2n drive circuits. The a-plane laser and the B-plane laser are not necessarily connected one to one, and the metal pattern on the bottom surface may be broken as shown in fig. 7. In fig. 7, when one laser on the a-plane and one laser on the B-plane are disconnected from each other, n +1 drive circuits may be provided on the substrate 300 to drive all the lasers.

Referring to fig. 10, the lidar according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a laser transmitting module 10, a laser receiving module 20, and a processor 30.

The laser emission module 10 described with reference to fig. 10 may be the same as the laser emission module 10 described with reference to fig. 1 to 9.

In the laser emitting module 10, the plurality of lasers included in the light emitting section 100 can emit laser light in a set order by driving of the driving circuit based on control of the control section (not shown).

Also, the laser light emitted by the light emitting part 100 may have a predetermined emission angle after being diverged by a diverging lens (not shown) of the laser radar disposed on a light path. Thus, a predetermined angular range can be covered by one laser emitting module according to the present invention. The horizontal angle range or the vertical angle range that can be covered by the laser emitting module 10 can be variously changed depending on the number of lasers included in the light emitting unit 100 and the divergent lens.

The laser light emitted from the laser emission module 10 and diverged at the diverging lens returns to the laser radar after being reflected by an object outside the laser radar. The light returned to the laser radar may be focused by a focusing lens (not shown) and then incident on the laser receiving module 20.

The laser receiving module 20 may include a sensor 600 that senses light. At this time, the number of the sensors 600 included in the laser receiving module 20 may be one or more. The sensor 600 may be a photosensor such as an APD or SPAD. The number of the sensors 600 may be the same as the number of the lasers of the laser emitting module 10, or may be less than the number of the lasers, so that one sensor 600 receives light emitted from a plurality of the lasers. At this time, the emission intervals of the plurality of lasers corresponding to one sensor are preferably larger than a predetermined time difference. The time difference may be more than the time required for the lidar to traverse the maximum detection range.

Also, the output signal of the sensor 600 may be transmitted to the processor 30. Processor 30 may calculate a separation distance of an object outside of the lidar from the lidar using the output signal of sensor 600 based on time of flight (TOF).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the size of the laser transmitter module 10 can be reduced by the light emitting unit 100, the supporting unit 200, and the substrate 300 as described above, and the size of the laser transmitter module 10 can be reduced, so that the size of the laser receiver module 20 can be reduced accordingly. Therefore, the size of the entire laser radar can be reduced.

Also, the laser radar according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a rotating member (not shown). The rotating member may rotate the laser transmitter module 10 and the laser receiver module 20. The rotation may be a 360 ° rotation. Alternatively, the rotating member may include a mirror so that the laser light emitted from the laser emission module 10 is scanned along a plane in which the z-axis and the y-axis of fig. 1 are located by the rotation of the mirror and the rotating member.

The embodiments described above with respect to the apparatus and method are merely illustrative, where separate units described may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, i.e. may be located in one location, or may be distributed over a plurality of network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to implement the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims

1. A laser transmitter module, comprising:

a substrate provided with a plurality of drive circuits;

the supporting part is arranged on the substrate, a plurality of metal patterns are formed on the surface of the supporting part, the supporting part comprises a bottom surface connected with the substrate and two opposite side surfaces, and the metal patterns are formed on the two side surfaces and the bottom surface;

a first light emitting part and a second light emitting part respectively disposed on two side surfaces of the supporting part, respectively comprising a plurality of lasers capable of emitting laser light, the lasers comprising a cathode and an anode,

cathodes and anodes of the plurality of lasers are electrically connected to the substrate through the metal patterns respectively,

the first light-emitting part and the second light-emitting part are staggered along a first direction, the first direction is parallel to the boundary line of the substrate and the side surface,

the first electrodes of the at least one laser of the first light emitting portion and the at least one laser of the second light emitting portion are connected to each other through the metal pattern so as to be capable of being driven by one driving circuit to emit laser light, and the first electrodes are anodes or cathodes.

2. The laser transmitter module of claim 1,

the laser is an edge-emitting laser,

the laser emits laser light in a direction perpendicular to the substrate.

3. The laser transmitter module of claim 1,

at least one of the metal patterns is continuously formed on both the side surfaces and the bottom surface, and is electrically connected to the first electrode of at least one of the lasers of the first light emitting section and the at least one of the lasers of the second light emitting section, so that the two lasers can be simultaneously driven by one of the driving circuits.

4. The laser transmitter module of claim 1,

the plurality of lasers of the first light emitting portion and the second light emitting portion are located at different positions in the first direction.

5. The laser transmitter module of claim 1,

at the bottom surface, the arrangement direction of the metal pattern is inclined with respect to the first direction.

6. The laser transmitter module of claim 1,

the number of metal patterns of one side surface is at least one more than the number of lasers of the light emitting section provided on the side surface.

7. The laser transmitter module of claim 1,

a part of the areas of the first and second light-emitting portions overlap in the first direction, and the remaining areas do not overlap in the first direction.

8. The laser emitting module of claim 1,

the support portion is formed using a ceramic material.

9. A lidar, comprising:

the laser emitting module of any one of claims 1 to 8;

and a laser receiving module having a sensor sensing light.

10. The radar of claim 9, further comprising:

a rotating member that rotates the laser emitting module and the laser receiving module.