KR101814129B1 - Optical Apparatus for Lidar System - Google Patents

Abstract

The optical device of a laser system is disclosed. According to an aspect of the present embodiment, in a lidar optical device for providing sensing light with a scanner of a lidar system, the lidar optical device includes a first mirror arranged to form a first angle set to a horizontal plane and a light source for outputting sensing light having a predetermined wavelength, and reflecting the sensing light to the scanner of the lidar system, an angle adjusting part for adjusting an angle formed by the first mirror to the horizontal plane, and a light detection part for receiving light reflected from a target and received from the scanner of the lidar system light, and converting it into an electric signal. It is possible to precisely adjust a scanning area.

Description

[0001] Optical Apparatus for Lidar System [

This embodiment relates to a ladder optical apparatus capable of adjusting a precise scanning area in a ladder system.

The contents described in this section merely provide background information on the present embodiment and do not constitute the prior art.

Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) is a system that uses light to detect a target and measure the distance to the target. The radar system is similar in function to radar (Radio Detection and Ranging), but it differs from radar, which uses radio waves to detect a target, using light to detect the target. Because of this difference, the Lida system is sometimes referred to as an 'imaging radar'.

Due to the difference in Doppler effect between light and microwave, Lida has superior azimuth resolution and distance resolution compared to radar.

The mainstream has been the airborne laser that emits laser pulses from satellites or aircraft and receives backscattered pulses from atmospheric particles at terrestrial stations. These air lasers have been used to measure the presence and movement of dust, smoke, aerosols, and cloud particles along with wind information, and to analyze the distribution of airborne dust particles or air pollution. In recent years, however, researches on the terrestrial LADA, which performs obstacle detection, terrain modeling, and acquisition of the position of objects, has been actively conducted on both the transmission system and the reception system. Therefore, research is being conducted to apply the terrestrial Lada system to civil defense applications such as surveillance and reconnaissance robots, combat robots, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned helicopters, civilian mobile robots, intelligent cars, and unmanned vehicles.

The lidar system is divided into an optical device for generating and irradiating a sensing light for detecting a target, and a scanner for detecting a target using sensing light. The Rida scanner has a mirror that rotates at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the direction of the sensing light emitted from the optical device and detects a target existing in a plane perpendicular to the direction in which the sensing light is transmitted from the optical device. Meanwhile, in the conventional Lada optical apparatus, a light source is provided, and the sensing light is irradiated from a light source directly to the Lada scanner, or the sensing light is reflected from the mirror and irradiated to the Lada scanner with a light source and a mirror.

However, within the production process of the Lada optics, the configuration of the arrangement or configuration of each configuration is ideal. For example, in the case of an optical device in which a light source irradiates a sensing light with a direct Lada scanner, it is necessary to arrange the sensing light to be irradiated precisely at the central portion of the mirror in the Lada scanner. However, There is a quality concern. Alternatively, in the case of an optical device having a mirror and reflecting the sensing light using a mirror, the mirror must have an angle for accurately irradiating the sensing light to the center of the mirror in the Lada scanner. However, it is not an easy matter to accurately produce the angle of the mirror required by the optical device in the production process of the mirror to be disposed in the optical device without any error. Accordingly, the scanning area of the conventional lidar system necessarily differs from the area to be scanned by the system user. Therefore, a conventional Lidar system user must adjust the arrangement of mirrors or light sources to eliminate the difference.

However, in order to check whether there is a difference, a user of a conventional LIDAR system needs to operate the LIDAR system, and in order to adjust the arrangement of a mirror or a light source in the optical apparatus in order to eliminate a difference, Should stop operating. That is, the conventional Lydia system user has suffered considerable inconvenience that the Lydia system is turned on and off in order to precisely eliminate the difference.

In addition, errors in optical devices occur due to age and environmental factors during the installation process and operation according to the installation environment, and such errors cause a great problem in sensing performance. However, it is impossible to systematically compensate for the error during installation and operation.

An object of the present invention is to provide a ladder optical apparatus which makes it possible to adjust an accurate scanning area by adjusting the angle at which the sensing light is irradiated even when the lidar system is in operation.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ladder optical apparatus for providing sensing light with a scanner of a lidar system, the apparatus comprising: a light source for outputting a sensing light having a predetermined wavelength; An angle adjusting unit for adjusting an angle formed by the first mirror and the horizontal surface of the first mirror, a second mirror for reflecting the sensing light to the scanner of the Lidia system, and an angle adjustment unit for receiving reflected light entering from the scanner of the Lidia system, And a photodetector for converting the signal into a signal.

As described above, according to one aspect of the present embodiment, since the error of the optical device can be corrected by the ladia system and the angle at which the sensing light is irradiated can be adjusted even in the state where the correction is in operation, And the scanning area can be precisely adjusted without repeating the stopping.

1 is a perspective view of a ladder system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a cross-sectional view of a ladder system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a perspective view of a Lydia optic according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a perspective view of a Lydia optic according to another embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a cross-sectional view of a ladder optics according to an embodiment of the invention.
6 is a perspective view of a ladder system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a cross-sectional view of a ladder system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a perspective view of a Lidar optical device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to exemplary drawings. It should be noted that, in adding reference numerals to the constituent elements of the drawings, the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference symbols as possible even if they are shown in different drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

In describing the components of the present invention, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), and (b) may be used. These terms are intended to distinguish the constituent elements from other constituent elements, and the terms do not limit the nature, order or order of the constituent elements. Throughout the specification, when an element is referred to as being "comprising" or "comprising", it means that it can include other elements as well, without excluding other elements unless specifically stated otherwise . In addition, '... Quot ;, " module ", and " module " refer to a unit that processes at least one function or operation, and may be implemented by hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software.

1 is a perspective view of a ladder system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a lidar system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a body 110, a scanner 120, and a cover 130.

The body portion 110 maintains the shape of the lidar system 100 and supports the scanner 120 and the cover portion 130. The body 110 includes a control unit (not shown) for controlling the operation and data processing of the lidar system 100, a scanning unit 120 for irradiating a sensing light for scanning the target, (Not shown) for receiving the reflected light and a motor (not shown) for operating the scanner so that the scanner 120 can scan the scanning area.

The scanner 120 reflects the sensing light irradiated from the optical device to the scanning area and reflects the reflected light reflected from the object to the optical device. The scanner 120 is rotated by a motor (not shown) and reflects the sensing light to all the scanning areas. The scanner 120 reflects the reflected light reflected by the object or the background (hereinafter abbreviated as 'existing background') already existing or the reflected light reflected by the target to the optical device so that the optical device reflects the light To be received.

The cover portion 130 protects the internal structure of the lidar system 100. The cover 130 may be formed of a transparent material so that the sensing light or the reflected light can pass therethrough and may have a cylindrical shape without angles such that the traveling direction of the sensing light or the reflected light does not change.

2 is a cross-sectional view of a ladder system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

The scanner 120 includes a motor 210 and a first mirror part 220.

As described above, the motor 210 is positioned within the body 110 and is connected to the first mirror part 220 to provide power for rotating the first mirror part 220. [ The motor 210 includes an encoder (not shown) or is connected to an encoder. The encoder 210 is used to grasp information such as the number of revolutions, speed, rotation direction, or rotation angle of the motor, Or allows the control unit 240 to confirm the above-described information.

The first mirror unit 220 reflects the sensing light emitted from the optical device 230 and reflects the reflected light to the existing background or target. The first mirror unit 220 has a reflective surface at a predetermined angle with respect to a direction in which the optical device 230 irradiates the sensing light to reflect the sensing light irradiated by the optical device 230 to the scanning area do. For example, in order to reflect the sensing light irradiated in the + Z axis to the scanning area on the XY plane, the first mirror part 220 may have a reflective surface having an angle of 45 degrees. As such, the first mirror portion 220 has the reflecting surface having a predetermined angle, thereby reflecting the irradiated sensing light to the scanning region.

The first mirror unit 220 is connected to the motor 210 and rotates together with the rotation of the motor 210. By rotating the first mirror part 220, the first mirror part 220 can reflect the sensing light in a predetermined area instead of the one point, and can reflect the reflected light reflected by the existing background or target in a certain area have.

When the sensing light and the reflected light are incident on or reflected from the reflecting surface, the LIDAR system 100 can sense the target with high efficiency. However, when an error occurs in the optical device due to the above-mentioned production process and environmental factors, the sensing light and the reflected light are not horizontal. In order to solve such a problem, an embodiment of the present invention has the following technical features.

The optical device 230 is located in the body 110 and irradiates the sensing light with the scanner 120 or receives the reflected light incident from the scanner 120. The optical device 230 can detect a scanning area (hereinafter referred to as a target scanning area) to be scanned by the user of the Raid system (hereinafter, referred to as a target scanning area) The scanning direction of the sensing light can be adjusted depending on whether or not it coincides with the " actual scanning area " A detailed description thereof will be made with reference to Figs. 3 to 5 and Fig.

The controller 240 controls the operation of each component in the lidar system 100 and uses the optical device 230 and the scanner 120 to determine whether the target has entered the scanning area. When the reflected light reflected from the background is incident on the optical device after the sensing light is irradiated as the conventional background, the controller 240 reflects the angle and the sensing light when the sensing light is irradiated on each configuration of the existing background, The time taken for the light to be incident on the light source 230 is measured. The controller 240 can calculate the distance of each angle of the background of the existing background by using the measurement value. The control unit 240 includes a memory (not shown), and stores directions and distances of the respective background configurations.

If a value different from the information of each configuration of the existing background stored in the memory is calculated, the controller 240 can recognize that the target has entered the actual scanning area. In addition, the control unit 240 can measure the direction and the distance of the target using the measurement value reflected from the target. The control unit 240 can measure the position of the target and can control that the target is intruded by using light, sound, or the like.

The controller 240 may be implemented as a circuit board that surrounds the optical device 230 as shown in FIG. 2 and may be implemented in the body 110 in a configuration separate from the optical device 230 have. The control unit 240 is not limited by the implementation mode.

3 is a perspective view of a Lydia optic according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 shows a case where the controller 240 is implemented in the body 110 in a configuration different from that of the optical device 230. FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3, the LIDAR optical device 230 includes an optical lens 310, a light emitting unit 320, and a first light source 330 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The optical lens 310 condenses reflected light incident from the scanner 120 and transmits the condensed light to a photodetector (not shown). Unlike the sensing light, since the reflected light reflected from the target or the background is dispersed, there is a concern that a sufficient amount of reflected light for detecting the reflected light may not be incident on the light detecting unit (not shown). The optical lens condenses the reflected light, thereby allowing the optical detector (not shown) to detect the reflected light.

The light emitting unit 320 includes a blocking unit 324 for preventing the sensing light emitted from the first light source 330 from being dispersed outside the light emitting unit 320 and an irradiation unit 328 for emitting sensing light do. The light emitting unit 320 includes the blocking unit 324 to prevent the sensing light emitted from the first light source 330 from being dispersed to the outside and to be irradiated only to the orifice irradiating unit 328. The light emitting unit 320 includes a blocking unit 324 and an irradiating unit 328 so that the sensing light is irradiated only to the irradiating unit 328 so that the sensing light is irradiated at an intact intensity only in the scanning area. The width of the blocking portion 324 and the width of the irradiation portion 328 determined accordingly can be set differently depending on the scanning region.

The first light source 330 emits sensing light for detecting the target. The first light source 330 irradiates the sensing light toward the second mirror portion and the sensing light reflected by the second mirror portion passes through the irradiating portion 328 of the light transmitting portion 320 And is irradiated to the scanner 120. The sensing light has a wavelength band outside the wavelength band of the visible light. For example, an infrared ray in the 900 nm band may be used as the sensing light.

4 is a perspective view of a Lydia optic according to another embodiment of the present invention. 4 shows a case in which the control unit 240 is implemented as a circuit board which surrounds the optical device 230. In FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, the controller 240 is implemented as a circuit board that surrounds the optical device 230.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a Lada optical device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a Lada optical device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The second mirror unit 510 reflects the sensing light emitted from the first light source 330 to the scanner 120, more specifically, the first mirror 220. The second mirror unit 510 has a reflective surface that has a predetermined angle with the direction of the sensing light from the first light source 330. For example, when the scanner 120 is positioned on the vertical (+ Z-axis) direction of the second mirror part 510 and the sensing light is irradiated in the + Y axis direction, the second mirror part 510 is positioned at 45 And reflects the sensing light to the scanner 120. The scanner 120 reflects the sensed light.

The angle adjusting unit 520 is connected to at least one surface other than the reflecting surface of the second mirror unit 510 to adjust the angle formed by the reflecting surface and the direction in which the sensing light is irradiated from the first light source 330. As described above, the mirror portion (the first mirror portion or the second mirror portion) in which the angle of the reflection surface is slightly deviated from the predetermined angle in the production process can be produced. Alternatively, the mirror portion may be disposed in the LIDAR optical device 230, and the second mirror portion 510 may be disposed in a state in which the angle formed by the direction in which the sensing light is radiated and the reflective surface is slightly deviated from a predetermined angle. . Accordingly, the sensing performance of the LIDAR system may deteriorate because the sensing light and the reflected light may not be horizontal, and the actual scanning area of the LIDAR system 100 may have an error in the X-axis direction or the Z-axis direction from the target scanning area Occurs. The angle adjusting unit 520 adjusts the angle formed by the direction in which the sensing light is irradiated from the first light source 330 and the reflective surface. The angle adjusting unit 520 is connected to one surface other than the reflecting surface of the second mirror unit 510 so that one side of the second mirror unit 510 is positioned above (in the + Z-axis direction) Thereby adjusting the angle formed by the direction in which the sensing light is irradiated and the reflective surface. When one side of the second mirror portion 510 is moved upward, the angle formed by the direction in which the sensing light is irradiated and the reflecting surface is reduced. On the other hand, when one side of the second mirror portion 510 is moved downward, the angle formed by the direction in which the sensing light is irradiated and the reflecting surface becomes large. In this way, the angle adjusting unit 520 adjusts the angle formed between the direction in which the sensing light is irradiated and the reflection surface so that the sensing light is irradiated to the scanner 120 in a precise direction, and finally adjusted to be irradiated to the Mokpo scanning area. 5, one of the angle adjusting units 520 is connected to the second mirror unit 510. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a plurality of angle adjusting units 520 may be disposed at intervals as shown in FIG. 8, It is possible to adjust the angle formed by the reflecting surface and the reflecting surface. 5, although the angle adjusting unit 520 is shown as a screw, the angle adjusting unit 520 is not limited thereto, and any angle adjusting unit 520 can be used as long as it can move one side of the second mirror unit 510.

The Lidar optics 230 has a hole 530 on one side of the housing closest to the angle adjuster 520. Lidar optics 230 includes holes 530 so that the Lidia system user can adjust the angle using the angle adjuster 520 outside the optics 230 while the Lidia system 100 is in operation . Alternatively, the controller 240 may include a separate motor (not shown) for adjusting the angle adjuster 520. The control unit 240 may receive the error between the target scanning area and the actual scanning area and may control the angle adjusting unit 250 to adjust the angle by an error using a motor.

The light detecting unit 540 receives reflected light entering from the scanner and converts the light into an electric signal, thereby detecting whether or not the reflected light is received. The optical detector 540 may be any element that converts an optical signal, such as a photodiode (PD), into an electrical signal. The light detecting unit 540 receives the reflected light condensed by the optical lens 310 and converts the light into an electric signal.

The isolator 550 is disposed in the front of the first light source 330 in the direction in which the sensing light is emitted, and blocks reflected light incident on the light source. The isolator 550 means a circuit element that propagates the radio wave in the forward direction but does not propagate in the reverse direction. The isolator 550 passes the sensing light but blocks the reflected light incident in the opposite direction of the sensing light. Most of the reflected light is condensed by the optical lens 310 and is incident on the optical detection unit 540. Part of the reflected light is incident on the irradiation unit 328 of the optical transmission unit 320, The reflected light incident on the irradiating unit 328 is reflected by the second mirror unit 510 and is incident on the first light source 330. Such reflected light needs to be blocked. Thus, the isolator 550 blocks reflected light incident on the first light source 330 as described above.

6 is a perspective view of a ladder system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, a ladder system according to another embodiment of the present invention further includes a guide unit 610 in the ladder system 100 shown in FIG.

The guide 610 guides the area currently being scanned using visible light, in particular monochromatic light, so that the user of the lidar system can easily identify it. As described above, since the LADIA optical device 230 irradiates light having a wavelength band outside the wavelength band of the visible light, it is possible to determine where the current scanning area is, I can not. Therefore, the guide unit 610 can check the area where the visible light is currently being scanned, thereby allowing the user of the LIDAR system to directly check without any additional equipment.

7 is a cross-sectional view of a ladder system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The guide portion 610 includes a second light source 710, a third mirror portion 720, and a hollow hole 730.

The second light source 710 irradiates guide light for guiding the area being scanned. The second light source 710 irradiates the guide light toward the third mirror part 720 and the guide light reflected by the third mirror part 720 is irradiated in the same direction as the sensing light. As described above, the guide light uses light having a wavelength in the visible light band so that the user of the system can easily confirm the light.

The third mirror 720 reflects the guide light emitted from the second light source 710. Similarly to the first mirror portion 220, the third mirror portion 720 may reflect the guide light emitted from the second light source 710 in the same direction as the sensing light, and the second light source 710 may reflect the guide light And a reflecting surface that forms a predetermined angle with respect to the irradiation direction. The angle of the reflecting surface provided by the third mirror portion 720 may not necessarily coincide with that of the first mirror portion 220. [ The angle of the reflecting surface of each mirror part may be different according to the direction in which the second light source 710 and the optical device 230 are arranged.

The third mirror portion 720 is connected to the motor 210 together with the first mirror portion 220. The first mirror part 220 and the third mirror part 720 are connected to the motor 210 so that the rotation of the first mirror part 220 and the third mirror part 720 ) Rotate at the same angle, and rotate at the same speed. Accordingly, the sensing light and the guide light are always irradiated with the constant distance D in the same direction. Therefore, the user of the Rada system can identify the area where the sensing light is being irradiated by using the guide light.

The hollow 310 is a hole having a predetermined width, which is located at one side of the body portion 140, and irradiates the guide light to the outside of the lidar system. The guide light generated from the light source 220 is reflected by the first mirror portion 230 and is emitted to the outside through the hollow portion 310.

7, the second light source 710 is positioned in the + Y axis direction with respect to the third mirror 720, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Depending on the arrangement of the third mirror 720, The position of the light source 710 may vary.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present embodiment, and various modifications and changes may be made to those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the embodiments. Therefore, the present embodiments are to be construed as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the scope of the technical idea of the present embodiment is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present embodiment should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents thereof should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

100, 600: Lidar system 110: Body part
120: scanner 130: cover part
210: motor 220: first mirror part
230: Lidar optics 240:
310: optical lens 320:
324: blocking part 328:
330: first light source 510: second mirror part
520: Angle adjusting part 530: hole
540: optical detector 550: isolator
610: guide portion 710: second light source
720: Third mirror part

Claims (4)

A lidar optical device for providing sensing light with a scanner of a LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) system,
A light source for outputting sensing light having a predetermined wavelength;
A mirror disposed at a predetermined first angle with the horizontal plane and reflecting the sensing light to a scanner of the Lidia system;
An angle adjuster for adjusting an angle between the mirror and the horizontal plane;
A hole provided on one surface of the housing to adjust an angle of the mirror with respect to a horizontal plane using the angle adjusting unit outside the lidar system while the lidar system is operating; And
A photodetector for receiving the reflected light reflected from the target and entering from the scanner of the lidar system into an electric signal;
≪ / RTI > The method according to claim 1,
The angle adjusting unit
And adjusts the angle formed by the mirror with the horizontal plane to match the target angle when the predetermined first angle has an error with the target angle. delete The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising an isolator that is reflected from the target and is reflected by the mirror among the reflected light entering from the scanner of the Lidia system to block reflected light entering the light source.

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