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CN-122029453-A - LIDAR sensor system including an integrated transceiver

CN122029453ACN 122029453 ACN122029453 ACN 122029453ACN-122029453-A

Abstract

A LIDAR sensor system for a vehicle can include a light source configured to generate a light beam, at least one optical amplifier configured to amplify the light beam to produce an amplified light beam, an optical power distribution network, a transmitter configured to receive a plurality of distributed light beams, and one or more optics configured to emit the plurality of distributed light beams. The optical power distribution network can include at least one input port configured to receive an amplified light beam, one or more optical splitters configured to split the amplified light beam into a plurality of distributed light beams, a plurality of output ports each configured to provide the plurality of distributed light beams, and one or more optical isolators configured to attenuate reflected signals at the plurality of output ports by causing the reflected signals to interfere coherently.

Inventors

  • Svanav Barnick
  • Andrew stell Michaels
  • Philip Sandburn

Assignees

  • 欧若拉运营公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20241011
Priority Date
20231011

Claims (15)

  1. 1. A LIDAR sensor system for a vehicle, the LIDAR sensor system comprising: a light source configured to generate a light beam; an optical power distribution network, the optical power distribution network comprising: at least one input port configured to receive the light beam; a plurality of output ports configured to output the light beams, and One or more optical isolators configured to attenuate reflected signals received at the plurality of output ports by coherently interfering with the reflected signals, and A transmitter configured to transmit the light beam.
  2. 2. The LIDAR sensor system according to any preceding claim (e.g. claim 1), wherein said LIDAR sensor system further comprises at least one optical amplifier configured to amplify said light beam.
  3. 3. The LIDAR sensor system of any preceding claim (e.g. claim 1), wherein the optical power distribution network further comprises one or more optical splitters configured to split the optical beam.
  4. 4. The LIDAR sensor system of any preceding claim (e.g., claim 3), wherein the one or more optical splitters comprise a plurality of rows of cascaded two-way optical splitters, and wherein the one or more optical isolators are configured at one of a first or last of the plurality of rows.
  5. 5. The LIDAR sensor system according to any preceding claim (e.g. claim 1), wherein said one or more optical isolators each comprise: an optical splitter including at least one input port and a plurality of output ports, and Phase shifters coupled to the plurality of output ports of the optical splitter, respectively.
  6. 6. The LIDAR sensor system according to any preceding claim (e.g. claim 5), wherein said optical splitter of said one or more optical isolators comprises a two-way splitter with two output ports.
  7. 7. The LIDAR sensor system of any preceding claim (e.g., claim 5), wherein the one or more optical isolators comprise one or more attenuators coupled to the plurality of output ports of the optical splitter.
  8. 8. The LIDAR sensor system according to any preceding claim (e.g. claim 7), wherein a specific attenuator of said one or more attenuators comprises a mach-zehnder modulator comprising: the first optical splitter is provided with a first optical splitter, the first optical splitter includes two output ports; Two phase shifters coupled to the two output ports of the first optical splitter, and A second optical splitter comprising two input ports coupled to the two phase shifters, respectively; wherein the control signal line is coupled to a particular phase shifter of the two phase shifters.
  9. 9. The LIDAR sensor system of any preceding claim (e.g., claim 5), wherein a particular optical isolator of the one or more optical isolators comprises a control signal line coupled to the phase shifter at one of the plurality of output ports of the optical splitter.
  10. 10. The LIDAR sensor system according to any preceding claim (e.g. claim 5), wherein a specific optical isolator of said one or more optical isolators comprises at least two input ports, wherein at least one of said at least two input ports is coupled to a light dissipating device.
  11. 11. The LIDAR sensor system according to any preceding claim (e.g. claim 1), wherein a specific optical isolator of said one or more optical isolators comprises at least two input ports, wherein at least one of said at least two input ports is coupled to a light dissipating device.
  12. 12. The LIDAR sensor system according to any preceding claim (e.g. claim 1), wherein said at least one optical amplifier is active and non-linear.
  13. 13. The LIDAR sensor system according to any preceding claim (e.g. claim 1), wherein the LIDAR sensor system further comprises a receiver configured to receive a reflected light beam and to determine an object detection result associated with an object reflecting the reflected light beam.
  14. 14. An autonomous vehicle control system comprising: A LIDAR sensor system, the LIDAR sensor system comprising: a light source configured to generate a light beam; an optical power distribution network, the optical power distribution network comprising: at least one input port configured to receive the light beam; a plurality of output ports configured to output the light beams, and One or more optical isolators configured to attenuate reflected signals received at the plurality of output ports by coherently interfering with the reflected signals, and A transmitter configured to transmit the light beam.
  15. 15. An optical power distribution network comprising: At least one input port configured to receive a light beam; One or more optical splitters configured to split the optical beam into a plurality of split optical beams; a plurality of output ports configured to provide the distributed light beams, respectively, and One or more optical isolators configured to attenuate reflected signals at the plurality of output ports by coherently interfering with the reflected signals.

Description

LIDAR sensor system including an integrated transceiver Priority claim The present application claims priority and benefit from U.S. application Ser. No. 18/484,930 filed on day 10 and 11 of 2023 and U.S. application Ser. No. 18/599,602 filed on day 3 and 8 of 2024. Each of the foregoing applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems use lasers to create three-dimensional representations of the surrounding environment. The LIDAR system includes at least one transmitter paired with a receiver to form a channel, although an array of channels may be used to expand the field of view of the LIDAR system. During operation, each channel emits a laser beam into the environment. The laser beam is reflected from objects within the surrounding environment, and the reflected laser beam is detected by a receiver. A single channel provides ranging information for a single point. In general, multiple channels are combined to create a point cloud corresponding to a three-dimensional representation of the surrounding environment. Disclosure of Invention Aspects and advantages of embodiments of the disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows, or may be learned from the description, or may be learned by practice of the embodiments. Example aspects of the present disclosure relate to LIDAR systems. As further described herein, LIDAR systems may be used by various devices and platforms (e.g., robotic platforms, etc.) to enhance the ability of the devices and platforms to perceive their environment and perform functions in response thereto (e.g., autonomous navigation within the environment). The present disclosure relates to LIDAR systems for use in, for example, vehicles. A LIDAR system according to example aspects of the present disclosure includes a LIDAR module including a transmitter configured to transmit a light beam. The LIDAR module includes optics configured to split a light beam into a plurality of light beams. The LIDAR module includes an optical amplifier array configured to amplify the plurality of light beams to generate a plurality of amplified light beams. For example, in some embodiments, the optical power of the amplified light beam may range from 10 decibels greater than the optical power of the multiple light beams to 30 decibels greater than the optical power of the multiple light beams. The LIDAR module includes a transceiver configured to facilitate transmitting the plurality of amplified light beams into the surrounding environment. The transceiver is further configured to receive return beams from the surrounding environment, which may be combined to generate point cloud data representative of objects in the surrounding environment. Integrated LIDAR systems are typically composed of complex circuitry of photonic elements, which may include multiple types of semiconductor materials. An optical signal (e.g., an optical signal) typically propagates through the LIDAR system in a single direction, such as from a light source to an optical device and/or from an optical device to a signal converter, through one or more waveguides. However, the elements making up these circuits, the interfaces between the semiconductor materials, and other components of the LIDAR system may reflect portions of the optical signals back through the LIDAR system. Some active optical components that may be used in a LIDAR system, such as active optical amplifiers, may be sensitive to these back reflections. Therefore, reducing these back reflections is beneficial for improving the operational characteristics of the LIDAR system. The present disclosure provides a method of implementing an optical isolator in an optical power distribution network, such as an optical power distribution network for an integrated LIDAR system. The optical power distribution network can be or can include a1 x N splitter. The 1 x N splitter may be formed by a cascaded 1 x2 splitter. One or more splitters can be actively controlled optical isolators to reduce the effect of optical signals reflected back to the optical power distribution network. For example, the first stage splitter and/or the last row of splitters can be replaced by optical isolators. The optical power distribution network may be coupled to an optical amplifier in the LIDAR system. The optical power distribution network may distribute the amplified optical signals to a plurality of devices (e.g., transmitters and/or optics of a LIDAR system). The use of optical isolators can reduce the incidence of reflected signals reflected back into the optical amplifiers from those amplified optical signals. The optical amplifier may be susceptible to these reflections. For example, an optical amplifier may be an active nonlinear device that exhibits unpredictable behavior when exposed to reflected optical signals at an output port. Thus, by reducing the reflected optical signal using an optical isolat