CPC G01S 7/484 (2013.01) [G01S 7/4814 (2013.01); G01S 7/4816 (2013.01); G01S 7/4817 (2013.01); G01S 17/10 (2013.01); G01S 17/42 (2013.01); G01S 17/89 (2013.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01)] | 34 Claims |
1. A lidar apparatus comprising:
a laser source;
a mirror subsystem that defines where the lidar apparatus is aimed within a field of view, wherein the mirror subsystem is optically downstream from the laser source; and
a control circuit that orders a list of range points into a shot list of laser pulse shots that are to be fired by the laser source at the range points, each range point having a corresponding azimuth and elevation so that the range points on the range point list encompass a plurality of different azimuths and a plurality of different elevations;
wherein the control circuit orders the range point list into the shot list by (1) selecting which of the elevations are to be prioritized within the shot list over others of the elevations based on defined criteria and (2) ordering the range points into the shot list based on the selected elevation prioritizations so that the shot list defines an order for the laser pulse shots where laser pulse shots which target range points from the range point list at the selected prioritized elevations are to be fired before laser pulse shots which target range points from the range point list at the other elevations; and
wherein the defined criteria comprise (1) which of the elevations corresponds to a horizon in the field of view, (2) range information applicable to one or more detected objects in the field of view, (3) velocity information applicable to one or more detected objects in the field of view, (4) directional heading information applicable to one or more detected objects in the field of view, and/or (5) eye safety criteria.
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