US 11,714,194 B2
Reduction of sampling rates in lidar systems
Majid Boloorian, San Diego, CA (US); Mehdi Asghari, La Canada Flintridge, CA (US); Bradley Jonathan Luff, La Canada Flintridge, CA (US); and Nirmal Chindhu Warke, Saratoga, CA (US)
Assigned to SiLC Technologies, Inc., Monrovia, CA (US)
Filed by SiLC Technologies, Inc., Monrovia, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 14, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/848,829.
Prior Publication US 2021/0318436 A1, Oct. 14, 2021
Int. Cl. G01S 17/34 (2020.01); G01S 7/491 (2020.01); G01S 17/26 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 17/34 (2020.01) [G01S 7/491 (2013.01); G01S 17/26 (2020.01)] 35 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A LIDAR system, comprising:
an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) that receives a beating signal that beats a first signal against a second signal,
the first signal being generated from light that has exited from the LIDAR system and returned to the LIDAR system after being reflected by an object located outside of the LIDAR system,
the second signal being generated from light that has not exited from the LIDAR system,
a frequency of the beating signal having a frequency contribution from a separation between the LIDAR system and the object; and
electronics that generate multiple first possible frequency values that are each a candidate for a value of the frequency contribution,
the electronics undersample the Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) so as to generate a digital data signal and use the digital data signal to quantify a distance between the object and the LIDAR system.