US 11,747,472 B2
Range estimation for LiDAR systems
Qin Zhou, Mountain View, CA (US); and Youmin Wang, Mountain View, CA (US)
Assigned to BEIJING VOYAGER TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., Beijing (CN)
Filed by BEIJING VOYAGER TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., Beijing (CN)
Filed on Aug. 14, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/994,447.
Prior Publication US 2022/0050200 A1, Feb. 17, 2022
Int. Cl. G01S 17/18 (2020.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01); G01S 7/4861 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 17/18 (2020.01) [G01S 17/931 (2020.01); G01S 7/4861 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A range estimation system for an optical sensing system, comprising:
an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to convert a plurality of laser pulses of an identical waveform returned from an object to a digital signal, wherein the ADC has a predetermined sampling period; and
a processor, configured to:
calculate an intensity ratio between two data points selected from the digital signal, wherein the two data points are from two different laser pulses;
determine an arrival time of a first returned laser pulse based on the intensity ratio; and
estimate a range between the object and the optical sensing system based on the arrival time of the first returned laser pulse.