US 12,276,734 B1
Encrypted LIDAR systems and methods
Michael T. Davis, Seattle, WA (US)
Assigned to Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed by Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed on Dec. 7, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/113,427.
Int. Cl. G01S 17/933 (2020.01); G01S 7/484 (2006.01); G01S 7/486 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 17/933 (2013.01) [G01S 7/484 (2013.01); G01S 7/486 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle, comprising:
a LIDAR system including:
a cryptographically secure deterministic random bit generator (DRBG) configured to generate a first cryptographically secure pseudorandom key sequence;
an illumination source configured to emit at least one light pulse encoded with the first cryptographically secure pseudorandom key sequence; and
a detector configured to receive at least one reflected light pulse, the at least one reflected light pulse including at least a portion of the at least one light pulse that was reflected by an object external to the vehicle; and
a control system including one or more processors and a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing program instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to at least:
determine that the at least one reflected light pulse is encoded with a second cryptographically secure pseudorandom key sequence to authenticate the at least one reflected light pulse;
compare the first cryptographically secure pseudorandom key sequence against the second cryptographically secure pseudorandom key sequence to determine that the second cryptographically secure pseudorandom key sequence matches the first cryptographically secure pseudorandom key sequence;
determine a distance to the object based at least in part on a time-of-flight associated with the at least one light pulse and the at least one reflected light pulse;
generate a rendering of the object based at least in part on the distance to the object;
determine that a second reflected light pulse of the at least one reflected light pulse is not encoded with a third cryptographically secure pseudorandom key sequence that matches the first cryptographically secure pseudorandom key sequence;
discard the second reflected light pulse, such that the second reflected light pulse is not used in the determination of the distance to the object or generation of the rendering of the object; and
determine a ratio of authenticated reflected light to discarded reflected light as an indication of optical conditions in an environment in which the vehicle is operating.