US 12,386,041 B2
Spinning LiDAR with one dimensional MEMS scanner
Yue Lu, Mountain View, CA (US); and Youmin Wang, Berkeley, CA (US)
Assigned to BEIJING VOYAGER TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., Beijing (CN)
Filed by BEIJING VOYAGER TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., Beijing (CN)
Filed on Apr. 6, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/224,117.
Prior Publication US 2022/0317261 A1, Oct. 6, 2022
Int. Cl. G01S 7/481 (2006.01); G01S 17/89 (2020.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 7/4817 (2013.01) [G01S 7/4814 (2013.01); G01S 17/89 (2013.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical sensing system for two-dimensional (2D) environmental sensing, comprising:
a rotary base; and
a one-dimensional (1D) optical sensing apparatus supported by the rotary base, wherein the 1D optical sensing apparatus comprises:
an optical source, configured to emit optical signals;
a quarter-wave plate, configured to convert a linearly polarized laser beam in the optical signal to circularly polarized or a circularly polarized laser beam in the optical signals to linearly polarized;
a 1D micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) scanner, configured to direct the optical signals towards an environment surrounding the optical sensing system; and
a receiver, configured to receive at least a portion of the optical signals reflected from the environment,
wherein the rotary base is configured to drive the 1D optical sensing apparatus to rotate around a first axis to scan the optical signals in a first dimension in the 2D environmental sensing and the 1D MEMS scanner is configured to independently rotate around a second axis to scan the optical signals in a second dimension in the 2D environmental sensing.