US 12,072,417 B2
Sub-sweep sampling in a lidar system
Mina Rezk, Haymarket, VA (US); and Neeraj Tayal, Milpitas, CA (US)
Assigned to Aeva, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by AEVA, INC., Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 27, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/140,105.
Application 18/140,105 is a continuation of application No. 16/283,179, filed on Feb. 22, 2019, granted, now 11,650,316.
Prior Publication US 2024/0077612 A1, Mar. 7, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01S 17/34 (2020.01); G01S 7/481 (2006.01); G01S 17/42 (2006.01); G01S 17/58 (2006.01)
CPC G01S 17/34 (2020.01) [G01S 7/4817 (2013.01); G01S 17/42 (2013.01); G01S 17/58 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system comprising:
an optical circuit configured to generate a first transmitted optical beam and a second transmitted optical beam being frequency modulated with sweeps of a frequency band to produce chirps, each sweep of the sweeps being divisible into multiple sub-sweeps over respective sub-bands of the frequency band;
one or more receivers configured to produce multiple simultaneous measurements of a first beat frequency and a second beat frequency per sweep of the frequency band, from the first transmitted optical beam and the second transmitted optical beam and a first return optical beam and a second return optical beam; and
a signal processor configured to:
determine a range and a velocity of a target from the multiple simultaneous measurements of the first beat frequency and the second beat frequency per sweep of the chirps;
for at least one of the sweeps, produce a custom simultaneous measurement of the first beat frequency and the second beat frequency for a custom sub-sweep from adjacent ones of multiple samples across more than one of the sub-sweeps; and
determine a custom sub-sweep value of the range and the velocity from the custom simultaneous measurement, there being at least a sweep value and the custom sub-sweep value of the range and the velocity for the at least one of the sweeps.