US 12,481,041 B2
Light detection and ranging (lidar) sensor system including transceiver device
Zeb William Barber, Bozeman, MT (US); Stefan Heineman, Bozeman, MT (US); and Randy Ray Reibel, Bozeman, MT (US)
Assigned to Aurora Operations, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (US)
Filed by Aurora Operations, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 14, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/352,798.
Application 18/352,798 is a continuation of application No. 17/888,355, filed on Aug. 15, 2022, granted, now 11,740,337.
Prior Publication US 2024/0053453 A1, Feb. 15, 2024
Int. Cl. G01S 7/4913 (2020.01); G01S 7/481 (2006.01); G01S 17/34 (2020.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 7/4913 (2013.01) [G01S 7/4817 (2013.01); G01S 17/34 (2020.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A light detection and ranging (lidar) system for a vehicle, the lidar system comprising:
M transceivers wherein M is an integer greater than 1;
a device including a laser source configured to generate a beam, and one or more optical components; and
a processor configured to operate the device to generate, based on the beam, N optical signals associated with N local oscillator (LO) signals, and multiplex the M transceivers such that each of the M transceivers transmits the N optical signals to an environment, wherein N is an integer greater than 1, and
in response to transmitting the N optical signals, each of the M transceivers is configured to receive N returned optical signals that are reflected from an object in the environment, and pair the N returned optical signals with the N LO signals; and
a second device having M×N channels, the second device including one or more analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) that are shared across the M×N channels.