Ouster, Inc.

An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lens tubes that collimate collected photons, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.

An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lens tubes that collimate collected photons, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.

An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lens tubes that collimate collected photons, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.

Circuits, methods, and apparatus that can provide detector arrays that are able to avoid or limit saturation of SPAD devices from both ambient and reflected light while maintaining sufficient sensitivity to generate a lidar image. An example can provide a SPAD device having high dynamic range. This SPAD device can include a first cathode for a first diode and a second cathode for a second diode formed in a common anode, where the common anode can be formed of an epitaxial layer. When high sensitivity is desired, both the first diode and the second diode can be biased above their breakdown voltage. When a lower sensitivity is desired, the first diode can be biased above its breakdown voltage while the second diode can be biased below its breakdown voltage. Diode bias voltages can be tuned to steer photogenerated carriers towards the second cathode to further reduce sensitivity.

Circuits, methods, and apparatus that can provide lidar systems having an increased dynamic range. One example can provide a lidar system having emitter elements to emit optical signals and sensor elements to detect incident photons. The emitter elements can emit a first optical signal having a series of pulses at a first power level and a second optical signal having a series of pulses at a second power level. Following first pulses, the sensor elements can determine a number of photons detected during a first number of time bins that begin with an initial time bin and extend to a first time bin. Following the second pulses, the sensor elements can determine a number of photons detected during a second number of time bins beginning with the initial time bin and extending to a second time bin. The second power level can differ from the first power level and the second number can differ from the first number.

An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lens tubes that collimate collected photons, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.

A multispectral sensor array can include a combination of ranging sensor channels (e.g., LIDAR sensor channels) and ambient-light sensor channels tuned to detect ambient light having a channel-specific property (e.g., color). The sensor channels can be arranged and spaced to provide multispectral images of a field of view in which the multispectral images from different sensors are inherently aligned with each other to define an array of multispectral image pixels. Various optical elements can be provided to facilitate imaging operations. Light ranging/imaging systems incorporating multispectral sensor arrays can operate in rotating and/or static modes.

A multispectral sensor array can include a combination of ranging sensor channels (e.g., LIDAR sensor channels) and ambient-light sensor channels tuned to detect ambient light having a channel-specific property (e.g., color). The sensor channels can be arranged and spaced to provide multispectral images of a field of view in which the multispectral images from different sensors are inherently aligned with each other to define an array of multispectral image pixels. Various optical elements can be provided to facilitate imaging operations. Light ranging/imaging systems incorporating multispectral sensor arrays can operate in rotating and/or static modes.

An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lens tubes that collimate collected photons, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.

An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lenses that collimate photons passed by an aperture, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.