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CN119126059A - Optical shaping unit, laser radar and transceiver optical module - Google Patents

Optical shaping unit, laser radar and transceiver optical module Download PDF

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Publication number
CN119126059A
CN119126059A CN202310700387.0A CN202310700387A CN119126059A CN 119126059 A CN119126059 A CN 119126059A CN 202310700387 A CN202310700387 A CN 202310700387A CN 119126059 A CN119126059 A CN 119126059A
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CN
China
Prior art keywords
lens
unit
optical
lidar
probe beam
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
CN202310700387.0A
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Chinese (zh)
Inventor
王吉
向少卿
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Hesai Technology Co Ltd
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Hesai Technology Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Hesai Technology Co Ltd filed Critical Hesai Technology Co Ltd
Priority to CN202310700387.0A priority Critical patent/CN119126059A/en
Priority to PCT/CN2024/093620 priority patent/WO2024255520A1/en
Publication of CN119126059A publication Critical patent/CN119126059A/en
Pending legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/481—Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements
    • G01S7/4811—Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements common to transmitter and receiver
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S17/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
    • G01S17/88—Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/483—Details of pulse systems
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
    • G02B27/09—Beam shaping, e.g. changing the cross-sectional area, not otherwise provided for
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
    • G02B27/30—Collimators

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Optical Radar Systems And Details Thereof (AREA)

Abstract

The invention provides an optical shaping unit for a laser radar, the laser radar and a transceiver optical module, wherein the optical shaping unit comprises a first lens and a second lens, the first lens is used for receiving a detection light beam emitted by an emitting unit of the laser radar, the emitting unit is provided with a light emitting surface, and the detection light beam is emitted by the light emitting surface. The first lens is located in the optical path between the emission unit and the second lens, the first lens and the second lens being configured to form the light emitting surface of the emission unit into a reduced light emitting surface, wherein the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens are non-parallel. The invention reduces the size of the light emitting surface by utilizing the mutual matching of the first lens and the second lens, can flexibly control the size of the light emitting surface, improves the power density of detection beams emitted by the laser radar, reduces the requirement of the laser radar on the power density of the laser, and simultaneously, the first lens and the second lens turn the light path, change the position of the light emitting surface, facilitate the optimization of the arrangement of other parts in the laser radar, facilitate the reduction of the number of the parts of the laser radar and the volume of the laser radar, reduce the cost, have simple structure and facilitate the mass production.

Description

Optical shaping unit, laser radar and transceiver optical module
Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of laser radars, in particular to an optical shaping unit for a laser radar, the laser radar and a receiving and transmitting optical module for the laser radar.
Background
The laser radar is a radar system for detecting the position, speed and other characteristic quantities of a target by emitting laser beams, and is an advanced detection mode combining laser technology and photoelectric detection technology. The laser radar is widely applied to the fields of automatic driving, traffic communication, unmanned aerial vehicle, intelligent robot, resource exploration and the like due to the advantages of high resolution, good concealment, strong active interference resistance, good low-altitude detection performance, small volume, light weight and the like.
The laser radar transmits a detection light beam through the transmitting unit, receives an echo reflected by the target object through the receiving unit, and calculates and obtains the position and the distance of the target object relative to the laser radar according to the signal of the echo. The laser radar has the advantages that the laser radar is affected by factors such as the number of transmitting units and receiving units, the matching of the lens groups and the light splitting structure and the like, the number of optical parts in the laser radar is numerous, the structure is complex, the arrangement difficulty is high, the size of the laser radar cannot be further reduced, the miniaturization development of the laser radar and the application on small equipment are limited, meanwhile, the traditional structure causes the production cost of the laser radar to be too high, the large-scale production and the application of the laser radar are not facilitated, and therefore the laser radar is required to be improved.
The matters in the background section are only those known to the inventors and do not, of course, represent prior art in the field.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of one or more of the drawbacks of the prior art, the present invention provides an optical shaping unit for a lidar, comprising:
a first lens for receiving a probe beam emitted from an emitting unit of the laser radar, the emitting unit having a light emitting surface from which the probe beam is emitted, and
A second lens, wherein a first lens is located in an optical path between the emission unit and the second lens, the first and second lenses configured to form a light emitting surface of the emission unit into a reduced light emitting surface,
Wherein the optical axes of the first and second lenses are non-parallel.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the first lens and the second lens are both convex lenses, a focal length of the first lens is larger than that of the second lens, and the reduced light emitting surface is formed on a side of the second lens opposite to the first lens.
According to one aspect of the invention, the optical spacing between the first lens and the second lens is the sum of the focal length of the first lens and the focal length of the second lens.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the optical shaping unit further includes a reflecting portion provided between the first lens and the second lens, the reflecting portion configured to receive a probe beam from the first lens and reflect the probe beam to the second lens.
According to one aspect of the invention, the first lens, the second lens and the reflecting portion are integrally formed, or the first lens, the second lens and the reflecting portion are integrally formed, the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens are perpendicular, and the reflecting portion forms an angle of 45 degrees with the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a ratio of focal lengths of the first lens and the second lens is determined according to a size of the reduced light emitting surface, and the optical shaping unit is configured to increase a power density of a probe beam emitted from the lidar.
The present invention also provides a laser radar including:
An emission unit configured to emit a probe beam, the emission unit having a light emitting face from which the probe beam is emitted;
An optical shaping unit configured to form a reduced light emitting surface from a light emitting surface of the emission unit, the optical shaping unit being disposed in an optical path between the emission unit and the spectroscopic unit;
A receiving unit configured to receive an echo generated by reflection of the probe beam on an obstacle and convert the echo into an electrical signal;
a beam splitting unit configured to guide the probe beam to the outside of the laser radar and guide the echo to the receiving unit, and
And the data processing unit is coupled with the receiving unit and is configured to acquire information of the obstacle according to the electric signal.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the lidar further comprises a transceiving optical unit configured to receive the probe beam from the spectroscopic unit and transmit it to the exterior of the lidar, and to receive the echo and guide it to the spectroscopic unit.
According to one aspect of the invention, the optical shaping unit comprises a first lens and a second lens, wherein the first lens is for receiving the probe beam emitted by the emitting unit, the first lens is located in the optical path between the emitting unit and the second lens, the first lens and the second lens are configured to form the light emitting surface of the emitting unit into the reduced light emitting surface, wherein the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens are non-parallel.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the lidar further comprises a circuit board, and the transmitting unit and the receiving unit are provided on the same circuit board.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the first lens and the second lens are both convex lenses, a focal length of the first lens is larger than that of the second lens, and the reduced light emitting surface is formed on a side of the second lens opposite to the first lens.
According to one aspect of the invention, the optical spacing between the first lens and the second lens is the sum of the focal length of the first lens and the focal length of the second lens.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the optical shaping unit further includes a reflecting portion provided between the first lens and the second lens, the reflecting portion configured to receive a probe beam from the first lens and reflect the probe beam to the second lens.
According to one aspect of the invention, the first lens, the second lens and the reflecting portion are integrally formed, or the first lens, the second lens and the reflecting portion are integrally formed, the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens are perpendicular, and the reflecting portion forms an angle of 45 degrees with the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens.
According to one aspect of the invention, the lidar further comprises a scanner configured to receive and scan the probe beam from the transceiving optical unit to cover a field of view of the lidar and reflect the echo to the transceiving optical unit.
According to one aspect of the invention, the transmitting unit comprises a laser array arranged on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a detector array arranged on the circuit board, the laser radar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit form a transceiver optical module, and one laser and one detector correspond to one transceiver optical module.
According to one aspect of the invention, the transmitting unit comprises a plurality of groups of laser arrays arranged on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a plurality of groups of detector arrays arranged on the circuit board, the laser radar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit form one transceiver optical module, and one group of laser arrays and one group of detector arrays correspond to one transceiver optical module.
According to one aspect of the invention, the transmitting unit comprises a plurality of groups of laser arrays arranged on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a detector arranged on the circuit board, the area in the detector can be activated independently, the laser radar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit form a transceiver optical module, and the activation area, one group of laser arrays or one laser of the detector corresponds to one transceiver optical module.
The present invention also provides a laser radar including:
An emission unit configured to emit a probe beam, the emission unit having a light emitting face from which the probe beam is emitted;
A receiving unit configured to receive an echo generated by reflection of the probe beam on an obstacle and convert the echo into an electrical signal;
A spectroscopic unit configured to guide the probe beam to the outside of the lidar and guide the echo to the receiving unit;
a data processing unit coupled to the receiving unit and configured to obtain information of the obstacle based on the electric signal, and
And the transmitting unit and the receiving unit are arranged on the same circuit board.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the lidar further comprises a transceiving optical unit configured to receive the probe beam from the spectroscopic unit and transmit it to the exterior of the lidar, and to receive the echo and guide it to the spectroscopic unit.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the laser radar further includes an optical shaping unit disposed in an optical path between the emission unit and the spectroscopic unit, configured to adjust a spot shape of the probe beam emitted by the emission unit to form a reduced light emitting surface of the emission unit.
According to one aspect of the invention, the optical shaping unit comprises a first lens and a second lens, wherein the first lens is located in the optical path between the emitting unit and the second lens, wherein the first lens receives the probe beam and emits the probe beam to the second lens.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the first lens and the second lens are both convex lenses, a focal length of the first lens is larger than that of the second lens, and the reduced light emitting surface is formed on a side of the second lens opposite to the first lens.
According to one aspect of the invention, the optical spacing between the first lens and the second lens is the sum of the focal length of the first lens and the focal length of the second lens.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the optical shaping unit further includes a reflecting portion provided in an optical path between the first lens and the second lens, the reflecting portion configured to receive the probe beam from the first lens and totally reflect the probe beam to the second lens.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the first lens, the second lens, and the reflecting portion are integrally molded, or the first lens, the second lens, and the reflecting portion are integrally molded.
According to one aspect of the invention, the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens are perpendicular, and the reflecting portion makes an angle of 45 degrees with the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens.
According to an aspect of the invention, the ratio of the focal lengths of the first and second lenses is determined according to the size of the reduced light emitting surface.
According to one aspect of the invention, the optical shaping unit is configured to increase the power density of the probe beam emitted from the lidar.
According to an aspect of the invention, the beam splitting unit is configured to direct the probe beam and echo in a polarization splitting, small Kong Fen light, or partial mirror splitting manner.
According to one aspect of the invention, the lidar further comprises a scanner configured to receive and scan the probe beam from the transceiving optical unit to cover a field of view of the lidar and reflect the echo to the transceiving optical unit.
According to one aspect of the invention, the transmitting unit comprises a laser array arranged on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a detector array arranged on the circuit board, the laser radar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit form a transceiver optical module, and one laser and one detector correspond to one transceiver optical module.
According to one aspect of the invention, the transmitting unit comprises a plurality of groups of laser arrays arranged on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a plurality of groups of detector arrays arranged on the circuit board, the laser radar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit form one transceiver optical module, and one group of laser arrays and one group of detector arrays correspond to one transceiver optical module.
According to one aspect of the invention, the transmitting unit comprises a plurality of groups of laser arrays arranged on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a detector arranged on the circuit board, the area in the detector can be activated independently, the laser radar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit form a transceiver optical module, and the activation area, one group of laser arrays or one laser of the detector corresponds to one transceiver optical module.
The invention also provides a transceiving optical module for a laser radar, comprising an optical shaping unit and a beam splitting unit, wherein the optical shaping unit is configured to receive a detection beam emitted by an emitting unit of the laser radar and emit the detection beam to the beam splitting unit, the emitting unit has a light emitting surface, the detection beam is emitted by the light emitting surface, the beam splitting unit is configured to receive the detection beam from the optical shaping unit and guide the detection beam to the outside of the laser radar, and is configured to receive an echo and guide the echo to a receiving unit of the laser radar, and the optical shaping unit is configured to form the light emitting surface of the emitting unit into a reduced light emitting surface.
According to one aspect of the invention, the optical shaping units are in one-to-one correspondence with one or more lasers of the lidar and the spectroscopic units are in one-to-one correspondence with one detector, a plurality of detectors and an active area of the detector of the lidar.
According to an aspect of the invention, the optical shaping unit comprises an optical shaping unit as claimed in any one of claims 1-6.
Compared with the prior art, the optical shaping unit for the laser radar provided by the invention has the advantages that the size of the light emitting surface is reduced by utilizing the mutual matching of the first lens and the second lens, the size of the light emitting surface can be flexibly controlled, the power density of detection beams emitted by the laser radar is improved, the requirement of the laser radar on the power density of a laser is reduced, meanwhile, the first lens and the second lens are used for turning over the light path, the position of the light emitting surface is changed, and the arrangement of other parts in the laser radar is conveniently optimized.
The invention also comprises an embodiment of the laser radar, wherein the optical shaping unit is used for forming the light emitting surface of the transmitting unit into a reduced light emitting surface, so that the requirement on the size of the light emitting surface of the laser can be reduced, the detection light beam can be shaped, the beam splitting unit is used for guiding the detection light beam and the echo at the same time, a structural foundation is provided for the transmitting unit and the receiving unit to share the lens group, the number of laser radar parts and the volume of the laser radar are reduced, the cost is reduced, the structure is simple, and the mass production is convenient.
The invention also comprises another laser radar embodiment, the beam splitting unit is used for guiding the detection beam and the echo, and the transmitting unit and the receiving unit are integrated on the circuit board, so that the occupied space can be reduced, the structure is simple, the assembly and the visual field alignment of the transmitting unit and the receiving unit are facilitated, the mass production difficulty is reduced, and the production efficiency is improved.
The invention also comprises an embodiment of the receiving and transmitting optical module, wherein the optical shaping unit and the light splitting unit are mutually matched and integrated into the receiving and transmitting optical module, so that the integration level of optical elements in the laser radar is improved, and the mass production is facilitated.
Drawings
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate the invention and together with the embodiments of the invention, serve to explain the invention. In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an optical shaping unit in one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an optical shaping unit according to another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a system block diagram of a lidar in an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a lidar including a transceiving optical unit in an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a lidar including an optical shaping unit in one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the optical path of a lidar in an embodiment of the invention;
FIGS. 7A-7D are schematic diagrams of a light splitting unit in various embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an optical path of a transceiver optical module according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 9A and 9B are schematic structural diagrams of a transceiver optical module according to various embodiments of the present invention;
Detailed Description
Hereinafter, only certain exemplary embodiments are briefly described. As will be recognized by those of skill in the pertinent art, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings are merely for convenience in describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like, are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more, unless specifically defined otherwise.
In the description of the present invention, unless explicitly specified and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected, mechanically connected, electrically connected, or communicable with each other, directly connected, indirectly connected via an intermediary, or in communication between two elements or in an interaction relationship between two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art according to the specific circumstances.
In the present invention, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, a first feature "above" or "below" a second feature may include both the first and second features being in direct contact, as well as the first and second features not being in direct contact but being in contact with each other through additional features therebetween. Moreover, a first feature being "above," "over" and "on" a second feature includes the first feature being directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is higher in level than the second feature. The first feature being "under", "below" and "beneath" the second feature includes the first feature being directly under and obliquely below the second feature, or simply means that the first feature is less level than the second feature.
The following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of the invention. In order to simplify the present disclosure, components and arrangements of specific examples are described below. They are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to limit the invention. Furthermore, the present invention may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples, which are for the purpose of brevity and clarity, and which do not themselves indicate the relationship between the various embodiments and/or arrangements discussed. In addition, the present invention provides examples of various specific processes and materials, but one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize the application of other processes and/or the use of other materials.
The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it should be understood that the embodiments described herein are for illustration and explanation of the present invention only, and are not intended to limit the present invention.
Fig. 1 shows an optical shaping unit 100 for a laser radar according to an embodiment of the present invention, which includes a first lens and a second lens, where the first lens is used to receive a probe beam emitted by a light emitting surface of a light emitting unit of the laser radar, the first lens is located in an optical path between the light emitting unit and the second lens, and the first lens and the second lens form the light emitting surface of the light emitting unit into a reduced light emitting surface, so that the size of the light emitting surface after imaging (reduced) can be flexibly controlled by the first lens and the second lens, the power density of the probe beam emitted by the laser radar is improved, the requirement of the laser radar on the power density of the laser is reduced, and the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens are non-parallel, and the positions of the light emitting unit can be flexibly set by the first lens and the second lens, so that the arrangement of other parts inside the laser radar can be conveniently optimized, which will be described in detail below in connection with fig. 1.
As shown in fig. 1, the optical shaping unit 100 for a laser radar includes a first lens 110 and a second lens 120, wherein an emission unit 200 of the laser radar is also schematically shown, the emission unit 200 having a light emission surface (an upper surface of the emission unit 200 in the drawing) from which a probe beam is emitted. The emitting unit 200 may be, for example, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser VCSEL. The first lens 110 is used for receiving a probe beam emitted from the emitting unit 200 of the lidar. In addition, the probe beam emitted by the emission unit 200 may be directly incident on the first lens 110, or may be shaped by other optical components (such as a microlens or a microlens array) and then incident on the first lens 110.
The first lens 110 is disposed in the optical path between the emission unit 200 and the second lens 120, and the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 cooperate with each other to form the light emitting surface of the emission unit 200 into a reduced light emitting surface 200' (real image), which is equivalent to reducing the light emitting surface size. Therefore, according to the relationship of "emission power=light emitting surface size×power density", in the case where the emission power of the emission unit 200 is kept stable, the power density of the probe beam emitted by the reduced light emitting surface 200' (equivalent to a virtual light source or virtual emission unit) can be increased by reducing the light emitting surface size.
Specifically, the original size of the light emitting surface of the emission unit 200 is set to L 1, and the size of the reduced light emitting surface 200' imaged by the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 is set to L 2, which is calculated by the following formula:
L2＝N×L1。
Where N is less than 1 (also referred to as the compression factor). Accordingly, the size of the light emitting surface of the emitting unit 200 is compressed, and accordingly, the power density of the probe beam emitted from the reduced light emitting surface 200' is increased to 1/N 2 times the original power density. In the above-described embodiment, the reduced light emitting surface 200' is formed by changing the size of the light emitting surface after imaging the light emitting surface by the first lens 110 and the second lens 120.
And the optical axes of the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 in the present embodiment are non-parallel, for example, as shown in fig. 1, the optical axis of the first lens 110 is approximately in the vertical direction in fig. 1, and the optical axis of the second lens 120 is approximately in the horizontal direction in fig. 1, however, in different embodiments of the present invention, the angle between the optical axis of the first lens 110 and the optical axis of the second lens 120 may be other angles. Preferably, an optical element for changing the propagation direction of the probe beam, such as a reflective element, a diffraction element, or a grating, may be disposed between the first lens 110 and the second lens 120, realizing a non-parallel arrangement of the optical axes of the first lens 110 and the second lens 120.
According to the specific structural design of the laser radar, the positions of the emitting unit 200 and the reduced light emitting surface 200 'and the size of the reduced light emitting surface 200' can be changed by adjusting the positions of the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 and the angles between the optical axes of the two, and meanwhile, the power density of the detection beam emitted by the reduced light emitting surface 200', namely the power density of the detection beam emitted by the laser radar, is improved due to the fact that the size of the reduced light emitting surface 200' is smaller than that of the light emitting surface of the emitting unit 200, which is beneficial to improving the remote measuring capability of the laser radar. In addition, when applied to a laser radar, the optical shaping unit 100 allows the positions of optical components such as a beam splitting unit and a lens group positioned at the downstream of the optical path to be flexibly adjusted, so that the arrangement of other parts in the laser radar is conveniently optimized, the number of the laser radar parts is favorably reduced, the volume of the laser radar is favorably reduced, the cost is reduced, the structure is simple, and the mass production is convenient. As will be described in detail below.
In addition, after the object is imaged once through the lens, the space domain and the angle domain can be interchanged, for example, a laser with a rectangular light emitting surface and circular symmetrical divergence angle distribution is adopted, and after the object is imaged once through the lens, the light emitting surface is converted into a circular shape, and the divergence angle is converted into a rectangular distribution. In the application of the laser radar, the light emitting surface of the laser in the emitting unit is usually rectangular or square, in order to effectively match the emitting view field of the laser radar with the receiving view field of the detector, the divergence angle of the detection beam is preferably set to be circularly symmetric, if the laser is imaged by the lens only once, the light emitting surface of the laser needs to be circularly arranged and has the divergence angle of rectangular distribution, the laser is difficult to realize by an engineering method, and the processing cost is not easy to control, so that in order to reduce the cost of the laser radar, the laser with the rectangular light emitting surface can be adopted in the emitting unit, and the emitting unit is imaged by the lens twice so as to effectively match the emitting view field of the laser with the receiving view field of the detector.
In order to facilitate the provision of the probe beam required for the lidar, the present embodiment proposes to image the transmitting unit twice by means of a lens. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 are both convex lenses, and the focal length of the first lens 110 is greater than that of the second lens 120, the reduced light emitting surface 200' is formed on the opposite side of the second lens 120 with respect to the first lens 110, i.e., the probe beam emitted from the emitting unit 200 is converged on the other side of the second lens 120 after passing through the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 in sequence.
Further, the optical distance between the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 is the sum of the focal length of the first lens 110 and the focal length of the second lens 120, wherein the optical distance represents the distance between the optical center of the first lens 110 and the optical center of the second lens 120 along the optical axis direction of the two. For example, the focal length of the first lens 110 is f1, the focal length of the second lens 120 is f2, and the optical distance between the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 is f1+f2. The focal length f2 of the second lens 120 is smaller than the focal length f1 of the first lens 110, and the reduced light emitting surface 200' of the emitting unit 200 is smaller in size after two lens imaging, which improves the power density of the probe beam emitted by the lidar. In the present embodiment, the above compression coefficient N is obtained by calculation of the following formula:
Equivalent to emitting the entire light emission power of the emitting unit 200 from a smaller light emission surface, the power density of the probe beam emitted by the lidar will be increased by 1/N 2 times.
As shown in fig. 1, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the optical shaping unit 100 further includes a reflecting portion 130, the reflecting portion 130 being disposed in an optical path between the first lens 110 and the second lens 120, the reflecting portion 130 being disposed according to an angle in an optical axis direction between the first lens 110 and the second lens 120, the reflecting portion 130 being configured to receive the probe beam from the first lens 110 and reflect the probe beam to the second lens 120.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first lens 110, the second lens 120, and the reflection part 130 may be integrated into one integral optical component (for example, by an integral molding manner) and disposed in a lens barrel, wherein the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 may be disposed as convex surfaces of the optical component at a light incident position and a light emitting position, respectively, so as to function as a converging light beam, and a reflection film is attached at a position of the reflection part 130. Or alternatively, the reflecting part 130 is formed by total reflection inside the medium, for example, by selecting the material of the optical shaping unit 100, and by adjusting the angle at which the probe beam emitted from the emitting unit 200 is incident on the reflecting part 130 after passing through the first lens 110 so that the incident angle is greater than a critical angle (the critical angle is related to the refractive index of the material and the refractive index of the external medium (e.g., air)), so that the probe beam incident on the reflecting part 130 will be totally reflected to the second lens 120. In this case, a separate reflection film does not need to be provided.
In various embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, the first lens 110, the second lens 120 and the reflective part 130 may be formed separately and separately disposed in the lens barrel 140, for example, the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 are separate convex lenses, respectively, and are fixed at the light incident position and the light emergent position of the lens barrel 140, respectively, and the reflective part 130 may be a mirror fixed at a specific position in the lens barrel 140.
Further, the optical axis of the first lens 110 and the optical axis of the second lens 120 are disposed perpendicular to each other, and as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the reflecting portion 130 is disposed at an angle of 45 ° to the optical axes of the first lens 110 and the second lens 120. The arrangement of the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 with their optical axes perpendicular to each other is only a preferred embodiment, and the first lens 110, the second lens 120 and the reflecting portion 130 may be arranged at other angles to suit specific optical path requirements and installation requirements in a lidar. In addition, the reflecting portion 130 may be configured as a curved mirror to further optimize the optical shaping effect, and the light emitting surface of the emitting unit 200 is formed into a reduced light emitting surface 200' in cooperation with the first lens 110 and the second lens 120.
In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the ratio relationship between the focal length of the first lens 110 and the focal length of the second lens 120 is determined according to the size of the light emitting surface of the emission unit 200 and the reduced light emitting surface 200' thereof. When applied to a lidar, the ratio relationship of the focal length of the first lens 110 and the focal length of the second lens 120 can be determined according to the above formula, based on the actual light emitting surface size of the transmitting unit 200 of the lidar, and taking the ideal light emitting surface size expected for the transmitting unit as the size of the reduced light emitting surface 200'.
When the optical shaping unit is applied to the laser radar, the optical shaping unit can reduce the size of the light emitting surface of the emitting unit and improve the power density, so that the remote measurement performance of the laser radar can be remarkably improved. In addition, in the laser radar, the light emitting surface size of the emitting unit 200 affects the focal length of the emission lens group (which is shared by the actual emitting unit and the receiving unit) that subsequently shapes the probe beam, and the focal length of the emission lens=the light emitting surface size/the far-field spot angle is adjusted accordingly with the size of the light emitting surface 200 'reduced by the emitting unit 200 as the light emitting surface size, and the focal length of the emission lens group disposed downstream of the reduced light emitting surface 200'. Specifically, a predetermined position and size of the reduced light emitting surface 200 'are determined according to the focal length and position of the emission lens group, and then the focal length and position of each of the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 are determined according to the actual size of the light emitting surface of the emission unit 200, thereby forming the light emitting surface of the emission unit 200 into the reduced light emitting surface 200' at the predetermined position. Finally, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit can share a group of lenses, so that the number of optical components in the laser radar can be reduced, and the structure of the laser radar is simplified. In addition, under the condition of determining the focal length of the receiving and transmitting lens or the receiving and transmitting lens group, the transmitting unit 200 and the receiving unit can be integrated on the same circuit board, so that the internal structure of the laser radar is further simplified, and the design and processing difficulty of the laser radar are reduced.
Fig. 3 shows a system structure of the lidar 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the lidar 10 is described below with reference to fig. 3.
As shown in fig. 3, in the present embodiment, the laser radar 10 includes a transmitting unit 11, a receiving unit 12, a spectroscopic unit 13, a data processing unit 14, and a circuit board 15, wherein the transmitting unit 11 is configured to transmit a probe beam L, the receiving unit 12 is configured to receive an echo L 'generated by reflection of the probe beam L on an obstacle, and convert the echo signal L' into an electrical signal, and the receiving unit 12 has, for example, a photoelectric conversion element.
As shown in fig. 3, in which the thicker arrow indicates the probe beam L and the thinner arrow indicates the echo L ', the beam splitting unit 13 is configured to guide the probe beam L to the outside of the laser radar 10, and guide the echo L ' to the receiving unit 12, that is, the beam splitting unit 13 is capable of receiving the probe beam L and the echo L ', and guiding the probe beam L and the echo L ' to different directions, the probe beam L and the echo L ' both pass through the beam splitting unit 13, and the optical path portions overlap, which is beneficial for reducing the volume of the laser radar.
The data processing unit 14 is coupled to the receiving unit 12 and is arranged to obtain information of the obstacle from the electrical signals of the echo, in particular, for example, to determine the distance between the obstacle and the lidar 10 from the time the echo is received, and to determine information of the reflectivity of the obstacle from the echo.
In this embodiment, the laser radar 10 includes a circuit board 15, where the transmitting unit 11 and the receiving unit 12 are disposed on the same circuit board 15, so that the space occupied by the optical components in the laser radar 10 can be further compressed, which is beneficial to reducing the volume.
In the existing design, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit are usually disposed at two sides of the light splitting unit 13 in different directions, for example, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit are disposed at different sides of the light splitting unit 13 at an included angle of 90 °, that is, the transmitting unit 11 and the receiving unit 12 are disposed at different positions, and the transmitting unit 11 and the receiving unit 12 are required to be disposed on a circuit board, so that separate circuit boards need to be disposed for the transmitting unit and the receiving unit, which results in large occupied space, poor integration degree, and complex production process. The transmitting unit 11 and the receiving unit 12 in this embodiment are integrated on the same circuit board 15, where the transmitting unit 11 or the receiving unit 12 may optimize the optical path by using an optical shaping unit having shaping, guiding, and the like, so that the probe beam is incident on the beam splitting unit 13, the probe beam is guided to the outside of the laser radar 10 by the beam splitting unit 13 for detection, and the echo is guided to the receiving unit 12 by the beam splitting unit 13.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4, the lidar 10 further comprises a transceiving optical unit 16 (e.g. a lens group shared by the transmitting unit and the receiving unit as described above), wherein the transceiving optical unit 16 is arranged to receive the probe beam L from the spectroscopic unit 13 and to transmit the probe beam L to the outside of the lidar 10, while the transceiving optical unit 16 is also arranged to receive the echo L 'and to direct the echo L' to the spectroscopic unit 13. The transceiver optical unit 16 may be a lens or a lens group for collimating, converging, and the like, the probe beam and the echo to satisfy the detection and echo receiving requirements of the laser radar 10. Compared with the existing laser radar with the independent transmitting lens and receiving lens, the optical transceiver unit 16 is shared by the detection light beam and the echo in the embodiment, so that the number of optical elements in the laser radar 10 can be reduced, and the volume of the laser radar can be further reduced.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5, the laser radar 10 further includes the optical shaping unit 100 described above with reference to fig. 1 and 2, the optical shaping unit 100 is disposed in the optical path between the emission unit 11 and the light splitting unit 13, in this embodiment, the emission unit 11 has a light emitting surface, the probe light beam L is emitted by the light emitting surface, and the optical shaping unit 100 is disposed to adjust the spot shape of the probe light beam emitted by the emission unit 11 to form the light emitting surface of the emission unit 11 into a reduced light emitting surface 11', and the features of the optical shaping unit 100 described above with reference to fig. 1 and 2 may be incorporated into this embodiment either individually or in any combination. The features of the optical shaping unit 100 are not described in detail.
Fig. 6 shows a transmitting unit 11, an optical shaping unit 100, a beam splitting unit 13 and a receiving unit 12 of a laser radar 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the optical shaping unit 100 includes a first lens 110, a second lens 120 and a reflecting portion 130, the first lens 110 is located in an optical path between the transmitting unit 11 and the second lens 120, wherein the first lens 110 is configured to receive a probe beam emitted by the transmitting unit 11 and emit the probe beam to the second lens 120, the probe beam is emitted through the second lens 120, and a reduced light emitting surface 11 'of the transmitting unit 11 is formed downstream of the optical path, and the reduced light emitting surface 11' is regarded as a virtual transmitting unit, so that the size of the light emitting surface of the transmitting unit is reduced, and the power density is improved. The probe beam emitted from the second lens 120 may be emitted to the outside of the laser radar 10 through the spectroscopic unit 13. According to various embodiments of the present invention, the direction of the probe beam may be changed by the optical means for changing the direction of the beam, such as by the reflecting portion 130, during the transmission of the probe beam from the first lens 110 to the second lens 120. In this embodiment, in the case that the light emitting power of the emitting unit 11 does not change, the optical shaping unit 100 is used to form the reduced light emitting surface 11' of the emitting unit 11, that is, the reduced light emitting surface size, and accordingly, the optical shaping unit 100 can increase the power density of the probe beam emitted by the laser radar.
In the embodiment of fig. 6, the optical axes of the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 are perpendicular to each other, and the optical axes of the reflecting portion 130 and the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 are both at an angle of 45 ° so that the propagation direction of the probe beam emitted from the emitting unit 11 is deflected by 90 ° after passing through the reflecting portion 130. The deflection angle of the probe beam in this embodiment corresponds to the position and arrangement form of the beam splitting unit 13 in the laser radar 10, for example, the beam splitting surface of the beam splitting unit 13 is set to be inclined at an angle of 45 °, as shown in fig. 6, in which the probe beam is deflected by 90 ° by the beam splitting unit 13 and then guided to the outside of the laser radar 10, and the echo continues to extend to the receiving unit 12 in the original direction after passing through the beam splitting unit 13. Of course, the angles of the spectroscopic unit 13 with respect to the transmitting unit 11 and the receiving unit 12 may be other values, for example, the spectroscopic unit 13 shown in fig. 6 is rotated by a certain angle, and accordingly, the angle of incidence of the probe beam to the spectroscopic unit 13 is adjusted, and the angle between the optical axes of the first lens 110 and the second lens 120 and the position of the reflecting portion 130 are also adjusted accordingly.
The beam splitting unit 13 may be configured differently in different embodiments of the present invention, for example, as shown in fig. 7A-7D, and the beam splitting unit 13 may be configured as a polarization beam splitting prism (fig. 7A), a polarizing plate beam splitting (fig. 7B), a small Kong Fenguang (fig. 7C), a partial mirror beam splitting (fig. 7D), or the like, so as to guide the probe beam to the outside of the laser radar 10 and guide the echo to the receiving unit 12. When the different beam splitting units 13 are selected, the optical paths of the probe beam and the echo will also be changed correspondingly, the structural form of the beam splitting unit 13 is matched with the positions of the transmitting unit 11, the reduced light emitting surface 11' of the transmitting unit 11 and the receiving unit 12, and the specific structure of the beam splitting unit 13 is not limited in different embodiments of the invention.
Further, as shown in fig. 5, the lidar 10 further comprises a scanner 18 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the scanner 18 is configured to receive the probe beam emitted from the transceiver optical unit 16, and the coverage of the field of view of the lidar is provided by the scanner 18, while the scanner 18 is also configured to reflect echoes to the transceiver optical unit 16. The scanner 18 is disposed on a side of the transceiver optical unit 16 facing the laser radar 10, for example, through controllable rotation, so as to change the emergent angle of the probe beam, so as to realize detection of the laser radar field of view range, and may be specifically one of a galvanometer mirror, a swinging mirror, a galvanometer mirror and a polygon mirror, further, the scanner 18 scans in the horizontal direction, and simultaneously records the rotation angle of the reflecting mirror, so that the angle of the obstacle generating the echo relative to the laser radar 10 can be correspondingly calculated.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the emitting unit 11 comprises a laser array of a plurality of lasers, which may be VCSELs (vertical cavity surface emitting lasers), arranged on the circuit board 15, and the receiving unit 12 correspondingly comprises a detector array of a plurality of detectors, also arranged on the circuit board 15. The detector may be a single photon detector such as a SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) or SiPM (silicon photomultiplier). The laser radar 10 includes a plurality of optical shaping units 17 and a plurality of beam splitting units 13, wherein one optical shaping unit 17 and one beam splitting unit 13 are combined to form a transceiver optical module, and one transceiver optical module corresponds to one laser and one detector. In order to improve the detection range and the detection efficiency of the laser radar 10, the plurality of lasers in the transmitting unit 11 may be in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of detectors in the receiving unit 12 to form a plurality of detection channels, and each detection channel corresponds to one detection direction, for example, so as to cover the detection range of the laser radar 10.
In this embodiment, the optical shaping unit 17 and the beam splitting unit 13 are in one-to-one correspondence with the lasers and the detectors, that is, after the probe beam emitted by one laser passes through the optical shaping unit 17, the power density is increased, the probe beam is incident on the beam splitting unit 13, the probe beam is guided to the outside of the laser radar 10 by the beam splitting unit 13, an echo is formed after the probe beam is reflected by an obstacle, and the echo is guided to a corresponding receiver by the beam splitting unit 13, so that a detection process is completed.
According to further embodiments of the present invention, wherein the transmitting unit 11 comprises a plurality of sets of laser arrays arranged on the circuit board 15, the receiving unit 12 comprises a plurality of sets of detector arrays arranged on the circuit board 15. The laser radar 10 also includes a plurality of optical shaping units 17 and a plurality of beam splitting units 13, where one optical shaping unit 17 and one beam splitting unit 13 form a transceiver optical module, the beam splitting unit 13 is disposed downstream of the (detection) optical path of the corresponding optical shaping unit 17, a group of laser arrays and a group of detector arrays are corresponding to one transceiver optical module, for example, a plurality of lasers in a group of laser arrays collectively correspond to one optical shaping unit 17, the emitted detection beams pass through the optical shaping unit 17 to form a plurality of reduced light emitting surfaces, and are emitted to the outside of the laser radar through the beam splitting unit 13, and the corresponding echoes are received by the beam splitting unit 13 and guided to the corresponding detector arrays, for example, a plurality of detectors in the corresponding detector arrays, so as to complete a detection process. In addition, a plurality of lasers in a group of laser arrays can also transmit in a time-sharing way, and corresponding echoes are received by corresponding detectors, so that a detection process is completed.
According to other embodiments of the present invention, the emitting unit 11 includes a laser array composed of a plurality of lasers, where the laser array is disposed on the circuit board 15, and the lasers are, for example, VCSELs of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, where the VCSELs may be large-sized area array lasers (for example, 3mm×5 mm), and have light emitting points arranged in an area array, and the large area array VCSELs may be individually turned on by area (for example, the rows/columns in the area array VCSELs are individually controlled to be turned on), so as to form different light emitting areas according to actual requirements, and emit probe beams. Specifically, as shown in fig. 9A, the laser radar includes 2 transmitting units 1, each transmitting unit 1 includes 3 large area array VCSELs, 3 VCSELs in the left transmitting unit 1 and 3 VCSELs in the right transmitting unit 1 are staggered in the vertical direction in the drawing, 6 VCSELs that are staggered each other respectively detect different areas of the vertical field of view of the laser radar, and detection of the entire vertical field of view of the laser radar is realized through 6 VCSELs that are staggered each other, of course, 6 VCSELs shown in fig. 9A are only examples, and in specific applications, different numbers of VCSELs can be selected according to actual working requirements, and accordingly, as shown in fig. 9A, the laser radar includes 1 receiving unit 2, and the receiving unit 2 includes a detector disposed on a circuit board, and the detector may be, for example, a SPAD array, and each SPAD in the SPAD array may be individually activated by gating. The regions in the detector may be individually activated, and in particular, one or more SPADs in the SPAD array may be activated, forming activated regions. The SPAD in the corresponding area in the SAPD array is activated according to the light emitting area of the large area array VCSEL, so that the plurality of gating areas in the VCSEL and the corresponding plurality of activation areas in the SPAD array form a plurality of detection channels in a one-to-one correspondence, and each detection channel corresponds to one detection direction, for example, so as to cover the detection range of the lidar 10.
In this embodiment, the optical shaping unit 17 and the beam splitting unit 13 are in one-to-one correspondence with the gating area of the laser and the activation area of the detector, that is, after the probe beam emitted by one gating area of the laser passes through the optical shaping unit 17, the power density is increased, the probe beam is incident to the beam splitting unit 13, the probe beam is guided to the outside of the laser radar 10 by the beam splitting unit 13, an echo is formed after the probe beam is reflected by an obstacle, and the echo is guided to the activation area of the corresponding receiver by the beam splitting unit 13, so that the one-time detection process is completed.
According to a specific structure of the lidar 10 in another embodiment of the present invention, the lidar 10 includes a transmitting unit 11, an optical shaping unit 100, a receiving unit 12, a beam splitting unit 13, and a data processing unit 14, where the transmitting unit 11 and the receiving unit 12 are used for transmitting a probe beam and receiving an echo generated by reflection on an obstacle, and converting the echo into an electrical signal, which are not described herein.
The laser radar 10 in this embodiment uses the optical shaping unit 100 to shape the probe beam emitted from the light emitting surface of the emitting unit 11, and specifically, for example, the optical shaping unit in the foregoing embodiment can increase the power density of the probe beam emitted from the laser radar, so that the emitting unit 11 and the receiving unit 12 share the same transceiver optical unit 16. The optical shaping unit 100 and the light splitting unit 13 are mutually matched, so that the transmitting unit 11 and the receiving unit 12 can use the same lens, and the structure of optical components in the laser radar 10 is simplified. Meanwhile, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the optical shaping unit 100 may also be used to change the optical path of the probe beam, so that the setting position of the transmitting unit 11 may be adjusted, which is helpful for optimizing the structural arrangement inside the lidar 10, for example, the transmitting unit 11 and the receiving unit 12 may be disposed on the same circuit board, as shown in fig. 5, and the transmitting unit 11 may also be disposed at other suitable positions inside the lidar 10, so as to improve the flexibility of the arrangement of components inside the lidar 10.
In some embodiments of the present invention, an optical shaping unit 100 and a light splitting unit 13 form a transceiver optical module. Specifically, a laser and a detector are corresponding to a transceiver optical module, that is, a laser, an optical shaping unit 100, a light splitting unit 13 and a detector form a detection channel, and the laser radar includes a plurality of detection channels to meet the requirement of a detection range. Or one transceiver optical module corresponds to a plurality of detection channels at the same time, for example, one transceiver optical module covers a group of laser arrays including a plurality of lasers and a group of detector arrays including a plurality of detectors, one group of laser arrays corresponds to one optical shaping unit 100, and one group of detector arrays corresponds to one light splitting unit 13, so as to jointly form a plurality of detection channels. Or the transmitting unit 11 comprises an area array VCSEL, in which there are multiple individually gateable light emitting areas, each gated light emitting area can emit a beam of probe light, the receiving unit 12 comprises a SPAD array, in which each SPAD can be individually gated and activated, one transceiver optical module corresponds to one gating area in the area array VCSEL and one activation area in the SPAD array, one gating area of the laser corresponds to one optical shaping unit 100, one activation area of the probe corresponds to one light splitting unit 13, and multiple probe channels are formed together.
Fig. 8 shows an embodiment of a transceiving optical module 30 usable for a lidar, wherein the transceiving optical module 30 comprises an optical shaping unit 31 and a beam splitting unit 32, in particular, the optical shaping unit 31 and the beam splitting unit 32 may be configured as described in the previous embodiments, the optical shaping unit 31 being arranged to receive a probe beam emitted by the emitting unit 1 of the lidar and to emit the probe beam at the beam splitting unit 32. The optical shaping unit 31 can also form the light emitting surface of the emitting unit 1 into a reduced light emitting surface to increase the power density of the probe beam emitted by the lidar, and in particular, the optical shaping unit 31 in this embodiment may be the optical shaping unit 100 in the foregoing embodiment.
The spectroscopic unit 32 is arranged to receive the probe beam from the optical shaping unit 31 and to direct the probe beam to the outside of the lidar, and the spectroscopic unit 32 also receives echoes, which are directed to the receiving unit 2 of the lidar. The light splitting unit 32 may take the form of any one or more of the light splitting units 32 provided in the previous embodiments.
As shown in fig. 9A, in one embodiment of the present invention, the optical shaping unit 31 corresponds to lasers or gating areas of lasers in the transmitting unit 1 of the laser radar one by one, and the spectroscopic unit 32 is also arranged to correspond to detectors or activation areas of detectors in the receiving unit 2 of the laser radar one by one. Or as shown in fig. 9B, in another embodiment of the present invention, one optical shaping unit 31 corresponds to a set of multiple lasers or multiple gating areas of one laser in the transmitting unit 1 of the lidar, and one spectroscopic unit 32 corresponds to a set of multiple detectors or multiple activation areas of one detector in the receiving unit 2 of the lidar. For example, a plurality of lasers in the emitting unit 1 may be arranged in a stripe shape, and the light incident surface in the optical shaping unit 31 may be arranged as a continuous surface to cover a plurality of corresponding lasers or a plurality of gating areas of one laser. Similarly, the light emitting surface of the optical shaping unit 31 may be a continuous surface, and the light splitting unit 32 may be a strip shape, so as to correspond to a group of multiple detectors or multiple activation areas of one detector in the receiving unit 2, and the light splitting unit 32 may be configured as a whole or may be formed by combining multiple split structures.
In other embodiments of the invention, the transmitting unit 1 comprises a plurality of groups of laser arrays arranged on a circuit board, each group of laser arrays comprising a plurality of lasers, and the receiving unit 2 comprises a plurality of groups of detector arrays arranged on a circuit board, each group of detector arrays comprising a plurality of detectors. The optical shaping unit 31 and the light splitting unit 32 are also plural, and one optical shaping unit 31 and one light splitting unit 32 constitute one transceiver optical module, and one group of laser arrays and one group of detector arrays correspond to one transceiver optical module. That is, in this embodiment, an optical shaping unit 31 and its corresponding beam splitting unit 32, together with a set of laser arrays and a set of detector arrays, form a detection channel.
As shown in fig. 9B, two sets of laser arrays, two sets of detector arrays, and two transceiver optical modules 30 (each transceiver optical module includes an optical shaping unit 31 and a beam splitting unit 32) are shown, and the two transceiver optical modules 30 are disposed in a staggered manner.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the lasers of the transmitting unit 11 and the detectors of the receiving unit 12, and the corresponding optical shaping unit 100 and spectroscopic unit 13 may be packaged together, and the packaged structure is integrally disposed on the circuit board 15. It is also possible to set the lasers of the transmitting unit 11 and the detectors of the receiving unit 12 on the circuit board 15, respectively, perform positioning and mounting, and set the optical shaping unit 100 and the spectroscopic unit 13 at preset positions, so that the transceiver optical module corresponds to the lasers and the detectors, for example, first set the lasers of the transmitting unit 11 and the detectors of the receiving unit 12 at different positions on the circuit board 15, and then mount the optical shaping unit 100 and the spectroscopic unit 13 at positions corresponding to the lasers of the transmitting unit 11 and the detectors of the receiving unit 13.
It should be noted that the foregoing description is only an embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiment, but may be modified or some of the technical features thereof may be replaced by other technical features described in the foregoing embodiments. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (37)

1. An optical shaping unit for a lidar, comprising:
a first lens for receiving a probe beam emitted from an emitting unit of the laser radar, the emitting unit having a light emitting surface from which the probe beam is emitted, and
A second lens, wherein a first lens is located in an optical path between the emission unit and the second lens, the first and second lenses configured to form a light emitting surface of the emission unit into a reduced light emitting surface,
Wherein the optical axes of the first and second lenses are non-parallel.
2. The optical shaping unit of claim 1 wherein the first and second lenses are each convex lenses, the first lens having a focal length greater than a focal length of the second lens, the reduced light emitting surface being formed on an opposite side of the second lens from the first lens.
3. The optical shaping unit of claim 2 wherein the optical spacing between the first and second lenses is the sum of the focal length of the first lens and the focal length of the second lens.
4. The optical shaping unit according to any one of claims 1-3, further comprising a reflective portion disposed between the first and second lenses, the reflective portion configured to receive a probe beam from the first lens and reflect the probe beam to the second lens.
5. The optical shaping unit of claim 4 wherein the first lens, the second lens, and the reflective portion are integrally formed or the first lens, the second lens, and the reflective portion are integrally formed, the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens are perpendicular, and the reflective portion is at a 45 ° angle to the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens.
6. An optical shaping unit according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the ratio of the focal lengths of the first and second lenses is determined according to the size of the reduced light emitting surface, the optical shaping unit being configured to increase the power density of the probe beam emitted from the lidar.
7. A lidar, comprising:
An emission unit configured to emit a probe beam, the emission unit having a light emitting face from which the probe beam is emitted;
An optical shaping unit configured to form a reduced light emitting surface from a light emitting surface of the emission unit, the optical shaping unit being disposed in an optical path between the emission unit and the spectroscopic unit;
A receiving unit configured to receive an echo generated by reflection of the probe beam on an obstacle and convert the echo into an electrical signal;
a beam splitting unit configured to guide the probe beam to the outside of the laser radar and guide the echo to the receiving unit, and
And the data processing unit is coupled with the receiving unit and is configured to acquire information of the obstacle according to the electric signal.
8. The lidar of claim 7, further comprising a transceiving optical unit configured to receive the probe beam from the spectroscopic unit and transmit to an outside of the lidar, and to receive the echo and direct to the spectroscopic unit.
9. The lidar of claim 7, wherein the optical shaping unit comprises a first lens and a second lens, wherein the first lens is configured to receive the probe beam emitted by the emitting unit, the first lens being positioned in an optical path between the emitting unit and the second lens, the first lens and the second lens being configured to form the light emitting surface of the emitting unit into the reduced light emitting surface, wherein optical axes of the first lens and the second lens are non-parallel.
10. The lidar according to any of claims 7 to 9, further comprising a circuit board, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit being provided on the same circuit board.
11. The lidar of claim 9, wherein the first lens and the second lens are each a convex lens, a focal length of the first lens is greater than a focal length of the second lens, and the reduced light-emitting surface is formed on an opposite side of the second lens from the first lens.
12. The lidar of claim 11, wherein an optical spacing between the first lens and the second lens is a sum of a focal length of the first lens and a focal length of the second lens.
13. The lidar according to claim 9, 11 or 12, wherein the optical shaping unit further comprises a reflecting portion arranged between the first lens and the second lens, the reflecting portion being configured to receive a probe beam from the first lens and reflect the probe beam to the second lens.
14. The lidar of claim 13, wherein the first lens, the second lens, and the reflecting portion are integrally formed or the first lens, the second lens, and the reflecting portion are integrally formed, the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens are perpendicular, and the reflecting portion is at an angle of 45 ° to the optical axes of the first lens and the second lens.
15. The lidar of claim 8, further comprising a scanner configured to receive and scan the probe beam from the transceiving optical unit to cover a field of view of the lidar and reflect the echo to the transceiving optical unit.
16. The lidar of claim 10, wherein the transmitting unit comprises a laser array disposed on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a detector array disposed on the circuit board, the lidar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit form one transceiver optical module, and one laser and one detector each correspond to one transceiver optical module.
17. The lidar of claim 10, wherein the transmitting unit comprises a plurality of groups of laser arrays disposed on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a plurality of groups of detector arrays disposed on the circuit board, the lidar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit form one transceiver optical module, and one group of laser arrays and one group of detector arrays each correspond to one transceiver optical module.
18. The lidar of claim 10, wherein the transmitting unit comprises a plurality of sets of laser arrays disposed on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a detector disposed on the circuit board, the regions in the detector being individually activatable, the lidar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit comprising one transceiver optical module, wherein the active region of the detector, a set of laser arrays, or one laser corresponds to one transceiver optical module.
19. A lidar, comprising:
An emission unit configured to emit a probe beam, the emission unit having a light emitting face from which the probe beam is emitted;
A receiving unit configured to receive an echo generated by reflection of the probe beam on an obstacle and convert the echo into an electrical signal;
A spectroscopic unit configured to guide the probe beam to the outside of the lidar and guide the echo to the receiving unit;
a data processing unit coupled to the receiving unit and configured to obtain information of the obstacle based on the electric signal, and
And the transmitting unit and the receiving unit are arranged on the same circuit board.
20. The lidar of claim 19, further comprising a transceiving optical unit configured to receive the probe beam from the beam splitting unit and transmit to an outside of the lidar, and to receive the echo and direct to the beam splitting unit.
21. The lidar according to claim 19, further comprising an optical shaping unit provided in an optical path between the emission unit and the spectroscopic unit, configured to adjust a spot shape of the probe beam emitted by the emission unit to form a reduced light-emitting surface of the emission unit.
22. The lidar of claim 21, wherein the optical shaping unit comprises a first lens and a second lens, wherein the first lens is positioned in an optical path between the transmitting unit and the second lens, wherein the first lens receives the probe beam and emits the probe beam to the second lens.
23. The lidar of claim 22, the first lens and the second lens each being a convex lens, a focal length of the first lens being greater than a focal length of the second lens, the reduced light-emitting surface being formed on an opposite side of the second lens from the first lens.
24. The lidar of claim 23, wherein an optical spacing between the first lens and the second lens is a sum of a focal length of the first lens and a focal length of the second lens.
25. The lidar according to any of claims 22-24, the optical shaping unit further comprising a reflecting portion arranged in an optical path between the first lens and the second lens, the reflecting portion being configured to receive a probe beam from the first lens and to totally reflect the probe beam to the second lens.
26. The lidar of claim 25, wherein the first lens, the second lens, and the reflecting portion are integrally molded, or the first lens, the second lens, and the reflecting portion are integrally molded.
27. The lidar of claim 25, wherein the optical axes of the first and second lenses are perpendicular, and the reflecting portion is at a 45 ° angle to the optical axes of both the first and second lenses.
28. The lidar according to any of claims 22 to 24, wherein the ratio of the focal lengths of the first and second lenses is determined according to the size of the reduced light-emitting surface.
29. The lidar according to any of claims 21 to 24, wherein the optical shaping unit is configured to increase the power density of a probe beam emitted from the lidar.
30. The lidar according to any of claims 19 to 24, wherein the beam splitting unit is configured to direct the probe beam and echo in a polarized beam splitting, small Kong Fen light, or partial mirror splitting.
31. The lidar of claim 20, further comprising a scanner configured to receive and scan the probe beam from the transceiving optical unit to cover a field of view of the lidar and reflect the echo to the transceiving optical unit.
32. The lidar according to any of claims 22-24, wherein the transmitting unit comprises a laser array arranged on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a detector array arranged on the circuit board, the lidar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit constituting one transceiving optical module, wherein one laser, one detector each correspond to one transceiving optical module.
33. The lidar according to any of claims 21-24, wherein the transmitting unit comprises a plurality of groups of laser arrays arranged on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a plurality of groups of detector arrays arranged on the circuit board, the lidar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of light splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one light splitting unit constituting one transceiving optical module, wherein one group of laser arrays, one group of detector arrays each correspond to one transceiving optical module.
34. The lidar according to any of claims 21 to 24, wherein the transmitting unit comprises a plurality of groups of laser arrays arranged on the circuit board, the receiving unit comprises a detector arranged on the circuit board, the areas in the detector being individually activatable, the lidar comprises a plurality of optical shaping units and a plurality of beam splitting units, one optical shaping unit and one beam splitting unit constituting one transceiving optical module, wherein the activation area of the detector, a group of laser arrays or one laser corresponds to one transceiving optical module.
35. A transceiving optical module for a laser radar, comprising an optical shaping unit configured to receive a probe beam emitted by an emission unit of the laser radar and to emit the probe beam to a spectroscopic unit, the emission unit having a light emitting surface, the probe beam being emitted by the light emitting surface, the spectroscopic unit being configured to receive the probe beam from the optical shaping unit and to direct the probe beam to the outside of the laser radar and to receive an echo, to direct the echo to a receiving unit of the laser radar, wherein the optical shaping unit is configured to form the light emitting surface of the emission unit into a reduced light emitting surface.
36. The transceiver optical module of claim 35 wherein the optical shaping units are one-to-one corresponding to one or more lasers of the lidar and the beam splitting units are one-to-one corresponding to one detector, a plurality of detectors, and an active area of the detector of the lidar.
37. The transceiver optical module of claim 35 wherein the optical shaping unit comprises the optical shaping unit of any one of claims 1-6.
CN202310700387.0A 2023-06-13 2023-06-13 Optical shaping unit, laser radar and transceiver optical module Pending CN119126059A (en)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN202310700387.0A CN119126059A (en) 2023-06-13 2023-06-13 Optical shaping unit, laser radar and transceiver optical module
PCT/CN2024/093620 WO2024255520A1 (en) 2023-06-13 2024-05-16 Optical shaping unit, lidar, and optical transceiver module

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN202310700387.0A CN119126059A (en) 2023-06-13 2023-06-13 Optical shaping unit, laser radar and transceiver optical module

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CN119126059A true CN119126059A (en) 2024-12-13

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CN202310700387.0A Pending CN119126059A (en) 2023-06-13 2023-06-13 Optical shaping unit, laser radar and transceiver optical module

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CN (1) CN119126059A (en)

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