Abstract
This paper describes a laser ranging sensor that is suitable for applications like small unmanned aerial vehicles. The hardware consists of a diode emitter array and line-scan charge coupled devices. A structured-light technique measures ranges up to 30 meters for 64 field angles in a 90 degree field of view. Operation is eye safe, and the laser wavelength is not visible to night vision goggles. This paper describes a specific sensor design in order to illustrate performance for a given package size.
Highlights
The laser ranging sensor (LRS) provides range measurements to multiple points within a wide field of view (FOV) using a structured-light technique
The LRS described here has the small size and low weight attributes needed for integration onto a small unmanned aerial vehicle
As illustrated in the callout at the bottom of the figure, the position of the reflected light on the focal plane array (FPA) depends on the distance to the object that reflected the light
Summary
The laser ranging sensor (LRS) provides range measurements to multiple points within a wide field of view (FOV) using a structured-light technique. Many forms of structured-light ranging have been proposed; the wide variety of implementations is described elsewhere [1,2,3]. Structured-light techniques use geometry to determine range; they do not require the high speed circuitry associated with time-of-flight ranging. Suppressing short range returns permits operation in dust, fog, and smoke that would otherwise blind the sensor. The current technique permits ranging to multiple field points simultaneously without extensive processing. This paper describes the details of a small, lightweight design that provides tens of meters ranging over a wide FOV with a rapid update rate.
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