Patent ID: 11933895
Assignee: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A lidar system comprising:
one or more light sources configured to generate a first beam of light and a second beam of light;
a scanner configured to scan the first and second beams of light across a field of regard of the lidar system, the scanner comprising:
a rotatable polygon mirror comprising a plurality of reflective surfaces angularly offset from one another along a periphery of the polygon mirror, the reflective surfaces configured to reflect the first and second beams of light to produce a series of scan lines as the polygon mirror rotates; and
a pivotable scan mirror configured to (i) reflect the first and second beams of light and (ii) pivot to distribute the scan lines across the field of regard;

a controller configured to modify a drive signal for a motor of the pivotable scan mirror to adjust distances between the scan lines, wherein the modified drive signal causes the scan mirror to have a lower scan speed near a middle of its motion and a higher scan speed away from the middle of its motion so that scan lines near a middle region of the field of regard have a higher density than scan lines away from the middle region; and
a receiver configured to detect the first beam of light and the second beam of light scattered by one or more remote targets, wherein the receiver comprises:
a first detector configured to detect the first beam of scattered light, and
a second detector configured to detect the second beam of scattered light.