Patent ID: 9465112
Filing Date: 2016-10-11
CPC Classification: G01S,H01S

Claim Text:
1. A flash ladar adapted for use with a vehicle, said flash ladar comprising: a pulsed laser transmitter and pulsed light output and diffusing optic adapted to illuminate a field of view, receive optics adapted to collect and condition an optical pulse comprised of pulsed light reflected from the field of view, a detector array comprised of light detecting elements, and positioned at a focal plane of said receive optics, a readout integrated circuit comprising a corresponding regular geometric array of unit cell electrical circuits, an optical sampler comprising an optical pickup positioned to intercept an optical sample of the pulsed light output, and an optical waveguide to transmit said optical sample to a reference detector and said reference detector adapted to provide a zero time reference electrical output to each unit cell of said readout integrated circuit, each unit cell electrical circuit having an amplifier, a counter, and a threshold detector, and said threshold detector adapted to produce a logic signal indicating the arrival of an electrical pulse, a timing clock connected to the counter in each unit cell electrical circuit, and wherein the counter started counting by the zero time reference electrical output, and the counter accumulating the number of cycles of said timing clock, and the counter stopped counting by said logic signal.