Patent ID: 11693094

Abstract:
A method to compensate for phase impairments in a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system includes transmitting a first optical beam towards a target, receiving a second optical beam from the target to produce a received optical beam; and generating a digitally-sampled target signal using a local oscillator (LO) beam, a first photo-detector and the received optical beam. The method also includes generating a digitally-sampled reference signal using a reference beam transmitted through a fiber delay device and a second photo-detector, and estimating one or more phase impairments in the LiDAR system using the digitally-sampled reference signal to produce one or more estimated phase impairments. The method also includes performing a first correction on a first phase impairment introduced into the digitally-sampled target signal by the LO beam; performing a second correction on a second phase impairment introduced into the digitally-sampled target signal by the received optical beam.