A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device (10, 100), comprising: a pulsed illumination source emitting a sequence of pulses of illumination light from the LIDAR device (10, 100) into a three dimensional environment having a first repetition pattern of pulse intensities, wherein one or more pulses of illumination light of the first repetition pattern has a different illumination intensity than another pulse of illumination light of the first repetition pattern; a photosensitive detector that detects an amount of light reflected from the three dimensional environment illuminated by each of the sequence of pulses of illumination light and generates an output signal indicative of the detected amount of light associated with each of the sequence of pulses of illumination light; and a computing system configured to: receive the output signal indicative of the detected amount of light; determine a distance between the LIDAR device (10, 100) and an object in the three dimensional environment based on a difference between a time when a pulse is emitted from the LIDAR device (10, 100) and a time when the photosensitive detector detects an amount of light reflected from the object illuminated by the pulse of illumination light; and generate a command signal that causes the pulsed illumination source to change the sequence of pulses of illumination light to a second repetition pattern having a different pattern of pulse intensities than the first repetition pattern. a pulsed illumination source emitting a sequence of pulses of illumination light from the LIDAR device (10, 100) into a three dimensional environment having a first repetition pattern of pulse intensities, wherein one or more pulses of illumination light of the first repetition pattern has a different illumination intensity than another pulse of illumination light of the first repetition pattern; a photosensitive detector that detects an amount of light reflected from the three dimensional environment illuminated by each of the sequence of pulses of illumination light and generates an output signal indicative of the detected amount of light associated with each of the sequence of pulses of illumination light; and a computing system configured to: receive the output signal indicative of the detected amount of light; determine a distance between the LIDAR device (10, 100) and an object in the three dimensional environment based on a difference between a time when a pulse is emitted from the LIDAR device (10, 100) and a time when the photosensitive detector detects an amount of light reflected from the object illuminated by the pulse of illumination light; and generate a command signal that causes the pulsed illumination source to change the sequence of pulses of illumination light to a second repetition pattern having a different pattern of pulse intensities than the first repetition pattern. receive the output signal indicative of the detected amount of light; determine a distance between the LIDAR device (10, 100) and an object in the three dimensional environment based on a difference between a time when a pulse is emitted from the LIDAR device (10, 100) and a time when the photosensitive detector detects an amount of light reflected from the object illuminated by the pulse of illumination light; and generate a command signal that causes the pulsed illumination source to change the sequence of pulses of illumination light to a second repetition pattern having a different pattern of pulse intensities than the first repetition pattern.