Patent ID: 8547531

Claim:
A LIDAR imaging device comprising: a light emitting device for emitting a beam of light; a first lens array having a plurality of lens elements for receiving said light from said light emitting device, the first lens array including an expander lens comprising one of a Galilean beam expander which utilizes a negative focal length lens and a positive lens and a Keplerian beam expander which utilizes a first positive focal length lens and a second positive focal length lens, said beam expander increasing the size of said emitted beam of light so that the size of the beam of light is equal to the size of the first lens array; a second lens array having a plurality of lens elements for receiving light from said first lens array, said second lens array being positioned at the focal length of the first lens array, said first lens array and said second lens array combining to separate said light into individual rays of light; and a receiving device comprising a detector array having a plurality of detector elements for receiving said individual rays of light, wherein the receiving device optionally connected to a calculating device which determines a time of flight for rays of light to reach a predetermined target area and return to the receiving device with the calculating device having a timing device and receiving a signal from the light emitting device for indicating that the beam of light has been emitted and received, respectively, whereby determining the time of flight based on the speed of light and determining the distance from the light emitting device and individual points in the target area.