Patent ID: 7480031

Claim:
A laser radar device operating on an elapsed time basis comprising a pulsating laser for emitting successive light pulses into a monitored region, a light receiving arrangement for receiving light impulses reflected by an object in the monitored region, generating electrical signals responsive to the received light impulses, and forwarding the signals to an evaluation unit, the evaluation unit being adapted to generate a distance signal indicative of a distance between the object and the laser radar device on the basis of the speed of light and an elapsed time between the emission of the light pulses and the receipt of the reflected light pulses, a light diverter located between the laser and the monitored region for continuously varying a directionality of the light impulses directed into the monitored region, the light diverter including a beam splitter for dividing an energy of the emitted light pulses into a main beam and a sensing beam, the beam splitter being adapted to cause a constant angular offset between the main beam and the sensing beam in the direction in which the directionality of the light beams is varied, and a further light receiver for receiving light impulses from the sensing beam reflected by the object.