Glass diffuser with constant power density in 360° LIDAR illumination (Conference Presentation)

The safe and reliable transportation of human beings and goods using Lidar becomes possible in case of simultaneously illuminating the 360° field of view (FOV) around the vehicle with a constant power density in all directions. Conventionally, a rotating mirror is widely used to reorient a constant-power laser beam at the target direction but not simultaneously in a 360° FOV. The key challenge in this application is creating a constant light intensity in all detectable directions at the same time. This can be tackled by combining four laser sources and corresponding micro-optical components that shape the light within a rectangular 120°x20° (horizontal and vertical directions) FOV.