US Patent 10488497 Scanning lidar for an automated vehicle

A scanning lidar suitable for use on an automated vehicle includes a laser, a beam-steering means, and a controller. The laser generates a pulsed laser beam. The beam-steering means steers the pulsed laser beam in a direction within a field-of-view of the lidar. The field-of-view is characterized as rectangular-shaped. The controller is in communication with the laser and the beam-steering means. The controller coordinates operation of the laser and the beam-steering means such that the lidar is characterized by an angular-resolution. The controller operates the beam-steering means in accordance with a first rectangular spiral pattern characterized by an aspect-ratio that corresponds to the field-of-view. The first rectangular spiral pattern causes a scan-segment to be skipped during a present-scan of the field-of-view due to the aspect-ratio. As such, the field-of-view is not scanned entirely at the angular-resolution.