Patent attributes
A lidar system comprises a light source configured to emit pulses of light, a scanner configured to direct the pulses of light along a scan direction, where each of the pulses of light illuminates a respective field of view of the light source, and a receiver configured to detect the pulses of light scattered by remote targets. The receiver includes a low-gain detector associated with a low gain and a high-gain detector associated with a high gain. The low-gain detector is positioned so that a first scattered pulse of light that returns from a first target, located closer to the receiver than a second target, is detected primarily by the low-gain detector, and a second scattered pulse of light that returns from the second target is detected primarily by the high-gain detector.