Vehicle-mounted imaging lidar with nonuniform distribution of instantaneous field of view.

• An imaging vehicle-mounted lidar system exhibits a non-uniform distribution of resolution across the entire detection space. • The lidar system can discover and recognize target at a longer range than conventional systems. • The lidar has a larger optical receiving aperture in the center field of view and a stronger ability to collect the returning beam. Imaging lidar is an important sensor for use in vehicle environment perception systems, and its field of view (FOV) and instantaneous field of view (IFOV) determine the system's spatial coverage and the spatial resolution of detection, respectively. A smaller IFOV indicates that lidar can recognize a target over a greater distance. The FOV and the IFOV of conventional array-type lidar systems are constrained by the detector and cannot increase their target recognition distance while maintaining the same spatial coverage. To solve this problem, an imaging vehicle-mounted lidar system with a nonuniform IFOV distribution is proposed. By reducing the central IFOV while maintaining the same detection space, the system effectively doubles the available range for target discovery and recognition. Simultaneously, the central FOV has a larger entrance pupil, which matches the characteristic required to allow the central FOV to detect targets at greater distances. The proposed lidar system can recognize vehicle information at a longer range than conventional systems, and can play an important role in the 3D environmental perception field for intelligent vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]