Channel fusion using multiple measurements

1 . A system, comprising:

a light source configured to generate an emitted pulse of light;

a receiver configured to detect at least a portion of the emitted pulse of light scattered by an external target and provide a plurality of different measurement signals for the detected emitted pulse of light, wherein the plurality of different measurement signals includes a superlow gain measurement signal, a low gain measurement signal, a medium gain measurement signal, and a high gain measurement signal, and wherein the receiver includes a detector site location and a plurality of gain channels coupled to the detector site location, the plurality of gain channels including a superlow gain channel, a low gain channel, a medium gain channel, and a high gain channel to produce the superlow gain measurement signal, the low gain measurement signal, the medium gain measurement signal, and the high gain measurement signal, respectively; and

a processor configured to analyze the plurality of different measurement signals to identify the plurality of different measurement signals as corresponding to the same external target, determine that a first measurement signal provided by the high gain channel is saturated, determine a saturation-corrected measurement signal using a second measurement signal provided by the superlow gain channel, and combine the identified plurality of different measurement signals including the saturation-corrected measurement signal to determine a measurement for the external target.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein identifying the plurality of different measurement signals as corresponding to the same external target includes determining one or more distance values between the plurality of different measurement signals.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein identifying the plurality of different measurement signals as corresponding to the same external target further includes comparing the determined one or more distance values with one or more threshold values.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein identifying the plurality of different measurement signals as corresponding to the same external target further includes applying a cost function using the determined one or more distance values.

5 . The system of claim 2 , wherein determining the one or more distance values includes analyzing a property associated with the plurality of different measurement signals.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the property associated with the plurality of different measurement signals includes a reflectance value.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein combining the identified plurality of different measurement signals to determine the measurement for the external target includes determining a corresponding weight to apply to each corresponding measurement signal of the identified plurality of different measurement signals.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the determined corresponding weight is based on an inverse of a corresponding estimated variance value determined for the corresponding measurement signal of the identified plurality of different measurement signals.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein combining the identified plurality of different measurement signals to determine the measurement for the external target includes applying a machine learning model using the identified plurality of different measurement signals as input features to predict the measurement for the external target.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the receiver includes a second detector site location positioned such that a return pulse corresponding to the emitted pulse of light is detected by the detector site location and the second detector site location with different overlap between the return pulse and the detector site location than between the return pulse and the second detector site location.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to fuse a first subset of the plurality of different measurement signals corresponding to the detector site location, the first subset including at least a medium gain measurement signal provided by the medium gain channel and a high gain measurement signal provided by the high gain channel, to determine an intrasite fused signal.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to unwrap a wrapped range measurement value determined from combining the identified plurality of different measurement signals.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to perform post-fusion processing on a fused measurement value determined by combining the identified plurality of different measurement signals, the post-fusion processing including scaling, normalization, or conversions, or combinations thereof.

14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the determined measurement for the external target is a range or reflectance value.

15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the determined measurement for the external target is a shape, a velocity, or a surface angulation value.

16 . A method, comprising:

emitting light from a light source;

scanning the emitted light across a field of view;

using a first detector to detect a return light pulse corresponding to the emitted light scattered by a target located downrange and providing a first measurement signal;

using a second detector to detect the return light pulse and provide a second measurement signal;

using a receiver that includes a detector site location and a plurality of gain channels coupled to the detector site location, the plurality of pain channels including a superlow gain channel, a low pain channel, a medium gain channel, and a high gain channel, to generate a plurality of different measurement signals for the return light pulse;

identifying the first measurement signal and the second measurement signal as corresponding to the same target; and

combining the first measurement signal and the second measurement signal to determine a fused measurement for the target, including determining that a measurement signal provided by the high gain channel is saturated, determining a saturation-corrected measurement signal using a measurement signal provided by the superlow gain channel, and combining including the saturation-corrected measurement signal.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein identifying the first measurement signal and the second measurement signal as corresponding to the same target includes determining one or more distance values between the first measurement signal and the second measurement signal and comparing the determined one or more distance values with one or more threshold values.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein identifying the first measurement signal and the second measurement signal as corresponding to the same target includes determining one or more distance values between the first measurement signal and the second measurement signal and applying a cost function using the determined one or more distance values.

19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein combining the first measurement signal and the second measurement signal to determine the fused measurement for the target includes determining a first weight to apply to the first measurement signal and a second weight to apply to the second measurement signal.

20 . A system, comprising:

a light source configured to emit light;

a scanner configured to scan the emitted light across a field of view;

a first detector of a receiver configured to detect a return light pulse corresponding to the emitted light scattered by an external target located downrange to provide a first measurement signal;

a second detector of the receiver configured to detect the return light pulse to provide a second measurement signal and a third measurement signal, wherein the second measurement signal and the third measurement signal are different; and

a processor configured to identify the first measurement signal, the second measurement signal, and the third measurement signal as corresponding to the same external target, determine that the third measurement signal provided by a high gain channel of a plurality of gain channels coupled to a detector site location is saturated, determine a saturation-corrected measurement signal using the first measurement signal provided by a superlow gain channel of the plurality of gain channels, and combine the first measurement signal, the second measurement signal, and the third measurement signal including the saturation-corrected measurement signal to determine a fused measurement for the external target.