Systems and methods for intra-shot dynamic adjustment of lidar detector gain
A method including emitting, by an emitting device of an optical ranging system at a first time, a first light pulse; increasing, after the first time, a sensitivity of a photodetector of the optical ranging system from a first sensitivity at a second time to a second sensitivity at a third time; decreasing, after the third time, the sensitivity of the photodetector of the optical ranging system from the second sensitivity to the first sensitivity at a fourth time, wherein the fourth time is after the photodetector receives a return light based on the first light pulse; and emitting, by the optical ranging system at a fifth time after the fourth time, a second light pulse.
1. A method comprising:
emitting, by an emitting device of an optical ranging system at a first time, a first light pulse;
increasing, after the first time, a sensitivity of a photodetector of the optical ranging system from a first sensitivity to a second sensitivity;
decreasing the sensitivity of the photodetector of the optical ranging system from the second sensitivity to the first sensitivity after the photodetector receives a return light based on the first light pulse; and
emitting, by the optical ranging system a second light pulse after decreasing the sensitivity of the photodetector of the optical ranging system to the first sensitivity.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the photodetector is blind to return light at and below the first sensitivity.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the photodetector detects the return light beyond the first sensitivity.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second sensitivity is reached at a time when the return light is detected by the photodetector, and wherein the return light is originated from a region of interest in an environment.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein increasing the sensitivity of the photodetector is based on an amount of ambient light in an environment.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein return light is originated from a maximum detection distance of the optical ranging system.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein decreasing the sensitivity of the photodetector is performed using at least one of a high-speed digital-to-analog converter or a multiplexor with two or more voltage selections for a discrete level sensitivity waveform.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the photodetector is an avalanche photodiode.