Embedded miniature atmospheric detection laser radar control platform

Abstract

The invention, which belongs to the technical field of atmospheric environment remote sensing monitoring, provides an embedded miniature atmospheric detection laser radar control platform comprising an ARM master control core board, an FPGA acquisition card and a bottom board. The ARM main control core board is in communication connection with the FPGA acquisition card through an FSPI bus, and the ARM main control core board is in detachable stacking connection with the bottom board through an industrial-grade board-to-board connector; the bottom plate is provided with a laser control interface, a scanning mechanism control interface and a network communication interface which are respectively used for connecting a laser emitting unit, a scanning mechanism and external communication equipment; an embedded operating system, laser radar control and inversion algorithm software, a data storage module and a network communication function module are integrated in the ARM master control core board. According to the invention, the laser radar system can meet the requirements of unmanned aerial vehicle load, field observation and other application scenes with strict limitation on weight and space.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of atmospheric environment remote sensing monitoring technology, specifically relating to an embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform, which is suitable for various detection systems (such as Mie scattering, Doppler wind measurement, differential absorption, etc.). Background Technology

[0002] Atmospheric lidar, as an advanced active remote sensing monitoring method, boasts high spatiotemporal resolution and is widely used for detecting key meteorological parameters such as atmospheric aerosols, cloud characteristics, wind field distribution, and temperature and humidity profiles. In recent years, with the increasingly refined demands for ecological and environmental monitoring, lidar applications are rapidly expanding from fixed-site observations to UAV-borne mobile surveys and scanning, portable emergency field observations, and large-scale grid-based monitoring. These emerging applications place stringent requirements on the miniaturization, low power consumption, and intelligence of lidar systems.

[0003] Existing atmospheric sounding lidar systems typically consist of a laser emitting unit, an optical receiving unit, a photoelectric detection and data acquisition unit, and a main control unit. However, existing lidar system architectures generally suffer from the following technical bottlenecks, making it difficult to meet the requirements of the aforementioned miniaturization and mobility scenarios:

[0004] 1. Dependence on external general-purpose computers and low integration: Traditional lidar systems often adopt a split architecture combining front-end acquisition with a back-end PC. The front-end hardware is only responsible for photoelectric signal conversion and initial accumulation and output of raw data, while core system logic control, data inversion algorithm calculations, large-capacity data storage, and human-machine interface all rely on external general-purpose high-performance computers (such as industrial PCs, laptops, or desktop PCs). This architecture not only increases the system's hardware cost but also hinders users from remotely controlling the radar and monitoring its real-time status using lightweight mobile terminals such as smartphones and tablets via 4G / 5G or Wi-Fi networks, severely limiting the system's operational flexibility.

[0005] 2. Redundant power consumption and size, making it difficult to adapt to mobile payloads and field environments: The requirement to use a general-purpose computer or industrial control computer as the main control core results in a large system size and significantly increased weight. Furthermore, the high power consumption of general-purpose computers makes it difficult for the system to operate independently for extended periods using only batteries in field environments without mains power. Especially in applications with strict weight limitations, such as UAV payloads, the traditional combination of data acquisition cards and industrial control computers has become a major obstacle to the miniaturization of LiDAR.

[0006] Therefore, how to break the traditional binary dependency architecture of data acquisition card and industrial control computer, and develop a micro intelligent main control system that can replace the industrial control computer, realize full-function control and processing on a single embedded platform, and support wireless interaction with mobile terminals (such as mobile phones), is a key technical problem that needs to be solved urgently for the miniaturization and portability development of atmospheric detection lidar technology.

[0007] In the prior art, Chinese patent application CN120103749A provides a laser radar signal processing and control device based on an embedded system. However, it mainly completes data acquisition, accumulation, and storage. Advanced data processing still relies on a remote server and requires interaction with AT command sets or remote server software. Users must install dedicated software to use it, and it cannot be directly accessed through a mobile browser for visual operation and maintenance. Furthermore, it cannot solve the problem of remote access in environments without a public IP address. Moreover, it is based on the ZYNQ internal AXI bus for interaction, resulting in low hardware adaptability and inapplicability to changing the baseboard interface for different radar systems. Summary of the Invention

[0008] To address the technical problems of existing lidar systems that rely on external general-purpose computers, have large size and power consumption, cannot operate independently, and are difficult to adapt to mobile payloads and field environments, this invention provides an embedded miniature atmospheric detection lidar control platform.

[0009] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention adopts the following technical solution:

[0010] An embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform includes an ARM main control core board, an FPGA acquisition card, and a baseboard. The ARM main control core board and the FPGA acquisition card are connected via an FSPI bus, and the ARM main control core board is detachably stacked with the baseboard via an industrial-grade board-to-board connector. The baseboard is provided with a laser control interface, a scanning mechanism control interface, and a network communication interface, which are used to connect the laser emitting unit, the scanning mechanism, and external communication equipment, respectively. The ARM main control core board integrates an embedded operating system, lidar control and inversion algorithm software, a data storage module, and a network communication function module. The ARM main control core board also has a built-in lightweight embedded web server and an FRP intranet penetration client.

[0011] Furthermore, the FSPI bus adopts a Quad-SPI four-wire parallel transmission mode, the communication clock frequency is configurable, and the ARM main control core board reads echo data from the FPGA acquisition card to the system memory via the FSPI bus through the DMA controller.

[0012] Furthermore, the laser control interface is an RS232 standard serial interface, and the scanning mechanism control interface is an RS485 standard serial interface.

[0013] Furthermore, the ARM main control core board integrates an eMMC storage chip for storing system firmware, configuration files, and observation data, and supports a dual-channel data storage strategy of local storage and remote transmission.

[0014] Furthermore, the network communication interface includes a Wi-Fi module, a 4G / 5G communication module, and a gigabit Ethernet interface, which are connected to the ARM main control core board via a USB bus or a GMAC bus, respectively.

[0015] Furthermore, the lightweight embedded web server and FRP intranet penetration client are used to provide a browser-based interactive interface and enable remote access in environments without a public IP address.

[0016] Furthermore, the ARM main control core board adopts a multi-core architecture system-on-a-chip with a main frequency of not less than 2.0GHz, and has the edge computing capability to run lidar inversion algorithms.

[0017] Furthermore, the base plate independently carries a power conversion circuit, which converts the external input DC voltage into multiple regulated outputs to power the ARM main control core board and peripheral interfaces respectively.

[0018] Furthermore, the interfaces on the base plate support hot-plug identification, via I... 2 The C bus reads the EEPROM information of external components and dynamically loads the corresponding driver modules.

[0019] Furthermore, the board-to-board connector spacing between the ARM main control core board and the baseboard is 0.5mm, the FSPI bus is connected via a 6-pin header, and the PCB traces are impedance matched and length equalized.

[0020] Furthermore, the ARM main control core board includes an embedded main control unit, which serves as the highly integrated core and processing hub of the system. It integrates a data storage module and a network communication interface, and is equipped with an embedded operating system and laser radar control and inversion algorithm software.

[0021] Furthermore, the laser control interface is configured to connect to an external laser emitting unit, used to send control commands to control the laser's on / off switching and temperature control, and to receive status information fed back by the laser;

[0022] Furthermore, the scanning mechanism control interface is configured to connect to an external scanning mechanism for sending operation control commands to control the external scanning mechanism to adjust the radar's observation area, thereby enabling the lidar to perform directional, mobile, or scanning observations.

[0023] Furthermore, the embedded main control unit adopts a high-performance system-on-a-chip (SoC) with a multi-core architecture, including a storage unit. The storage unit is connected to the processor core through an onboard high-speed bus and is used to store system firmware, lidar configuration files, and radar observation data. The network communication interface is connected to the processor core through an onboard communication bus and is used to establish a data interaction link between the system and external user terminals and remote servers.

[0024] As a preferred approach, the SoC uses a processor with a quad-core or higher architecture; its clock speed and computing power meet the data processing requirements with millisecond-level time resolution, so as to ensure the efficient operation of lidar data processing and inversion algorithms and reduce or avoid the loss of lidar pulses by the FPGA acquisition card.

[0025] Furthermore, the embedded main control unit is configured to support a dual-channel data storage strategy:

[0026] 1. Local storage mode: Store the inverted radar data or raw voltage waveform data into the eMMC chip;

[0027] 2. Remote transmission mode: Through the network communication unit, data is uploaded to a remote server via the 4G / 5G communication module integrated in the main control unit, Wi-Fi, or Gigabit Ethernet using standard network transmission protocols.

[0028] Furthermore, the lightweight embedded web server is used to provide a browser-based user interface, enabling external user terminals (such as smartphones, tablets, or PCs) to access the system without installing dedicated host computer software; the intranet penetration service proxy is used to map the local web service port to the public network in a mobile network environment without a public IP address, enabling remote parameter configuration, status monitoring, and real-time lidar data waveform viewing of the radar system.

[0029] Beneficial effects:

[0030] 1. This invention replaces the traditional data acquisition card combined with an industrial control computer architecture with a high-performance embedded main control unit, integrating data acquisition, signal inversion algorithms, data storage, and human-computer interaction functions into a single embedded platform. This design completely eliminates the dependence on external general-purpose computers, significantly reducing the size and weight of the radar control system, enabling the lidar system to meet the application scenarios with strict weight and space constraints, such as UAV payloads and field observation.

[0031] 2. Compared with traditional general-purpose industrial control computers based on the x86 architecture, the ARM architecture embedded main control unit used in this invention has a simplified operating system, peripherals are tailored according to actual needs, lower power consumption, and the system can work stably for a long time with only a battery.

[0032] 3. This invention incorporates an embedded web server and a file system penetration service (FRP). Users can access the system via Wi-Fi or 4G / 5G networks using a browser on a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device to configure parameters and view data. The FRP function further enables maintenance personnel to remotely connect to devices for debugging and maintenance in mobile network environments without public IP addresses, greatly improving flexibility and operational efficiency.

[0033] 4. Benefiting from the high computing power of multi-core processors, this invention is not only a control center but also an edge computing node. The system can directly run complex lidar inversion algorithms locally, outputting meteorological parameters such as extinction coefficient and depolarization ratio, as well as pseudo-color images in real time, without having to send massive amounts of raw data back to a server for processing. This greatly reduces dependence on communication network bandwidth and improves the real-time response speed for disaster early warning and environmental monitoring.

[0034] 5. This invention employs a stacked physical architecture combining a core board and a baseboard, achieving decoupling between the core computing unit and peripheral interface circuits. When it is necessary to adapt to different LiDAR systems (such as changing the interface type or number), only a low-cost baseboard needs to be redesigned, without replacing the expensive core board. This design reduces the customized development costs for different application scenarios and facilitates independent upgrades of the core computing module in the future. Attached Figure Description

[0035] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform according to the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0036] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this invention clearer, the invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and not intended to limit the invention. Furthermore, the technical features involved in the various embodiments of this invention described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

[0037] like Figure 1 As shown, this invention provides an embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform based on the RK3568 high-performance processor. Physically, it adopts a stacked modular design combining a core board and a baseboard, with the core board positioned above the baseboard. Logically, it integrates high-speed data acquisition and throughput, device collaborative control, lidar algorithm inversion, and remote operation and maintenance functions.

[0038] The embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform mainly includes an ARM main control core board, a baseboard, and an FPGA acquisition card. The ARM main control core board, serving as the computing and control center, measures 60mm × 40mm. The following components are integrated on the ARM main control core board:

[0039] Embedded main control unit, i.e. Figure 1 The main control chip is preferably the Rockchip RK3568 processor (quad-core Cortex-A55 architecture, 2.0GHz). This main control chip has powerful NPU (embedded neural network processor) computing power and rich peripheral interfaces, meeting the edge computing requirements of complex LiDAR algorithms.

[0040] The power management unit preferably uses the RK809 power management chip to perform fine-grained power-on timing control and voltage regulation of the main control chip and peripheral circuits, ensuring stable operation in outdoor voltage fluctuation environments.

[0041] The storage unit is equipped with 4GB of LPDDR4 high-speed storage for caching high-throughput point cloud data, and 32GB of eMMC local storage for power-loss preservation of radar configuration files and historical radar data.

[0042] Preferably, the base plate is designed to be 78mm × 78mm in size and connects to the core board via industrial-grade board-to-board connectors with a 0.5mm pitch. The base plate integrates a wide-voltage input power conversion circuit, converting external 12V DC power to 3.3V, 1.8V, and 5V to power various peripheral interfaces and the core board, respectively. This stacked design achieves modular decoupling, facilitating independent replacement of peripheral interfaces for different radar models without requiring a redesign of the core board.

[0043] The baseboard utilizes the main control chip's USB bus and GMAC (Gigabit Ethernet Media Access Controller) resources for network expansion, and is configured with the following network communication interfaces:

[0044] Wireless LAN interface: The USB2_HOST3 bus of the main control chip is expanded using the onboard USB Hub chip. The first USB host interface connects to the onboard Wi-Fi module for near-field debugging and wireless LAN access.

[0045] Mobile network interface: The second USB host connects to the M.2 interface 4G / 5G module for data backhaul in outdoor areas covered by wireless network.

[0046] Wired network interface: It is equipped with a gigabit Ethernet interface, which is directly controlled by the GMAC0 bus controller integrated inside the main control chip. In conjunction with the external Ethernet PHY (physical layer interface chip) chip, it can realize a 100 / 1000Mbps adaptive wired network connection.

[0047] Preferably, the base plate is equipped with physical interfaces for connecting various components of the lidar. The main control chip achieves comprehensive control of the lidar through these interfaces, including:

[0048] The data acquisition card communication interface is a 6-pin header. The PCB traces undergo impedance matching and length equalization. This interface connects directly to the FSPI (Flexible Serial Peripheral Interface) controller of the main control chip, used for connecting to the front-end FPGA data acquisition card.

[0049] The laser control interface, physically an RS232 serial port, is used to connect to the laser driver module. The main control chip uses this interface to send laser temperature control commands, pulse repetition frequency settings, and on / off commands, and to read the laser status.

[0050] The scanning mechanism control interface is physically an RS485 serial port, which connects to external scanning gimbals, stepper motors, or drones. Utilizing the differential signal transmission characteristics of the RS485 bus, it enables precise control of radar pointing in environments with strong electromagnetic interference.

[0051] Example:

[0052] The system employs a four-wire transmission mode (Quad SPI, four-wire serial peripheral interface) using the FSPI bus. The FSPI bus includes one clock signal (CLK), one chip select signal (CS), and four bidirectional data transmission signals (D0-D3). The specific workflow is as follows:

[0053] 1. Command issuance: The main control chip sends a "read" command and the target address (which stores the data acquired by the FPGA acquisition card) through the FSPI bus.

[0054] 2. Parallel Transmission: The FPGA acquisition card transmits the acquired and accumulated echo data to the main control chip via four parallel data lines. In this embodiment, the FSPI communication clock frequency is set to 150MHz, and the measured effective data transmission rate is 67.452MB / s, which meets the millisecond-level time resolution requirements of the lidar.

[0055] 3. DMA (Direct Memory Access) Transfer: To reduce CPU load, the main control chip internally enables a DMA mechanism. After the data received by the FSPI controller is stored in the RX FIFO, the DMA controller automatically transfers the data to the designated buffer in DDR4 memory. After the transfer is completed, an interrupt is triggered to notify the CPU for processing.

[0056] Based on the aforementioned hardware platform, the system runs a streamlined embedded operating system built on Buildroot, and its software architecture comprises three core processes:

[0057] Acquisition process: In response to DMA interrupts, the raw echo data is retrieved from the memory buffer, timestamps, GPS information, attitude information (heading angle, horizontal angle, and vertical angle) are added, and folders are created according to the date and stored in binary format (.bin) to the local eMMC file system.

[0058] Algorithm Process: The algorithm reads raw LiDAR data, executes the LiDAR inversion algorithm, performs background noise subtraction, range-squared correction, signal denoising, and then runs the Fernald inversion method to obtain atmospheric aerosol spatial distribution optical parameters such as attenuated backscattering coefficient profile, atmospheric aerosol extinction coefficient profile, and depolarization ratio. Finally, the inversion results are visualized as a pseudo-color image based on a time series.

[0059] Web service process: Nginx is used as a lightweight web server. It communicates with the front-end browser through the WebSocket communication protocol and sends the processed radar waveform data, inversion results and the status of each radar module to the user interface in milliseconds.

[0060] Furthermore, for deployment environments without public IP addresses in the field, the system integrates FRP (Fast Reverse Proxy) intranet penetration functionality. By running an FRP client program on the main control chip, local web and SSH ports are mapped to the public IP address of the cloud server. Maintenance personnel can remotely access the device control interface or log in to the backend terminal via the public IP address without needing to be on-site, achieving low-cost remote monitoring and maintenance.

[0061] Those skilled in the art will readily understand that the above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. An embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform, characterized in that, The system includes an ARM main control core board, an FPGA acquisition card, and a baseboard. The ARM main control core board and the FPGA acquisition card are connected via an FSPI bus. The ARM main control core board is detachably stacked with the baseboard via an industrial-grade board-to-board connector. The baseboard is equipped with a laser control interface, a scanning mechanism control interface, and a network communication interface, which are used to connect the laser emitting unit, the scanning mechanism, and external communication equipment, respectively. The ARM main control core board integrates an embedded operating system, laser radar control and inversion algorithm software, a data storage module, and a network communication function module. The ARM main control core board also has a built-in lightweight embedded web server and an FRP intranet penetration client.

2. The embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The FSPI bus adopts a Quad-SPI four-wire parallel transmission mode, the communication clock frequency is configurable, and the ARM main control core board reads echo data from the FPGA acquisition card to the system memory via the FSPI bus through the DMA controller; DMA stands for Direct Memory Access.

3. The embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The laser control interface is an RS232 standard serial interface, and the scanning mechanism control interface is an RS485 standard serial interface.

4. The embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The ARM main control core board integrates an eMMC storage chip for storing system firmware, configuration files, and observation data, and supports a dual-channel data storage strategy of local storage and remote transmission.

5. The embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The network communication interface includes a Wi-Fi module, a 4G / 5G communication module, and a gigabit Ethernet interface, which are connected to the ARM main control core board via a USB bus or a GMAC bus, respectively.

6. The embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The lightweight embedded web server and FRP intranet penetration client are used to provide a browser-based interactive interface and enable remote access in environments without a public IP address.

7. The embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The ARM main control core board adopts a multi-core architecture system-on-a-chip with a main frequency of no less than 2.0GHz, and has the edge computing capability to run lidar control and inversion algorithms.

8. The embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The base plate independently carries the power conversion circuit, which converts the external input DC voltage into multiple regulated outputs to power the ARM main control core board and peripheral interfaces.

9. The embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The interfaces on the base plate support hot-swap identification, via I 2 The C bus reads the EEPROM information of external components and dynamically loads the corresponding driver modules.

10. The embedded miniature atmospheric sounding lidar control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The industrial-grade board-to-board connector between the ARM main control core board and the baseboard has a spacing of 0.5mm. The FSPI bus is connected through a 6-pin header. The PCB traces are impedance matched and length equalized. PCB stands for Printed Circuit Board.

Images