Emitting module, detector, receiving module, detection apparatus and terminal device

Abstract

An emitting module, a detector, a receiving module, a detection apparatus and a terminal device, which are used for widening an emission field-of-view of a detection apparatus without affecting the structural complexity of the detection apparatus as much as possible. The emitting module comprises a one-dimensional scanning component and an angle-expanding component, wherein the one-dimensional scanning component is used for reflecting line beams to different directions at different scanning angles, and the angle-expanding component is used for deflecting the direction of a beam from the one-dimensional scanning component, such that the divergence angle of a beam emitted by the angle-expanding component is greater than the divergence angle of a beam emitted by the one-dimensional scanning component. By introducing an angle-expanding component into an emitting module, the angle-expanding component can be used to diverge a beam emitted by a one-dimensional scanning component in one scanning direction, so as to widen a field-of-view angle of an emitted beam in said direction, and it is also unnecessary to combine a plurality of emitting modules, thereby helping to reduce the complexity of an emission optical system, thus reducing the size and cost of a detection apparatus, and lowering the assembly and adjustment difficulty of the detection apparatus.

Description

A transmitting module, a detector, a receiving module, a detection device and a terminal device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on September 19, 2023, with application number 202311209858.4 and application name "A transmitting module, detector, receiving module, detection device and terminal equipment", all contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of detection technology, and in particular to a transmitting module, a detector, a receiving module, a detection device and a terminal device. Background Art

[0004] With the advancement of science and technology, intelligent devices such as smart transportation equipment, smart home appliances, industrial equipment, robots, and vehicles are gradually becoming part of people's daily lives. Because LiDAR can perceive the surrounding environment, identify and track moving targets based on this perception, and can also perform path planning in conjunction with navigation systems and map data, LiDAR is gradually being applied to intelligent devices and playing an increasingly important role.

[0005] However, the emission beams of current mainstream LiDARs are typically limited to a relatively small field of view, making them incapable of detecting objects with a large field of view. To address this issue, existing solutions typically employ multi-module splicing to achieve a larger emission field of view. For example, by splicing together multiple emission modules with different angular ranges of emitted beams, the combined output beams from these different angular ranges achieve a larger emission field of view. However, this approach also increases the overall structural complexity of the LiDAR, significantly increasing its size and cost, and making its assembly and adjustment more difficult.

[0006] In summary, how to increase the emission field of view of the detection device (such as lidar) without affecting the structural complexity of the detection device as much as possible is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present application provides a transmitting module, a detector, a receiving module, a detection device and a terminal device, which are used to improve the transmitting field of view of the detection device without affecting the structural complexity of the detection device as much as possible.

[0009] In the first aspect, the present application provides an emission module, including a one-dimensional scanning component and an angle expansion component. The one-dimensional scanning component is used to reflect a line light beam to different directions at different scanning angles, and the angle expansion component is used to deflect the direction of the light beam from the one-dimensional scanning component so that the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the angle expansion component is greater than the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the one-dimensional scanning component.

[0010] In the above design, by introducing an angle expansion component into the emission module, the angle expansion component can be used to diffuse the light beam emitted by the one-dimensional scanning component in one-dimensional scanning direction, so that the light beam processed by the angle expansion component has a larger diffusion angle in the direction of the dimension, thereby helping to increase the field angle of the light beam emitted in the direction of the dimension, and improving the emission field of view of the emission module. Compared with the existing method of splicing multiple emission modules, this method can increase the emission field of view by adding an angle expansion component to a single emission module without splicing multiple emission modules. This can reduce the complexity of the emission optical system, reduce the volume and cost of the detection device, and thus reduce the difficulty of assembling the detection device. In addition, since the emission module uses a one-dimensional scanning component for line scanning, and the power density of the line light beam is usually relatively high, while achieving a large field angle through this design, it can also simultaneously achieve long-distance and high-resolution detection.

[0011] In one possible design, the angle-expanding component can be a lens, a lens assembly, a metamaterial, or a liquid crystal. By enabling the angle-expanding component to support a variety of materials or structures, the desired material or structure can be selected to design the angle-expanding component based on actual scenario requirements, thereby improving the versatility of the transmitting module.

[0012] In one possible design, the emission module may further include a light source assembly for emitting a light beam and a shaping assembly for shaping the light beam from the light source assembly into a line beam. In this way, the light source assembly and the shaping assembly can generate a line beam suitable for the one-dimensional scanning assembly.

[0013] In one possible design, the one-dimensional scanning component may be a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) scanning mirror, which has the advantages of small size, low cost, high scanning frequency, fast response speed, and low power consumption.

[0014] In one possible design, the one-dimensional scanning component can reflect multiple line beams received within a period of time along one dimension at different scanning angles to achieve line scanning in one dimension.

[0015] In a further possible design, the angle expansion assembly can receive multiple line beams reflected from the one-dimensional scanning assembly over a period of time in one dimension and expand these multiple line beams in that dimension, while maintaining the diffusion angle in the other dimension. This design ensures that the direction of the outgoing beam's expansion relative to the incident beam aligns with the scanning direction of the one-dimensional scanning assembly.

[0016] In a second aspect, the present application provides a detector comprising a detection array and a monitoring array, wherein the monitoring array is disposed adjacent to the detection array, the detection array comprising a plurality of detection units, and the monitoring array comprising one or more monitoring units. When the detector is operating, any detection unit is configured to receive an echo signal and transmit the echo signal to a signal processing unit for target detection, and any monitoring unit is configured to monitor the received signal, which is used to adjust a scanning angle.

[0017] In the above design, by setting a monitoring array at the edge of the detection array, it is possible to determine whether the echo signal corresponding to the transmitted light beam at the current scanning angle exceeds the receiving range of the detection array by monitoring whether the signal is received on the monitoring array. Then, the current scanning angle can be adjusted when it exceeds the range, so that the echo signal corresponding to the transmitted light beam at the adjusted scanning angle can be within the receiving range of the detection array, thereby realizing the alignment of the transmitting field of view and the receiving field of view.

[0018] In one possible design, the monitoring array is disposed at one or more edges of the detection array corresponding to the scanning direction, so as to adjust the scanning angle in one or more scanning directions.

[0019] In a third aspect, the present application provides a receiving module, comprising the detector according to the second aspect or any one of the second aspects.

[0020] In a possible design, the receiving module may further include a receiving optical system, which is used to focus the echo signal from the target onto the detector.

[0021] Through this design, the detection unit or monitoring unit on the detector can receive the echo signal, realize target detection or adjust the scanning angle.

[0022] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a detection device, comprising the above-mentioned first aspect or any one of the transmitting modules in the first aspect, and / or, comprising the receiving module in the above-mentioned third aspect.

[0023] The following introduces further designs of the detection device when it includes the receiving module as described in the third aspect above.

[0024] In one possible design, the detection device may further include a feedback unit and a control unit. The feedback unit is used to determine that the scanning component is at the maximum scanning angle, and then obtain information about the echo signal received on the detection unit and the echo signal received on the monitoring unit. Based on the information of the echo signal, if it is determined that the area with the largest echo signal intensity is not the area where the edge detection unit is located, a feedback signal is sent to the control unit; the control unit is used to adjust the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component according to the feedback signal, so that the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is received by the edge detection unit.

[0025] In the above design, when the majority of the echo signals corresponding to the maximum scanning angle are not received by the edge detection unit, the maximum scanning angle is adjusted so that the echo signals corresponding to the adjusted maximum scanning angle are received by the edge detection unit. This allows for angle calibration of the maximum scanning angle. By aligning the echo signals corresponding to the maximum scanning angle with the edge detection unit, the probability of alignment of the transmitting and receiving fields of view can be increased, helping to improve the detection performance of the detection device. In addition, this design only requires the provision of a monitoring unit within the detector and a feedback unit outside the detector. This design can be combined with the existing control unit to implement the entire control logic for transceiver alignment. The circuit structure is relatively simple, thus also helping to reduce the difficulty of angle calibration and the cost of installation and adjustment.

[0026] In a further possible design, the control unit can adjust the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component by adjusting the driving electrical signal sent to the scanning component. For example, the control unit can increase the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component by increasing the driving electrical signal sent to the scanning component, or decrease the driving electrical signal sent to the scanning component to decrease the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component. In this way, the scanning component can change the actual scanning angle range under the influence of the driving electrical signal corresponding to the driving capacity, so that it is aligned with the entire detection area of ​​the detector.

[0027] In the above design example, there are three possible areas where the echo signal strength is the strongest, corresponding to the following three branches:

[0028] Branch one, the feedback unit is specifically configured to: if it is determined that the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the monitoring unit is located, send a first feedback signal to the control unit; the control unit is specifically configured to: reduce the maximum scanning angle according to the first feedback signal.

[0029] In branch one, when the echo signal is received by the monitoring unit outside the detection array, it means that the maximum scanning angle is set too large. By reducing the maximum scanning angle, the field of view of the corresponding echo signal can be synchronously reduced to increase the probability of the echo signal focusing on the detection array.

[0030] Branch two, the feedback unit is specifically used to: if it is determined that the area with the maximum echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit is located near the edge, then send a second feedback signal to the control unit; the control unit is specifically used to: increase the maximum scanning angle according to the second feedback signal.

[0031] In branch two, when the echo signal is received by a detection unit located inside the edge of the detection array, it means that the maximum scanning angle is set too small. By increasing the maximum scanning angle, the field of view of the corresponding echo signal can be synchronously increased to increase the probability of the echo signal focusing on the detection unit at the edge.

[0032] Branch three, the feedback unit is specifically configured to: if it is determined that the area with the largest echo signal strength is the area where the edge detection unit is located, no processing is performed.

[0033] In branch three, when the echo signal is just received by the edge detection unit, it means that the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is just aligned with the edge detection unit, and the transmitting and receiving fields of view are aligned, and no adjustment is required.

[0034] In one example of the above design, before the feedback unit obtains information about the echo signal received on the detection unit and the echo signal received on the monitoring unit, the control unit is further used to: control the scanning component to scan to a maximum scanning angle in a first direction, and control the monitoring unit at a first edge, the first edge, and the detection unit nearby to start working, where the first edge is the edge in the detector direction where the echo signal corresponding to the light beam emitted by the scanning component at the maximum scanning angle in the first direction is focused. For example, in a line-by-line scanning scenario, the first edge is the upper edge and the first direction is from bottom to top, or the first edge is the lower edge and the first direction is from top to bottom.

[0035] By adopting the above design, by only starting the detection units and monitoring units that are likely to receive echo signals and stopping the detection units and monitoring units that are unlikely to receive echo signals, the meaningless energy loss of the detector can be reduced and the utilization rate of the detector can be improved.

[0036] In a further example, the control unit can also be used to control the light source assembly to emit multiple pulsed light beams. This allows for edge position alignment by emitting multiple pulsed light beams and activating the detection unit and monitoring unit at the corresponding position of the maximum scanning angle when scanning to the maximum scanning angle.

[0037] It should be noted that the timing of the above three control operations can be the same, for example, three threads can be used to execute three controls at the same time, or they can be different, and there is no specific limitation.

[0038] In one example of the above design, the control unit is further configured to: when the scanning assembly is at the center scanning angle, activate the detection units at and near the center; and based on information about echo signals received by the detection units at and near the center, if it is determined that the area with the highest echo signal intensity is not the area where the detection unit at the center is located, adjust the position of the light source assembly or detector so that the echo signal at the center scanning angle is received by the detection unit at the center. In this way, alignment of the transmission and reception between the center scanning angle and the detection unit at the center is achieved.

[0039] It should be noted that the center scanning angle can be understood as the angle located at the center between the maximum scanning angle in the first direction and the maximum scanning angle in the second direction. The first direction and the second direction are typically configured in opposite directions, and the maximum scanning angle in the first direction is the same as the maximum scanning angle in the second direction. Therefore, the center scanning angle is typically 0°.

[0040] In addition, the transceiver alignment of the center scanning angle and the detection unit at the central position can be done before the transceiver alignment of the detection unit at the maximum scanning angle and the edge position. For example, first align the center scanning angle and the detection unit at the central position according to this example, and then align the maximum scanning angle and the detection unit at the edge position according to the previous example to ensure that the entire transceiver field of view is aligned, avoiding repeated adjustments caused by first performing edge alignment and then center alignment.

[0041] In one example of the above design, the control unit is specifically configured to adjust the maximum scanning angle in a first direction and a second direction based on the feedback signal, where the first direction and the second direction are opposite directions. For example, after aligning the center scanning angle with the detection unit at the center, the scanning assembly is controlled to scan to the maximum scanning angle in the first direction. At this time, if it is found that the area with the maximum echo signal intensity is not the area where the detection unit at the first edge is located, the maximum scanning angles in the first and second directions can be adjusted simultaneously.

[0042] Using the above example, since the scanning angle range is usually symmetrical, when the transmitting and receiving fields of view cannot be aligned in one scanning direction, it is highly likely that they will not be aligned in the other scanning direction. Therefore, by adjusting the maximum scanning angles in the two scanning directions at one time, the transmitting and receiving fields of view can be quickly aligned from the two scanning directions at one time.

[0043] In a further example, if it is determined that the maximum scanning angle can only meet one of the following two conditions, the position of the light source assembly or the detector is adjusted: Condition one, the scanning assembly scans to the maximum scanning angle in the first direction, and the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit of the first edge is located, and the first edge is the edge in the detector direction on which the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle in the first direction is focused; Condition two, the scanning assembly scans to the maximum scanning angle in the second direction, and the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit of the second edge is located, and the second edge is the edge in the detector direction on which the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle in the second direction is focused.

[0044] In the above example, when the value of a certain maximum scanning angle cannot be aligned with the edge of the detector in two scanning directions, for example, the value of the maximum scanning angle can be aligned with the first edge of the detector in the first direction but cannot be aligned with the second edge of the detector in the second direction, or can be aligned with the second edge of the detector in the second direction but cannot be aligned with the first edge of the detector in the first direction, it means that the center scanning angle deviates from the detection unit at the central position. At this time, by changing the position of the emitted light beam or the position of the detection unit, the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle can be received by the detection unit at the central position, thereby achieving alignment of the transmitting and receiving field of view in the central direction, and then the edge alignment calibration can be performed based on the center-aligned light source assembly and detector.

[0045] In one example of the above design, the scanning component uses a row-by-row scanning method, and a region can include one or more rows of detection units or one or more rows of monitoring units on the detector. Alternatively, the scanning component uses a column-by-column scanning method, and a region can include one or more columns of detection units or one or more rows of monitoring units on the detector. Using this example, the monitoring area can be configured according to actual needs, increasing the flexibility of adjusting the maximum scanning angle and making the detection device applicable to a wider range of scenarios.

[0046] In the fifth aspect, the present application provides a control method, which can be executed by a processing module, the processing module includes the aforementioned control unit and feedback unit; the control method includes: determining that the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle, obtaining information on the echo signals received on the monitoring unit and the detection unit, and based on the information of the echo signal, if it is determined that the area with the largest echo signal intensity is not the area where the edge detection unit is located, then adjusting the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component so that the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is received by the edge detection unit.

[0047] In one possible design, before obtaining the information of the echo signals received on the monitoring unit and the detection unit, the scanning component can be controlled to scan to the maximum scanning angle, the light source component can be controlled to emit multiple pulse beams, and the monitoring unit, the edge detection unit and the detection unit near the edge can be controlled to start working, so as to make the prerequisite preparations for calibrating the maximum scanning angle.

[0048] In one possible design, the maximum scanning angle may include a maximum scanning angle in a first direction and / or a maximum scanning angle in a second direction. With respect to the maximum scanning angle in any direction, before obtaining information about echo signals received by the monitoring unit and the detection unit, the monitoring unit at the edge corresponding to that direction, the detection unit at the edge corresponding to that direction, and the detection unit near the edge corresponding to that direction may be controlled to start operating, thereby saving power consumption of the detector.

[0049] In one possible design, before determining that the scanning component has scanned to the maximum scanning angle, the detection units at the central position and nearby can be turned on when the scanning component is at the central scanning angle, and the position of the laser or detector can be adjusted according to the position of the echo signal focused on the detection units at the central position and nearby, so that the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle after the position is adjusted is focused on the detection unit at the central position, thereby achieving accurate calibration of the central scanning angle.

[0050] In one possible design, the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component is adjusted, including: if the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the monitoring unit is located, then reducing the maximum scanning angle; if the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit near the edge is located, then increasing the maximum scanning angle.

[0051] In one possible design, adjusting the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component includes adjusting the maximum scanning angle in a first direction and the maximum scanning angle in a second direction, where the first direction and the second direction are opposite directions.

[0052] In a possible design, the control method also includes: when only one of the following two conditions can be achieved: Condition 1, when the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle in the first direction, the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit at the first edge is located; Condition 2, when the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle in the second direction, the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit at the second edge is located; then: the position of the light source component or the detector can be adjusted so that the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle can be aligned with the detection unit at the central position.

[0053] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a terminal device comprising the above-mentioned fourth aspect or any one of the detection devices in the fourth aspect.

[0054] The beneficial effects of any design in the third to sixth aspects mentioned above can refer to the beneficial effects that can be achieved by the corresponding design in the first or second aspect mentioned above, and this application will not repeat them one by one. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] FIG1a is a schematic diagram showing a beam diffusion angle provided by the present application;

[0056] FIG1b is a schematic diagram showing a scanning angle range provided by the present application;

[0057] FIG1c exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a detector provided by the present application;

[0058] FIG2a exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of an application scenario of a medium- and short-range laser radar provided by the present application;

[0059] FIG2b exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of an application scenario of a long-range laser radar provided by the present application;

[0060] FIG3 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of an application scenario of a detection device provided by the present application;

[0061] FIG4 exemplarily shows a structural diagram of a transmission module provided by the present application;

[0062] FIG5a exemplarily shows a comparison diagram of the diffusion angle of an outgoing light beam in one direction provided by the present application;

[0063] FIG5 b exemplarily shows a comparison diagram of the diffusion angle of an outgoing light beam provided by the present application in another direction;

[0064] FIG6a exemplarily shows a structural diagram of an angle expansion assembly provided by the present application;

[0065] FIG6 b exemplarily shows a structural diagram of another angle expansion assembly provided by the present application;

[0066] FIG7 exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a detection device provided by the present application;

[0067] FIG8 exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a detector provided by the present application;

[0068] FIG9a exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a configuration of a monitoring unit in a line scanning scenario provided by the present application;

[0069] FIG9b exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a configuration method of a monitoring unit in a column scanning scenario provided by the present application;

[0070] FIG10 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of several possible configurations of a monitoring unit in a scanning scenario provided by the present application;

[0071] FIG11 exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a receiving module provided by the present application;

[0072] FIG12 exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of another detection device provided by the present application;

[0073] FIG13 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of the presentation form of an echo signal provided by the present application on a detector;

[0074] FIG14a exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of another echo signal presented on a detector provided by the present application;

[0075] FIG14b exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of another echo signal presented on a detector provided by the present application;

[0076] FIG14c exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of another echo signal presented on a detector provided by the present application;

[0077] FIG15 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of another echo signal presented on a detector provided by the present application;

[0078] FIG16 exemplarily shows a structural diagram of an angle calibration circuit provided by the present application;

[0079] FIG17 exemplarily shows a flow chart of a control method provided by the present application;

[0080] FIG18 exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of another detection device provided by the present application;

[0081] FIG19 exemplarily shows a structural diagram of another detection device provided in the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0082] The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0083] The following is an explanation of some of the terms used in this application. It should be noted that these explanations are for the purpose of facilitating understanding by those skilled in the art and do not limit the scope of protection claimed in this application.

[0084] 1. Beam Divergence

[0085] The beam divergence angle (u), also known as the beam exit angle, is a measure of how quickly a beam diverges from a device. See Figure 1a.

[0086] 2. Light spot

[0087] A beam spot generally refers to the energy density (or intensity) distribution of a beam across an angular space. The energy density distribution of a beam spot can be low at the ends and high in the middle (also known as a "convex" or "convex"-like shape). For example, the energy density distribution can be normal or similar. Alternatively, the energy density of a beam spot can be uniformly distributed.

[0088] 3. Center scanning angle and maximum scanning angle

[0089] The center scan angle refers to the scan angle at the center of the scanning component's scanning angle range. It can be considered the angle of the outgoing beam resulting from the reflection of an incident beam by the scanning component when the component is stationary. The scanning angle range of a scanning component refers to the angles at which the scanning component reflects multiple incident beams received during the entire detection period. For example, referring to Figure 1b, where the scanning angle range is [-30°, +30°], the center scan angle can be considered the scan angle in the L1 direction shown in the figure, or 0°.

[0090] In contrast to the center scan angle, the maximum scan angle refers to the maximum scan angle within the scanning component's scanning angle range. This can be considered the angle of the outgoing beam resulting from the reflection of the incident beam when the scanning component is rotated to its maximum angle relative to its stationary state. For example, referring to Figure 1b, the maximum scan angles include the scan angles in the directions L21 and L22, i.e., -30° and +30°. These two scan angles are symmetrically distributed relative to the center scan angle, both with a value of 30°.

[0091] 4. Detection unit.

[0092] A detection unit, also known as a detection pixel, is the smallest unit in a detector used to receive echo signals. For example, referring to Figure 1c, a detector is typically an array structure consisting of multiple rows and columns of detection units. The direction defined by a row of detection units is called the horizontal direction of the detector, and the direction defined by a column of detection units is called the vertical direction of the detector. During the use of the detector, each detection unit can be in either an active or inactive state. When a detection unit is in an active state, it can convert the received echo signal into an electrical signal. When a detection unit is in an inactive state, it does not convert the echo signal into an electrical signal, regardless of whether the echo signal is present on the detection unit.

[0093] Furthermore, the detector may also include a processing subunit. In conventional settings, one processing subunit corresponds to one row or one column of detection units. For example, in a row-by-row scanning scenario, each column of detection units on the detector corresponds to one processing subunit, and each processing subunit can determine the relevant information of the detection unit on the current scanning row receiving the echo signal, such as the intensity and time of the received echo signal, based on the electrical signal generated by the detection unit on the corresponding column, and can send it to the signal processing unit for target detection. On the contrary, in a column-by-column scanning scenario, each row of detection units on the detector corresponds to one processing subunit, and each processing subunit can determine the relevant information of the detection unit on the current scanning column receiving the echo signal based on the electrical signal generated by the detection unit on the corresponding row, and can send it to the signal processing unit for target detection.

[0094] 5. Align the transmitting and receiving fields of view.

[0095] Aligning the transmit and receive fields of view can be understood as aligning the scanning angle range of the scanning component with the range of detection elements on the detector. For example, assuming the scanning angle range of the scanning component is [-30°, +30°], with the transmit and receive fields of view aligned, the echo signals corresponding to -30° and +30° can be precisely focused on the edge detection elements in two opposite directions of the detector. For example, referring to Figures 1b and 1c together, in a row-by-row scanning scenario, the echo signal corresponding to the transmitted beam in the direction of L21 is precisely focused on the top row of detection elements, and the echo signal corresponding to the transmitted beam in the direction of L22 is precisely focused on the bottom row of detection elements, or vice versa. Alternatively, in a column-by-column scanning scenario, the echo signal corresponding to the transmitted beam in the direction of L21 is precisely focused on the leftmost row of detection elements, and the echo signal corresponding to the transmitted beam in the direction of L22 is precisely focused on the rightmost column of detection elements, or vice versa. In this way, the range of the echo signal focused on the detector exactly matches the angular range of the transmitted light beam, the transmitting and receiving fields of view of the detection device are precisely aligned, and all the detection units on the entire detector can be utilized. At the same time, there will be no problem of incomplete received signals caused by the echo signal being transmitted outside the detector, and the detection performance of the detection device is better.

[0096] 6. Scanning angle calibration.

[0097] Scanning angle calibration can be understood as calibrating the scanning angle of the scanning component so that the scanning angle range of the scanning component can be aligned with the detection unit range on the detector to achieve alignment of the transmitting and receiving fields of view. Since the scanning angle of the scanning component is related to the driving electrical signal (such as driving current) received by the scanning component, it can also be considered as calibrating the driving electrical signal of the scanning component. In some scenarios, there is a positive correlation between the driving electrical signal and the scanning angle. Therefore, when calibrating the scanning angle, the scanning angle can be increased by increasing the driving electrical signal, or the scanning angle can be decreased by decreasing the driving electrical signal.

[0098] The previous text introduced some of the terms involved in this application. The following text introduces the possible application scenarios of this application.

[0099] In one possible implementation, the transmitting module, detector or receiving module provided in the present application can be integrated into a detection device, which may include, but is not limited to, a laser radar. Laser radars can be divided into medium- and short-range laser radars and long-range laser radars according to their detection distances. Medium- and short-range laser radars have very broad application prospects in scenarios such as whole-house intelligence, posture perception, environmental modeling, vehicle-mounted blind spot compensation, automatic parking, and smart parks. Please refer to Figure 2a. Long-range laser radars are widely used in scenarios such as high-speed rail, airplanes, ships, trains, and drones. Please refer to Figure 2b.

[0100] Taking a detection device installed on a vehicle as an example, refer to Figure 3. The working principle of the detection device is as follows: the detection device emits a light beam in a certain direction toward the detection area. If there is a target (such as other nearby vehicles, pedestrians, or obstacles) within a certain distance along the emission direction of the light beam, the target can reflect and / or scatter the received light beam back to the detection device (the reflected light beam is called an echo signal). The detection device then determines relevant information about the target based on the echo signal, such as the distance to the target, the target's movement speed, the target's posture or point cloud map. Furthermore, optionally, the detection device can send this acquired information to a control device in the vehicle, so that the control device can perform path planning, braking, or starting of the vehicle based on this acquired information. For example, the vehicle's position can be determined using longitude and latitude, or the vehicle's future travel direction and destination can be determined using speed and heading, or the number and density of obstacles around the vehicle can be determined using the distance to surrounding objects. Furthermore, optionally, the detection device can be combined with the functions of an advanced driving assistant system (ADAS) to achieve assisted driving or autonomous driving of the vehicle.

[0101] It should be noted that Figure 3 shows the detection device installed on the front bumper of a vehicle as an example. The detection device can also be installed in any one or more locations, such as around the headlights, around the rearview mirrors, near the doors, on the rear bumper, behind the windshield, or on the roof, to capture information about the vehicle's surroundings. When the detection device is installed behind the windshield, the risk of stone chip collision is lower, the field of view (FOV) can be centered, and the vehicle's appearance is not affected. The front windshield itself has window heating, defogging, and wiper cleaning functions.

[0102] It should be understood that the above application scenarios are only examples, and the detection device provided in this application can also be applied to other possible scenarios, not limited to the scenarios exemplified above. For example, the detection device can also be installed in a road side unit (RSU) as a roadside traffic detection device for realizing intelligent vehicle-road collaborative communication, etc. For another example, the detection device can also be applied to a terminal device or a component provided in a terminal device, and the terminal device can be, for example, a smart phone, a smart home device, an intelligent manufacturing device, a robot, a drone, or an intelligent transportation device (such as an automated guided vehicle (AGV) or an unmanned transport vehicle, etc.).

[0103] In addition, the above application scenarios can be applied to, for example, unmanned driving, assisted driving, intelligent driving, autonomous driving, connected vehicles, security monitoring, biomedicine, surveying and mapping (such as three-dimensional mapping, remote sensing mapping), meteorological research, biomass and vegetation research, air quality monitoring, and aviation and aerospace applications.

[0104] The transmitting module, detector, receiving module and detection device proposed in this application are described in detail below with reference to specific drawings.

[0105] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0106] In addition, in this application, "angle" does not refer to an absolute angle, and a certain engineering error may be allowed. "Position relationship" does not refer to an absolute position relationship, and a certain engineering error may be allowed.

[0107] Implementation Plan 1

[0108] With the development of LiDAR technology, scanning LiDAR has gradually become a mainstream technology solution in the LiDAR field due to its advantages such as high power density, long range, high accuracy, rich information acquisition, and strong anti-interference ability. However, due to the scanning angle limitation of the scanning component, the transmission beam of this type of LiDAR is usually limited to a small field of view. To achieve large field of view scanning, as described in the background technology, multi-module splicing is required. However, multi-module splicing will increase the complexity of the transmitting optical system. LiDAR is bulky, difficult to assemble and adjust, and has high cost, making it difficult to achieve small size and low cost.

[0109] In view of this, the present application proposes a transmitting module for increasing the transmitting field of view of the detection device while simplifying the transmitting optical system as much as possible to maintain the low cost and small size of the detection device.

[0110] The transmitting module proposed in this application is described in detail below with reference to Figures 4 to 7 .

[0111] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a transmission module provided in the present application. The transmission module 400 includes a one-dimensional scanning component 410 and an angle expansion component 420. The one-dimensional scanning component 410 is used to reflect a line beam in different directions at different scanning angles. The angle expansion component 420 is used to deflect the direction of the light beam from the one-dimensional scanning component 410 so that the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the angle expansion component 420 is greater than the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the one-dimensional scanning component 410.

[0112] It is understood that if the light beam received by the one-dimensional scanning component 410 is distributed in the third direction, the one-dimensional scanning component 410 can scan in the fourth direction to achieve a two-dimensional scan in the detection area. Alternatively, if the light beam received by the one-dimensional scanning component 410 is distributed in the fourth direction, the one-dimensional scanning component 410 can scan in the third direction to achieve a two-dimensional scan in the detection area. For example, the third direction is perpendicular to the fourth direction.

[0113] Optionally, the light beam received by the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 is a line beam, and the light beam emitted is also a line beam. The one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 rotates continuously during operation, reflecting multiple line beams received over a period of time along a single dimension. By increasing the emission field of view in a line scanning scenario, the higher power density of the line beam can be utilized to maintain the original detection range and resolution, helping to simultaneously achieve a large field of view, long distance, and high resolution for the detection device.

[0114] Furthermore, optionally, the angle expansion component 420 can receive multiple line beams in a dimensional direction reflected from the one-dimensional scanning component 410 over a period of time, and can expand the angles of these multiple line beams in the dimensional direction. For example, referring to FIG5a, taking the line scanning scene as an example, assuming that the one-dimensional scanning component 410 scans the multiple line beams received along the y direction shown in the figure, so that the diffusion angle of the multiple line beams in the y direction is u1 as shown in (A) of FIG5a, then for each line beam emitted by the one-dimensional scanning component 410 (except the line beam at the center position), the angle expansion component 420 will diffuse the line beam in the y direction or -y direction to the outside of the original line beam, so that the diffusion angle of the multiple line beams in the y direction is expanded to u2 as shown in (B) of FIG5a. In addition, since the length of the line beam has not changed, the diffusion angle of the line beam in the x-direction after expansion by the expansion component 420 remains unchanged. For example, referring to FIG5b , the diffusion angles of the line beam emitted by the one-dimensional scanning component 410 and the line beam emitted by the expansion component 420 in the x-direction can both be the angle between the two ends of the line beam, i.e., u3 shown in (A) or (B) in FIG5b .

[0115] Furthermore, optionally, the light beam emitted by the angle expansion component 420 can serve as the emission beam of the emission module 400. In this case, the emission field angle of the emission module 400 is the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the angle expansion component 420, such as u3×u2 shown in Figures 5a and 5b. Alternatively, in some scenarios, the emission module 400 may also include other components, and the light beam emitted by the angle expansion component 420 is optically processed by other components to form the emission beam of the emission module 400. In this case, the emission field angle of the emission module 400 may be different from the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the angle expansion component 420, or it may be the same as the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the angle expansion component 420.

[0116] Furthermore, optionally, the emission field of view of the emission module 400 may be greater than the first field of view angle. The first field of view angle can be understood as the field of view angle of the light beam that can be emitted by a single existing emission module. For example, in a laser radar based on a scanning component, the first field of view angle is typically configured as [-30°, +30°]. In this way, by introducing an angle expansion component into a single emission module to expand the emission field of view, the need for multiple modules can be eliminated, thereby simplifying the emission optical system of the detection device, reducing cost, and reducing size.

[0117] In one possible implementation, referring to FIG. 4 , the transmitting module 400 may further include a light source assembly 430 and a shaping assembly 440. The light source assembly 430 is configured to emit a light beam, and the shaping assembly 440 is configured to shape the light beam from the light source assembly 430 into a line beam. Optionally, the light source assembly 430 may emit multiple light beams over a period of time. After being shaped into multiple line beams by the shaping assembly 440, these multiple light beams are incident on the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 in the same direction. These light beams are then reflected in different directions as the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 rotates continuously, thereby achieving line scanning in one dimension.

[0118] The following describes the various functional components and structures involved in FIG4 to provide an exemplary specific implementation solution.

[0119] 1. Light source components

[0120] Exemplarily, the light source assembly 430 may be any type of light source capable of emitting a light beam, such as but not limited to: a laser, a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a diode pumped solid state laser (DPSS), a fiber laser, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL), or an edge emitting laser (EEL), etc. The laser may be any one of a semiconductor laser, a gas laser, a fiber laser, a solid-state laser, a dye laser, a diode laser (LD), or an excimer laser.

[0121] 2. Plastic components

[0122] It can be understood that the shaping component 440 can shape the light beam emitted by the light source component 430 into an output light beam with a specific energy density distribution, such as a line beam.

[0123] In one possible implementation, the shaping component 440 may include a collimator, which is used to collimate the light beam (collimated light). Beam collimation refers to converting a divergent light beam into a collimated light beam, such as a parallel light beam. Exemplarily, the collimator may include a microlens array (MLA) or a cylindrical lens, wherein the cylindrical lens includes but is not limited to a plano-convex cylindrical lens (or plano-convex cylindrical lens), a plano-concave cylindrical lens (or plano-concave cylindrical lens), a bi-convex cylindrical lens (bi-convex cylindrical lens), and a bi-concave cylindrical lens (bi-concave cylindrical lens).

[0124] Furthermore, optionally, the shaping assembly 440 may further include a light homogenizer for uniformizing the parallel light beam after being collimated by the collimator. Beam homogenization refers to uniformizing the energy of the light beam, converting it into a light spot with uniform energy or intensity distribution. Exemplarily, the light homogenizer may be a microlens array (MLA).

[0125] 3. One-dimensional scanning component

[0126] It will be appreciated that the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 is used to vary the scanning angle along one dimension to alter the propagation direction of the light beam directed toward the detection area, thereby achieving scanning of the detection area. It should be noted that the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 can rotate in a continuous or step-by-step mode, which is not limited in this application. In actual applications, the specific rotation mode can be pre-set.

[0127] In one possible implementation, the one-dimensional scanning component 410 can be a scanner, such as a reflective scanner. A reflective scanner changes the scanning angle by mechanical rotation, thereby enabling the scanner to scan the detection area in different directions. Exemplarily, the one-dimensional scanning component 410 can include but is not limited to a mechanical rotating mirror or a micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) reflective mirror, such as a polyhedron (such as an octahedron, hexahedron, or tetrahedron), a MEMS scanning mirror, a swinging mirror, or a prism. Using a MEMS scanning mirror can have the advantages of small size, low cost, high scanning frequency, fast response speed, and low power consumption.

[0128] 4. Angle expansion components

[0129] For example, the angle expansion component 420 may be a lens, a lens assembly, a metamaterial, or a liquid crystal. The specific material used to construct the angle expansion component can be determined based on the actual scenario. For example, a lens, a metamaterial, or a liquid crystal may be used in a smaller space, while a lens assembly may be used in a larger space.

[0130] Furthermore, taking the lens group as an example, two specific structures of the angle expansion component 420 are exemplified below.

[0131] Please refer to Figure 6a, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of an angle expansion component provided by the present application. The angle expansion component 420 includes two cylindrical lenses, namely a first lens 421 and a second lens 422. The first lens 421 is located between the one-dimensional scanning component 410 and the second lens 422, and both surfaces of the first lens 421 and the surface of the second lens 422 close to the first lens 421 are spherical surfaces, and the surface of the second lens 422 facing away from the first lens 421 is aspherical. Optionally, as shown in Figure 6a, the distance between the left side of the first lens 421 and the right side of the second lens 422 is set to 19.262 mm (millimeters), and the height of the second lens 422 is set to 24.111 mm. By designing the positions of the first lens 421 and the second lens 422 and the parameters of each surface, a 2-fold beam expansion of the incident light beam in the illustrated y direction can be achieved. For example, to achieve an emission field of view of 100°×70°, the divergence angle of the line beam received by the one-dimensional scanning component 410 can be designed to be 100°×0.2° (0.2° is very small and can be understood as the width of a line). The scanning angle of the one-dimensional scanning component 410 is 35°. Then, after the 100°×0.2° line beam is scanned by the one-dimensional scanning component 410, the diffusion angle in the y direction shown in the figure increases to 35°. This 35° is then expanded to 70° after being expanded by the 2x expansion component composed of the first lens 421 and the second lens 422 shown in the figure. In this way, after expansion by the expansion component 420, the emission beam presents a relatively wide line beam of 100° in the x direction and a diffusion angle of 70° in the y direction, thereby achieving an emission field of view of 100°×70°.

[0132] Please refer to Figure 6b, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of another angle expansion component provided by the present application. The angle expansion component 420 includes three cylindrical lenses, namely a first lens 421, a second lens 422, and a third lens 423. The first lens 421 is close to the one-dimensional scanning component 410, and the second lens 422 is located between the first lens 421 and the third lens 423. The two surfaces of the first lens 421, the two surfaces of the second lens 422, and the surface of the third lens 423 close to the second lens 422 are all spherical surfaces, and the surface of the third lens 423 facing away from the second lens 422 is aspherical. Optionally, as shown in Figure 6b, the distance between the left side of the first lens 421 and the right side of the third lens 423 is set to 42.319mm, and the height of the third lens 423 is set to 46.144nm. By designing the positions of the first lens 421, the second lens 422, and the third lens 423 and the parameters of each surface, a 3-fold beam expansion of the incident light beam in the illustrated y direction can be achieved. For example, to achieve a 60°×105° emission field of view, the divergence angle of the line beam received by the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 can be designed to be 60°×0.2°, and the scanning angle of the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 can be 35°. Then, after scanning by the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410, the 60°×0.2° line beam's diffusion angle in the illustrated y-direction increases to 35°. This 35° is then expanded to 105° by the 3x angle expansion assembly formed by the illustrated first lens 421, the second lens 422, and the third lens 423. Thus, after expansion by the angle expansion assembly 420, the emission beam presents a relatively narrow 60° line beam in the x-direction. This line beam has a high energy density and can be used for long-distance detection. The diffusion angle in the y-direction is 105°, resulting in a large field of view in the y-direction. Thus, the detection device can achieve both a large field of view and long-distance detection performance.

[0133] It should be noted that the above are only two possible structures of the angle expansion assembly. This application does not limit the type of the angle expansion assembly 420, and any structure that can expand multiple received light beams in one dimensional direction can be used.

[0134] Based on the above content, to further introduce the working principle of the emission module 400, please refer to Figure 7, which exemplarily shows a structural diagram of a detection device provided by the present application. In this detection device, the emission module 400 includes a light source component 430, a shaping component 440, a one-dimensional scanning component 410 and an angle expansion component 420. The light source component 430, the shaping component 440 and the one-dimensional scanning component 410 are arranged in sequence on the same horizontal plane, and the angle expansion component 420 is placed directly above the one-dimensional scanning component 410. In addition, in the initial state (also called the static state, which can be understood as the one-dimensional scanning component 410 being in the middle of the rotatable range), the mirror direction of the one-dimensional scanning component 410 is at a 45° angle to the direction of the light beam emitted by the shaping component 440, and the height of the mirror center is the same as the height of the light beam emitted by the shaping component 440, and the mirror center of the one-dimensional scanning component 410 is directly opposite to the light beam emitted by the shaping component 440.

[0135] Using the design of the launch module 400 shown in FIG7 , the entire launch process may include the following three steps:

[0136] In the first step, the light source assembly 430 emits multiple light beams over a period of time. The multiple light beams are shaped into multiple horizontal line beams as shown in the figure by the shaping assembly 440 and incident on the center of the mirror of the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410.

[0137] In the second step, the one-dimensional scanning component 410 reflects multiple horizontal line beams incident over a period of time into the space above by changing the scanning angle, performing a one-dimensional line scan in one dimension. The scanning dimension is related to the incident line beam. For example, in a row scanning scenario, the incident line beam is a horizontal line beam, and the one-dimensional scanning component 410 performs a vertical one-dimensional line scan. In a column scanning scenario, the incident line beam is a vertical line beam, and the one-dimensional scanning component 410 performs a horizontal one-dimensional line scan.

[0138] Furthermore, when the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 is stationary in its initial state, the mirror surface forms a 45° angle with the incident horizontal line beam. Therefore, the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 can reflect the incident horizontal line beam directly upward, causing the line beam to enter the angle expansion assembly 420 in a vertical direction. When the one-dimensional scanning assembly 410 is switched to the operating state, it rotates left and right in the initial state, reflecting the incident horizontal line beam to the upper left or upper right, forming line beams in various directions within the illustrated diffusion angle u1.

[0139] In the third step, the angle expansion component 420 deflects the direction of multiple line light beams within a period of time from the one-dimensional scanning component 410, so that the diffusion angle of the multiple emitted line light beams in the scanning dimension direction becomes larger to u2. By expanding the angle in the scanning dimension direction, the field of view angle of the transmitting module 400 is increased.

[0140] It should be noted that when the one-dimensional scanning component is in the initial state, the line light beam enters the angle expansion component 420 in a vertical direction and can be directly emitted from the angle expansion component 420 without angular deflection. The directions of the incident light beam and the outgoing light beam are consistent. The scanning angle corresponding to the direction of the light beam is also called the central scanning angle.

[0141] In the above-mentioned emission module, by introducing an angle expansion component, the angle expansion component can be used to diffuse the light beam emitted by the one-dimensional scanning component in one-dimensional scanning direction, so that the light beam processed by the angle expansion component has a larger diffusion angle in the direction of the dimension, thereby helping to increase the field angle of the emitted light beam in the direction of the dimension, and improving the emission field of view of the emission module. Compared with the existing method of splicing multiple emission modules to increase the emission field of view, this method only needs to add an angle expansion component to a single emission module to increase the emission field of view, without the need to splice multiple emission modules. This can reduce the complexity of the emission optical system, thereby reducing the volume and cost of the detection device, and helping to reduce the difficulty of assembling the detection device. In addition, since the emission module uses a one-dimensional scanning component for line scanning, and the power density of the line light beam is usually relatively high, while achieving a large field angle through this design, it can also simultaneously maintain long-distance detection and high resolution.

[0142] Implementation Plan 2

[0143] For scanning LiDARs, in addition to increasing their transmit field of view, achieving high-precision angular calibration of the scanning components is also crucial. This is especially true for off-axis scanning LiDARs, such as one-dimensional line-scanning LiDARs. Inaccurate angular calibration can cause misalignment of the LiDAR's transmit and receive fields of view, leading to mismatched transmit and receive timings in point cloud imaging. This, in turn, can lead to uneven intensity distribution between detection units in adjacent areas of the detector (e.g., between rows or columns), potentially severely impacting point cloud quality and detection performance.

[0144] However, existing scanning LiDARs typically only calibrate the central scanning angle. This is because the central scanning angle represents the initial state of the scanning assembly, which is stationary in this state. Therefore, the multiple echo signals corresponding to the multiple beams scanned out in this initial state are focused at the same detector location, which is fixed and relatively easy to detect. However, for any other scanning angle besides the central scanning angle, the scanning assembly operates in a quasi-static scanning mode. Instead, it continuously rotates, reflecting the beams in different directions, causing the corresponding echo signals to focus at different locations on the detector. This variable operation of the scanning assembly makes it impossible to calibrate the LiDAR at any scanning angle other than the central scanning angle. This makes it difficult to achieve high-precision alignment between the transmitting and receiving fields of view during LiDAR assembly. In particular, when the scanning assembly scans at its maximum scanning angle, it is difficult to ensure that the corresponding echo signals are received by the detection units at the edge of the image. This has a significant negative impact on improving detector utilization and detection performance. In addition, even if the alignment degree is high during installation, after the laser radar is put into use, as the scanning component works for a long time, it will be affected by changes in the external environment, the stability of the driving circuit, vibration and shock, etc., and the actual scanning angle range of the scanning component may also change, and it also needs to be adjusted in time.

[0145] In view of this, the present application provides a detector for setting a monitoring array at the edge of the detection array in the detector, so as to determine whether the echo signal corresponding to the current scanning angle exceeds the detection range of the detection array by monitoring whether there is a signal on the monitoring array, and then adjust the current scanning angle when it exceeds the range, so that the echo signal corresponding to the current scanning angle can be received by the detection array, thereby improving the probability of alignment of the transmitting and receiving fields of view.

[0146] The detector proposed in this application is described in detail below with reference to Figures 8 to 10 .

[0147] As shown in Figure 8, it is a schematic diagram of the structure of a detector provided by the present application. The detector 800 includes a detection array 810 and a monitoring array 820. The monitoring array 820 is arranged adjacent to the detection array 810, for example, at the edge of the detection array 810. Among them, the detection array 810 includes a plurality of detection units (small squares in the figure), and the monitoring array 820 includes one or more monitoring units. The figure takes the monitoring array 820 as an example including a plurality of monitoring units. When the detector 800 is working, any detection unit is used to receive the echo signal and transmit the echo signal to the signal processing unit for target detection; any monitoring unit is used to monitor the received signal, and the received signal is used to adjust the scanning angle.

[0148] It is understandable that when the transmitting and receiving fields of view are aligned, the echo signal should be focused on the detection array 810. Therefore, when the monitoring array 820 receives a signal, it means that there is an echo signal focused outside the detectable range of the detection array 810, which further indicates that the echo signal corresponding to the current scanning angle exceeds the receiving capacity of the detection array 810. At this time, by adjusting the current scanning angle, such as reducing the current scanning angle, the field of view angle of the transmitted light beam can be reduced, and the field of view range of the echo signal corresponding to the transmitted light beam can be reduced, thereby increasing the probability of the echo signal focusing on the detection array 810 and the probability of the transmitting and receiving fields of view being aligned. It can be seen from this that by using the detector shown in Figure 8 and setting a monitoring array at the edge of the detection array, it is possible to monitor whether the monitoring array receives a signal, so that the detector supports adjustment of the dynamically changing scanning angle.

[0149] Exemplarily, the monitoring unit and the detection unit may include a photosensitive element, and the type of the photosensitive element of the monitoring unit may be the same as or different from the type of the photosensitive element of the detection unit. In some examples, the photosensitive element may include, but is not limited to: a photodetector (PD), a P-type semiconductor-intrinsic level-N1 type semiconductor (positive intrinsic negative, PIN) photodiode (also known as a PIN junction diode), an avalanche photodiode (APD), or a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array or a silicon photomultiplier (SiMP) array, etc.

[0150] In one possible implementation, the monitoring array 820 may be disposed on one or more edges of the detection array 810 corresponding to the scanning direction. The scanning direction may be understood as the scanning direction of the scanning assembly used in conjunction with the detector 800. For example, referring to FIG9a , when the scanning assembly used in conjunction with the detector 800 performs scanning in a line scanning manner, the light beam emitted by the scanning assembly is a horizontal light beam, and the scanning direction is a vertical direction. Therefore, the monitoring array 820 may be disposed on one or more edges of the detection array 810 in the vertical direction, such as the upper edge shown in FIG9a (A), the lower edge shown in FIG9a (B), or both the upper and lower edges shown in FIG9a (C). For another example, please refer to Figure 9b. When the scanning component used in conjunction with the detector 800 adopts a column scanning method for scanning, the light beam emitted by the scanning component is a vertical light beam and the scanning direction is horizontal. Therefore, the monitoring array 820 can be set at one or more edges of the detection array 810 in the horizontal direction, such as the left edge shown in (A) of Figure 9b, the right edge shown in (B) of Figure 9b, or the left and right edges shown in (C) of Figure 9b.

[0151] It should be noted that Figures 9a and 9b are both based on the example of the monitoring array 820 covering an entire row or column of the detector 800, but it should be understood that the monitoring array 820 may also only cover a portion of a row or column, and may be connected together or divided into multiple parts. When divided into multiple parts, the lengths or widths of the areas covered by different parts may be the same or different, and may be symmetrically distributed or asymmetrically distributed. For example, taking the row scanning scene as an example, please refer to Figure 10, which exemplarily lists several possible settings of the monitoring array, wherein (A1), (A2) and (A3) in Figure 10 show three possible situations in which the monitoring array is only set at the upper edge, (B1), (B2) and (B3) in Figure 10 show three possible situations in which the monitoring array is only set at the lower edge, and (C1), (C2) and (C3) in Figure 10 show three possible situations in which the monitoring array is set at both the upper edge and the lower edge. As can be appreciated, by providing monitoring arrays at both the upper and lower edges, it is possible to calibrate the scanning angle from bottom to top by monitoring the echo signals received by the monitoring array at the upper edge, and to calibrate the scanning angle from top to bottom by monitoring the echo signals received by the monitoring array at the lower edge, thereby further improving the accuracy of angle calibration. It should be understood that these are only a few possible examples, and actual scenarios may have other configurations, which are not listed in this application.

[0152] In addition, when the monitoring array 820 is disposed at the upper or lower edge of the detection array 810, the number of rows of the monitoring array 820 can be a small number, such as 1 to 3 rows, and the number of columns of the monitoring array 820 can be smaller than the number of columns of the detection array 810. When the monitoring array 820 is disposed at the left or right edge of the detection array 810, the number of columns of the monitoring array 820 can be a small number, such as 1 to 3 columns, and the number of rows of the monitoring array 820 can be smaller than the number of rows of the detection array 810.

[0153] Furthermore, Figures 8, 9a, 9b and 10 take the detection array 810 and the monitoring array 820 arranged in a rectangular array form as an example, but the detection array 810 or the monitoring array 820 can also be other array shapes, such as circular, square or elliptical, etc., and this application does not limit this.

[0154] Based on the detector described above, this application also provides a receiving module. Please refer to Figure 11 for a schematic diagram of the structure of the receiving module provided in this application. This receiving module 1100 includes a detector 1110. Detector 1110 can be the detector 800 described in any of the embodiments described in Figures 8, 9a, 9b, or 10. For example, it can include a detection unit and a monitoring unit, with the monitoring unit positioned at the edge of the detection unit.

[0155] In one possible implementation, referring to FIG. 11 , the receiving module 1110 may further include a receiving optical system 1120. The receiving optical system 1120 is configured to focus the echo signal from the target onto the detector 1110, such as onto a detection unit or a monitoring unit on the detector 1110, to detect the target or adjust the scanning angle. The receiving optical system 1120 may be a system composed of optical elements, including, but not limited to, lenses, filters, polarizers, reflectors, beam splitters, prisms, windows, and scatterers.

[0156] It is understood that the functional framework of the receiving module shown in FIG11 is only an example. In other examples, the receiving module may include more or fewer components than shown, or some components may be combined or separated, or the components may be arranged differently. The components shown in the figure may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0157] Based on the receiving module described above, the present application also provides a detection device. Please refer to Figure 12, which is a schematic structural diagram of the detection device provided by the present application. The detection device includes a receiving module 1210 and a processing module 1220. The processing module 1220 is coupled to the receiving module 1210, for example, coupled to the detector 1211 in the receiving module 1210. The receiving module 1210 can be any of the receiving modules described above, such as the receiving module 1100 in Figure 11 above. When the detection device is working, the receiving module 1210 is used to receive echo signals reflected and / or scattered from the target and send information about the echo signals to the processing module 1220; the processing module 1220 is used to adjust the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component based on the information of the echo signals, if it is determined that the area with the maximum echo signal intensity corresponding to the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component is not the area where the edge detection unit is located, so that the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is received by the edge detection unit. In this way, by calibrating the maximum scanning angle, the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is just received by the edge detection unit, and the echo signal corresponding to the entire scanning angle range can be focused as much as possible within the range where the detection unit is located, so that all detection units can be utilized to receive more comprehensive echo signals, which in turn helps to improve the accuracy of the alignment of the transmitting and receiving fields of view and effectively improve the accuracy of target detection.

[0158] It can be understood that the area where the edge detection units are located is related to the actual scanning method. For example, in a row scanning scenario, if a row-by-row scanning method is adopted, the echo signal should be focused on a row of detection units of the detector each time. In this case, the area where the edge detection units are located may refer to a row of edge detection units, such as the top row of detection units or the bottom row of detection units; conversely, if a multi-row scanning method is adopted, the area where the edge detection units are located may be multiple rows of detection units including a row of edge detection units, such as the top rows of detection units or the bottom rows of detection units. Similarly, in a column scanning scenario, if a column-by-column scanning method is adopted, the area where the edge detection units are located may refer to a column of edge detection units, such as the leftmost column of detection units or the rightmost column of detection units. If a multi-column scanning method is adopted, the area where the edge detection units are located may be multiple columns of detection units including a column of edge detection units, such as the leftmost columns of detection units or the rightmost columns of detection units. In this way, by configuring the size of the area for monitoring the received echo signal according to the actual scanning method, the flexibility of angle calibration can be improved, and the detection device can be applied to more scenarios, thereby improving the versatility of the detection device.

[0159] Optionally, please continue to refer to Figure 12. The detection device may also include an emitting module 1230, which is used to emit a light beam reflected by different scanning angles to the detection area. The light beam can be a point beam, a line beam or a surface beam, etc., and is not specifically limited.

[0160] The following describes the various functional components and structures involved in FIG12 to provide an exemplary specific implementation solution.

[0161] 1. Transmitter Module

[0162] In one possible implementation, referring to FIG. 12 , transmitting module 1230 may include a scanning assembly 1231 configured to reflect light beams in different directions at different scanning angles. For example, scanning assembly 1231 may continuously rotate to reflect multiple light beams received over a period of time in different directions within a detection area. Scanning assembly 1231 may be a one-dimensional scanning assembly or a two-dimensional scanning assembly, and may include, but is not limited to, a polyhedron (e.g., an octahedron, a hexahedron, or a tetrahedron), a MEMS scanning mirror, an oscillating mirror, or a prism.

[0163] Further, optionally, please continue to refer to FIG. 12 , the emission module 1230 may further include a light source component 1232 , and the light source component 1232 is configured to emit a plurality of light beams, such as a plurality of pulse light beams, to the scanning component 1231 .

[0164] It is understandable that the functional framework of the emission module shown in Figure 12 is only an example. In other embodiments of the present application, the emission module 1230 may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or split certain components, or have a different component arrangement. For example, in another example, the emission module 1230 may also include a shaping component, which is used to collimate and / or homogenize the light beam from the light source component 1232. For another example, in yet another example, the emission module 1230 may also include an angle expansion component, which is used to deflect the direction of the light beam from the scanning component 1231 so that the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the angle expansion component is greater than the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the scanning component 1231. Using this example, the detection device can achieve a large emission field of view while maintaining a small size and low cost, and can also achieve high-precision calibration of the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component. For relevant content about the angle expansion component, please refer to the relevant introduction in the above-mentioned implementation scheme one, and will not be repeated here.

[0165] 2. Receiver Module

[0166] In a possible implementation, referring to FIG. 12 , the receiving module 1210 may include a detector 1211 , the detector 1211 including a detection unit and a monitoring unit, and the monitoring unit is disposed adjacent to the detection unit, for example, at one or more edges of the detection unit in the scanning direction.

[0167] Furthermore, optionally, the receiving module 1210 may further include a receiving optical system 1212 , and the receiving optical system 1212 is configured to focus the echo signal reflected and / or scattered from the target onto the detector 1211 .

[0168] 3. Processing Module

[0169] It is understandable that the processing module 1220 may include one or more processing units, and a processing unit is a circuit with the ability to process signals (or data). For example, in one implementation, the processing unit may be a circuit with the ability to read and execute instructions, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a graphics processing unit (GPU) (which can be understood as a microprocessor), or a digital signal processor (DSP). In another implementation, the processing unit can implement certain functions through the logical relationship of a hardware circuit, and the logical relationship of the hardware circuit is fixed or reconfigurable. For example, the processor is a hardware circuit implemented by an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a programmable logic device (PLD), such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA). In a reconfigurable hardware circuit, the process of the processing unit loading a configuration document to implement the hardware circuit configuration can be understood as the process of the processing unit loading instructions to implement the functions of some or all of the above units. In addition, the processing unit can also be a hardware circuit designed for artificial intelligence, which can be understood as an ASIC, such as a neural network processing unit (NPU), a tensor processing unit (TPU), a deep learning processing unit (DPU), etc. For example, it can also be an application processor (AP), an image signal processor (ISP), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. Among them, different processing units can be independent devices or integrated into one or more processors.

[0170] In one possible implementation, referring to FIG. 12 , the processing module 1220 may include a control unit 1221 and a feedback unit 1222, which jointly calibrate the maximum scanning angle. Specifically, the feedback unit 1222 is configured to determine that the scanning component 1231 has scanned to the maximum scanning angle, obtain information about the echo signal received by the detection unit of the detector 1211 and the echo signal received by the monitoring unit, and, based on the echo signal information, send a feedback signal to the control unit 1221 if it is determined that the area with the maximum echo signal intensity corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is not the area where the edge detection unit is located. The control unit 1221 is configured to adjust the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component 1231 based on the feedback signal so that the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is received by the edge detection unit.

[0171] Optionally, please continue to refer to FIG. 12 , the processing module 1220 may further include a signal processing unit 1223 , which is configured to obtain information about an echo signal received by the detection unit of the detector 1211 and perform target detection based on the information about the echo signal.

[0172] It will be appreciated that throughout the scanning process of scanning component 1231, signal processing unit 1223 can obtain information about echo signals received by the detection unit in real time or periodically to perform target detection. Furthermore, after determining that scanning component 1231 has scanned to the maximum scanning angle, feedback unit 1222 can obtain information about echo signals received by the detection unit and monitoring unit to calibrate the maximum scanning angle.

[0173] Furthermore, optionally, the maximum scanning angle may include a maximum scanning angle in a first direction and / or a maximum scanning angle in a second direction. Specifically, which direction the maximum scanning angle is in depends on the location of the monitoring unit. For example, when the monitoring unit is located only at the first edge of the detection unit, the feedback unit 1222 and the control unit 1221 may calibrate only the maximum scanning angle in the first direction, where the first direction refers to the scanning direction of the scanning assembly 1231 corresponding to when the echo signal is focused on or near the detection unit at the first edge. Alternatively, when the monitoring unit is located only at the second edge of the detection unit, the feedback unit 1222 and the control unit 1221 may calibrate only the maximum scanning angle in the second direction, where the second direction refers to the scanning direction of the scanning assembly 1231 corresponding to when the echo signal is focused on or near the second edge of the detection unit. Alternatively, when the monitoring unit is located at both the first and second edges of the detection unit, the feedback unit 1222 and the control unit 1221 may calibrate for both the maximum scanning angle in the first and second directions.

[0174] For example, please refer to FIG5a and FIG9a above. In the line scanning scenario, assuming that the scanning component 1231 emits a horizontal line beam line by line in a certain scanning angle range in the vertical direction, the first edge is the upper edge, and the second edge is the lower edge, then: as shown in FIG9a (A), when the monitoring unit is only set at the upper edge of the detection unit, the first direction is from bottom to top, and when the scanning component 1231 scans from bottom to top to the maximum scanning angle, that is, the emitted light beam is the L21 light beam shown in FIG5a (A), if the feedback unit 1222 determines that the area with the most focused echo signals is not the top row of detection units, the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component 1231 from bottom to top can be adjusted; as shown in FIG9a ( As shown in (B), when the monitoring unit is only provided at the lower edge of the detection unit, the second direction is the top-to-bottom direction. When the scanning component 1231 scans from top to bottom to the maximum scanning angle, that is, the emitted light beam is the L22 light beam shown in (A) of FIG5a, if the feedback unit 1222 determines that the area with the most focused echo signals is not the bottom row of detection units, the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component 1231 from top to bottom can be adjusted; when the monitoring unit is provided at both the upper edge and the lower edge of the detection unit, the feedback unit 1222 can adjust the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component 1231 from bottom to top and the maximum scanning angle from top to bottom in the above manner.

[0175] For another example, please refer to Figure 9b. In the column scanning scenario, assuming that the scanning component 1231 emits a vertical line beam in a certain scanning angle range on the left and right along the horizontal direction, the first edge is the left edge, and the second edge is the right edge, then: when the monitoring unit is only set at the right edge of the detection unit, the first direction is from left to right, and when the scanning component 1231 scans from left to right to the maximum scanning angle, if the feedback unit 1222 determines that the area with the most focused echo signals is not the rightmost column of detection units, the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component 1231 from left to right can be adjusted; when the monitoring unit is only set at the right edge of the detection unit, the first direction is from left to right. When it is placed at the left edge of the detection unit, the second direction is from right to left. When the scanning component 1231 scans from right to left to the maximum scanning angle, if the feedback unit 1222 determines that the area with the most focused echo signals is not the leftmost row of detection units, the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component 1231 from right to left can be adjusted; when the monitoring unit is set at both the left and right edges of the detection unit, the feedback unit 1222 can adjust both the maximum scanning angle from left to right and the maximum scanning angle from right to left in the above manner.

[0176] Optionally, before calibrating the maximum scanning angle, the control unit 1221 may further control the scanning component 1231 to scan to the maximum scanning angle, for example, by sending a drive signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle to the scanning component 1231. Ideally, after receiving the drive signal, the scanning component 1231 may scan to a preset maximum scanning angle, such as 30°, which is the scanning angle that aligns with the edge detection unit. However, due to certain factors (such as aging, damage, changes in the external environment, drive circuit instability, and vibration and impact), the actual maximum scanning angle scanned by the scanning component 1231 under the drive signal may deviate from the preset maximum scanning angle. For example, the scanning component 1231 may only scan to 28° or scan to 32°, in which case the actual maximum scanning angle cannot align with the edge detection unit. Therefore, the actual maximum scanning angle needs to be adjusted, for example, by increasing the actual maximum scanning angle by increasing the drive signal, or decreasing the actual maximum scanning angle by decreasing the drive signal, so that the actual maximum scanning angle approaches the ideal maximum scanning angle.

[0177] Further, optionally, before calibrating the maximum scanning angle, the control unit 1221 may also control the monitoring units, edge detection units, and detection units near the edge to activate. The edge refers to the edge corresponding to the direction of the current maximum scanning angle. For example, in a line-by-line scanning scenario, before calibrating the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component 1231 from bottom to top, the control unit 1221 may control the top row of detection units, the rows of detection units below the top row of detection units, and the monitoring units above the top row of detection units to activate, while disabling other detection units and monitoring units. When calibrating the maximum scanning angle from top to bottom, the control unit 1221 may control the bottom row of detection units, the rows of detection units above the bottom row of detection units, and the monitoring units below the bottom row of detection units to activate, while disabling other detection units and monitoring units. In this way, by activating only the detection units and monitoring units that are likely to receive echo signals and disabling those that are unlikely to receive echo signals, unnecessary energy loss in the detector can be reduced and detector utilization can be improved.

[0178] Further optionally, before calibrating the maximum scanning angle, the control unit 1221 can also control the light source assembly 1232 to emit multiple pulse beams, such as 100 pulse beams, to obtain a frame of image corresponding to the scanning environment through multiple pulse beam detection.

[0179] It is understandable that this application does not limit the timing of the above three control operations. For example, in one example, the control unit 1221 can use three threads to simultaneously execute the above three control operations, so that when the scanning component 1231 scans to the maximum scanning angle, the detection unit or monitoring unit corresponding to the maximum scanning angle on the detector 1211 is turned on, and the light source component 1232 emits a pulsed light beam, so as to ensure that the timing of the light source component 1232 emitting the pulsed light beam, the timing of the scanning component 1231 scanning to the maximum scanning angle, and the timing of the detector 1211 gradually turning on are synchronized.

[0180] Further, optionally, after the scanning component 1231 rotates to the maximum scanning angle in any direction, it can continue to rotate in the opposite direction, so that the multiple pulse light beams emitted by the light source component 1232 can be reflected by the scanning component 1231 at the maximum scanning angle in that direction and the scanning angles thereabouts, thereby causing the multiple echo signals corresponding to the multiple pulse light beams to focus on different positions of the detector 1211. For example, please refer to FIG13, which exemplifies a schematic diagram of a presentation form of the echo signal on the detector. The diagram takes the example of emitting three pulse light beams in a row scanning scenario. These three pulse light beams correspond to echo signal 1, echo signal 2, and echo signal 3, respectively. Any echo signal appears as a horizontal line spot on the detector 1211. It should be noted that, for ease of representation, the diagram only uses an ellipse to represent the position of the horizontal line spot in the column direction, and the horizontal line spot has the length of one row in the row direction. Among them, echo signal 1 spans the topmost layer of detection units (the row of detection units filled with diagonal lines in the figure) and the two layers of monitoring units above it, echo signal 2 spans the topmost layer of detection units, the layer of monitoring units above it, and the layer of detection units below it, and echo signal 3 spans the topmost layer of detection units and the two layers of detection units below it. By counting the information of echo signals 1 to echo signals 3 received from the topmost row of detection units, the two rows of monitoring units above the topmost row of detection units, and the two rows of detection units below the topmost row of detection units, a Gaussian distribution curve as shown in Figure G can be obtained. The peak position of this Gaussian distribution curve can be considered to be the position of the row of detection units with the greatest received echo signal strength. The figure uses the topmost layer of detection units as an example.

[0181] Furthermore, optionally, the maximum scanning angle may be adjusted in different ways according to the different distribution positions of the area with the maximum echo signal intensity corresponding to the maximum scanning angle, which may specifically include the following three possible situations:

[0182] Scenario A1

[0183] When the area with the largest echo signal intensity corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is located in the area where the monitoring unit is located, it means that most of the echo signals are received by the monitoring unit outside the detection unit, and the current maximum scanning angle is set too large. In this case, the feedback unit 1222 can send a first feedback signal to the control unit 1221, so that the control unit 1221 can reduce the maximum scanning angle according to the first feedback signal, such as reducing the driving electrical signal sent to the scanning component 1231 according to the first feedback signal.

[0184] For example, taking a line-by-line scanning scenario as an example, please refer to Figures 12 and 14a together. Assuming that the monitoring unit is set at the upper edge of the detection unit, when the scanning component 1231 scans from bottom to top to the maximum scanning angle, if the peak position of the Gaussian distribution curve of the corresponding multiple echo signals (three line spots in the figure) is on the monitoring unit, the feedback unit 1222 can instruct the control unit 1221 to reduce the maximum scanning angle. It can be understood that as the maximum scanning angle is reduced, the field of view of the multiple echo signals will also be synchronously reduced, so that the position where the multiple echo signals are focused on the detector 1211 will be concentrated toward the center of the detector 1211 (the bottom shown in Figure 14a), which helps to increase the probability of the echo signals being received by the edge detection unit.

[0185] Scenario A2

[0186] When the area with the largest echo signal intensity corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is located in the area where the edge detection unit is located, it means that most of the echo signals are just received by the edge detection unit, and the echo signal corresponding to the current maximum scanning angle is just aligned with the edge detection unit. The transmitting and receiving field of view itself is aligned and no adjustment is required. In this case, the feedback unit 1222 does not need to perform other processing.

[0187] For example, still taking the line-by-line scanning scenario as an example, please refer to Figure 12 and Figure 14b together. When the scanning component 1231 scans from bottom to top to the maximum scanning angle, if the peak position of the Gaussian distribution curve of the corresponding multiple echo signals happens to be on the top row of detection units, the feedback unit 1222 may not send a feedback signal to the control unit 1221 to save communication overhead.

[0188] Scenario A3

[0189] When the area with the largest echo signal intensity corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is located in the area where the detection unit is located near the edge, it means that most of the echo signals are received by the detection unit inside the edge, and the current maximum scanning angle is set too small. In this case, the feedback unit 1222 can send a second feedback signal to the control unit 1221, so that the control unit 1221 increases the maximum scanning angle according to the second feedback signal, such as increasing the driving electrical signal sent to the scanning component 1231 according to the first feedback signal.

[0190] For example, still taking the line-by-line scanning scenario as an example, please refer to Figures 12 and 14c together. When the scanning component 1231 scans from bottom to top to the maximum scanning angle, if the peak position of the Gaussian distribution curve of the corresponding multiple echo signals is on the detection unit below the detection unit in the top row, the feedback unit 1222 can instruct the control unit 1221 to increase the maximum scanning angle. It can be understood that as the maximum scanning angle is increased, the field of view of the multiple echo signals will also be synchronously increased, so that the position where the multiple echo signals are focused on the detector 1211 will spread toward the edge of the detector 1211 (the upper side as shown in Figure 14c), which helps to increase the probability of the echo signals being received by the detection units at the edge.

[0191] It should be noted that the above content constructs a Gaussian distribution curve for multiple echo signals and uses the area where the peak position of the Gaussian distribution curve is located as the area with the greatest echo signal intensity. However, this is only an optional implementation method, and this application does not limit the specific implementation method for determining the area with the greatest echo signal intensity. For example, in another optional implementation method, the area with the largest number of received echo signals can be used as the area with the greatest echo signal intensity by counting the number of echo signals received by a counter. For another example, in yet another optional implementation method, the brightness of the light spot can be counted to use the area with the brightest light spot as the area with the greatest echo signal intensity. And so on. There are many possible implementation methods, which will not be listed here one by one.

[0192] Optionally, considering that the scanning angle range of scanning assembly 1231 is typically symmetrical, for example, [-30°, +30°], to ensure that the maximum scanning angles in both directions precisely align with the detection units at the two edges of detector 1211, the center scanning angle (i.e., 0°) should theoretically focus on the detection unit at the most central position. Therefore, to ensure accurate alignment of the transmitting and receiving fields of view, the center scanning angle of scanning assembly 1231 can also be calibrated. For example, a specific calibration process may include: in the initial state of scanning assembly 1231, control unit 1221 controls the detection units at and near the center of detector 1211 to activate, and controls light source assembly 1232 to emit multiple pulsed light beams; then, based on the distribution of echo signals corresponding to the multiple pulsed light beams on detector 1211, if it is determined that the area with the maximum echo signal intensity distribution is not the area where the detection unit at the center is located, the position of light source assembly 1232 or detector 1211 is adjusted so that the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle is received by the detection unit at the center.

[0193] As can be understood, since the scanning assembly is initially stationary at the central scanning angle, the positions at which the multiple echo signals corresponding to the multiple pulsed light beams are focused on detector 1211 remain unchanged. In other words, the positions of the light spots represented by the echo signals on detector 1211 remain unchanged, with the brightest light spot corresponding to the location with the highest echo signal intensity. Therefore, if the brightest light spot is located exactly on the central detection unit, the central scanning angle and the central detection unit are already aligned, and no adjustment is required. If the brightest light spot is not located on the central detection unit, the central scanning angle and the central detection unit are not aligned. In this case, the position of light source assembly 1232 or detector 1211 can be manually adjusted, and the calibration process described above can be repeated using the adjusted light source assembly 1232 or detector 1211 until the brightest light spot is located on the central detection unit.

[0194] It should be noted that the above-described method of manually adjusting the position of light source assembly 1232 or detector 1211 is merely an example. In another example, a displacement device may be provided on light source assembly 1232 or detector 1211, and the control unit 1221 or other processing unit may control the movement of the displacement device, thereby driving the movement of light source assembly 1232 or detector 1211. It should be understood that other methods are possible for adjusting the position of light source assembly 1232 or detector 1211, and this application does not specifically limit this.

[0195] Furthermore, optionally, taking a line-by-line scanning scenario as an example, please refer to FIG. 12 and FIG. 15 . Assuming that there are 9 rows of detection units on the detector 1211, and the row of detection units filled with diagonal lines in the figure is the central row of detection units, then the method of adjusting the position of the light source assembly 1232 or the detector 1211 is different according to the distribution position of the area with the maximum echo signal intensity corresponding to the central scanning angle. Specifically, the following three possible scenarios may be included:

[0196] Scenario B1

[0197] Referring to Figures 12 and 15 together, when scanning assembly 1231 is stationary at the center scanning angle, if multiple echo signals appear as light spots on detector 1211 as shown in Figure S1, and the corresponding Gaussian distribution curve is G1, then the peak of Gaussian distribution curve G1 is located on the detection unit above the center row of detection units, indicating that most of the echo signals are received by the detection unit above the center. The position of the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle is above the center position of the detection array in detector 1211, which further indicates that the position of the light beam emitted by light source assembly 1232 is above. In this case, the position of light source assembly 1232 can be adjusted downward to move the position of the light beam emitted by light source assembly 1232 downward after the adjustment, thereby causing the position of the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle to move downward, or the position of detector 1211 can be adjusted upward to move the position of the detector 1211 upward compared to the original echo signal position, thereby increasing the probability that the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle is aligned with the center row of detection units.

[0198] Scenario B2

[0199] Please refer to Figures 12 and 15 together. When the scanning component 1231 is stationary at the central scanning angle, if multiple echo signals appear as light spots as shown in Figure S2 on the detector 1211, and the corresponding Gaussian distribution curve is G2, then the peak position of the Gaussian distribution curve G2 is exactly on the central row of detection units, indicating that most of the echo signals are just received by the detection units at the central position, and the echo signals corresponding to the central scanning angle are aligned with the detection units at the central position, and no adjustment is required. In this case, the positions of the light source component 1232 and the detector 1211 do not need to be adjusted.

[0200] Scenario B3

[0201] Referring to Figures 12 and 15 together, when scanning assembly 1231 is stationary at the center scanning angle, if multiple echo signals appear as light spots on detector 1211 as shown in Figure S3, with a corresponding Gaussian distribution curve G3, then the peak of Gaussian distribution curve G3 is located on the detection elements below the center row of detection elements, indicating that most echo signals are received by the detection elements below the center. The position of the echo signals corresponding to the center scanning angle is below the center position of the detection array in detector 1211, indicating that the position of the light beam emitted by light source assembly 1232 is below the center position. In this case, the position of light source assembly 1232 can be adjusted upward to move the position of the light beam emitted by light source assembly 1232 upward, thereby moving the position of the echo signals corresponding to the center scanning angle upward. Alternatively, the position of detector 1211 can be adjusted downward to move the position of the echo signals below the center row of detection elements, thereby increasing the probability that the echo signals corresponding to the center scanning angle will align with the detection elements in the center row.

[0202] It can be understood that the above-mentioned situations B1 to B3 are all introduced by taking the row-by-row scanning scenario as an example. The position adjustment method corresponding to the column-by-column scanning scenario is similar to that of the row-by-row scanning scenario. For example: if the area with the largest echo signal intensity corresponding to the central scanning angle is located at the detection unit on the left side of the center, the position of the light source component 1232 can be adjusted to the right, or the position of the detector 1211 can be adjusted to the left; if the area with the largest echo signal intensity corresponding to the central scanning angle is located at the central column of detection units, the positions of the light source component 1232 and the detector 1211 do not need to be adjusted; if the area with the largest echo signal intensity corresponding to the central scanning angle is located at the detection unit on the right side of the center, the position of the light source component 1232 can be adjusted to the left, or the position of the detector 1211 can be adjusted to the right. In addition, the above-mentioned contents are all introduced by taking row-by-row or column-by-column scanning as an example. If it is multi-row scanning or multi-column scanning, it is only necessary to modify the aforementioned row of detection units or column of detection units to several rows of detection units or several columns of detection units. The specific implementation principles are basically similar, and this application will not repeat them.

[0203] Furthermore, optionally, the above-mentioned calibration operation for the center scanning angle can also be performed before the calibration operation for the maximum scanning angle. For example, the position of the light source component 1232 or the detector 1211 can be adjusted in the above-mentioned manner so that the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle is aligned with the detection unit at the center position. Then, under the adjusted position of the light source component 1232 or the detector 1211, the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component 1231 is adjusted so that the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is aligned with the detection unit at the edge. In this way, since the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle has already been aligned with the detection unit at the center position, after the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is aligned with the detection unit at the edge, the echo signal corresponding to the entire scanning angle range can be made to be exactly within the range of all detection units, thereby achieving precise alignment of the entire transmitting and receiving field of view, avoiding power consumption waste caused by repeated calibration.

[0204] Further, optionally, considering that the scanning angle range of the scanning component is usually symmetrical, when the center scanning angle calibration is completed, if the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle of one scanning direction cannot be aligned with the detection unit at the edge corresponding to the scanning direction, then the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle of another scanning direction is likely to be unable to be aligned with the detection unit at the edge corresponding to the other scanning direction. Therefore, regardless of the feedback signal sent for the maximum scanning angle in which direction, the control unit 1221 can also synchronously adjust the maximum scanning angles in the two directions, such as the maximum scanning angle in the first direction and the maximum scanning angle in the second direction, according to the feedback signal. For example, assuming that the ideal scanning angle range of the scanning component 1231 is [-30°, +30°], but due to certain reasons, the scanning component 1231 performs row-by-row scanning in another scanning angle range along the vertical direction under the action of the driving electrical signal, then after aligning the echo signal corresponding to 0° with the detection unit at the central position, if it is found that the echo signal corresponding to the scanning component 1231 when scanning to the maximum scanning angle at the bottom cannot be aligned with the bottom row of detection units, the first driving electrical signal for driving the scanning component to scan to the maximum scanning angle at the bottom and the second driving electrical signal for driving the scanning component to scan to the maximum scanning angle at the top can be synchronously adjusted to synchronously adjust the maximum scanning angle from bottom to top and the maximum scanning angle from top to bottom. For example, when most of the echo signals corresponding to the lowest maximum scanning angle are received by the detection units above the lowest row of detection units, it means that the current maximum scanning angle is less than 30°, for example, 28°. In this case, the maximum scanning angle in the bottom-up direction and the maximum scanning angle in the top-down direction can be increased by increasing the first and second driving electrical signals, so that the scanning angle range approaches the ideal [-30°, +30°]. Alternatively, when most of the echo signals corresponding to the lowest maximum scanning angle are received by the monitoring units below the lowest row of detection units, it means that the current maximum scanning angle is greater than 30°, for example, 32°. In this case, the maximum scanning angle in the bottom-up direction and the maximum scanning angle in the top-down direction can be decreased by decreasing the first and second driving electrical signals, so that the scanning angle range approaches the ideal [-30°, +30°]. In this way, by adjusting the maximum scanning angles in two scanning directions at once, the transmitting and receiving fields of view can be quickly aligned in both scanning directions.

[0205] Further, optionally, during the process of synchronously adjusting the maximum scanning angles in the first and second directions, if the control unit 1221 finds that the adjusted maximum scanning angle can only ensure that the echo signal corresponding to one direction is aligned with the detection unit at the edge corresponding to that direction, while the echo signal corresponding to the other direction cannot be aligned with the detection unit at the edge corresponding to the other direction, then it means that the echo signal corresponding to the entire scanning angle range has shifted relative to the central position of the detector 1211, and the echo signal corresponding to the current central scanning angle can no longer be aligned with the detection unit at the central position. In this case, the control unit 1221 can adjust the relative position of the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle and the detector 1211 by adjusting the position of the light source assembly 1232 or the detector 1211, thereby increasing the probability that the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle is received by the detection unit at the central position.

[0206] For example, still taking the progressive scanning scenario as an example, assuming that the actual scanning angle range of the scanning component is adjusted to [-30°, +30°] by adjusting the driving electrical signal sent to the scanning component, then the method of adjusting the position of the light source component 1232 or the detector 1211 is different according to the different positions of the multiple echo signals corresponding to the adjusted maximum scanning angle. Specifically, there are three possible scenarios:

[0207] Scenario C1

[0208] If most of the echo signals corresponding to -30° can be received by the detection units in the bottom row, but most of the echo signals corresponding to +30° are received by the detection units below the top row, or, most of the echo signals corresponding to +30° can be received by the detection units in the top row, but most of the echo signals corresponding to -30° are received by the detection units below the bottom row, then it means that the position of the entire echo signal is biased downward, and the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle of 0° is actually aligned with the detection unit in the center. The position of the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle of 0° is lower than that of the detection unit 1. 211 is lower in terms of the center position of the detection array, which means that the position of the light beam emitted by the light source component 1232 is lower. In this case, the position of the light source component 1232 can be adjusted upward so that the position of the light beam emitted by the light source component 1232 moves upward after the adjustment, thereby driving the position of the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle of 0° to move upward, or the position of the detector 1211 can be adjusted downward so that the detector 1211 moves downward compared to the original echo signal position after the adjustment, so as to increase the probability that the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle is aligned on the central row of detection units.

[0209] Scenario C2

[0210] In contrast to the above situation C1, if most of the echo signals corresponding to -30° can be received by the detection units in the bottom row, but most of the echo signals corresponding to +30° are received by the detection units above the detection units in the top row, or if most of the echo signals corresponding to +30° can be received by the detection units in the top row, but most of the echo signals corresponding to -30° are received by the detection units above the detection units in the bottom row, then it means that the position of the entire echo signal is biased upwards, and the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle of 0° is actually aligned with the detection unit in the center. The position of the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle of 0° is relatively It is above the center position of the detection array in the detector 1211, which means that the position of the light beam emitted by the light source component 1232 is above. In this case, the position of the light source component 1232 can be adjusted downward so that the position of the light beam emitted by the light source component 1232 moves downward after the adjustment, thereby driving the position of the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle of 0° to move downward, or the position of the detector 1211 can be adjusted upward so that the detector 1211 moves upward compared to the original echo signal position after the adjustment, so as to increase the probability that the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle is aligned on the central row of detection units.

[0211] It is understood that in the process of adjusting the position of the light source assembly 1232 or the detector 1211, the light source assembly 1232 or the detector 1211 can be manually moved to a position on the detection unit in the center of the brightest area of ​​the light spot, or the light source assembly 1232 or the detector 1211 can be moved by controlling the displacement device to a position aligned with the detection unit in the center of the area with the strongest echo signal intensity, or the position can be adjusted by other methods, which are not specifically limited. In addition, after realigning the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle and the detection unit in the center, the control unit 1221 can also work with the feedback unit 1222 to recalibrate the maximum scanning angle so that the transmitting and receiving fields of view can always remain aligned throughout the detection process.

[0212] The detection device shown in Figure 12 is used. The detector includes two parts: a detection unit and a monitoring unit. The detection unit is used to detect the effective window, such as outputting the intensity and time information of the echo signal to the signal processing unit for target detection, three-dimensional point cloud image analysis, etc. The monitoring unit is used to monitor the position state of the echo signal corresponding to the emitted light beam when the scanning component is at the maximum scanning angle, and feedback the control method corresponding to the position state to the control unit through the feedback unit to adaptively adjust the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component so that the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle can be aligned with the edge detection unit to complete the dynamic calibration of the maximum scanning angle, achieve high-precision alignment of the transmitting and receiving fields of view, and improve the detection performance of the detection device. In addition, this angle calibration scheme can achieve precise alignment of the transmitting and receiving fields of view by making some simple structural improvements to the detector and processing module, thereby also helping to reduce the difficulty of angle calibration and installation costs.

[0213] The above content introduces the implementation method of the angle calibration solution from the perspective of the detection device architecture. The following further explains the circuit implementation process of the angle calibration solution in combination with the specific circuit structure.

[0214] Please refer to Figure 16, which is a structural diagram of an angle calibration circuit provided in the present application. As shown in Figure 16, the circuit structure includes a detector 1211, a control unit 1221 and a feedback unit 1222, or may further include a signal processing unit 1223. Optionally, in addition to the aforementioned detection unit and monitoring unit, the detector 1211 may also include M first processing sub-units, N second processing sub-units and a third processing sub-unit, where M and N are positive integers. Among them, the M first processing sub-units correspond to the monitoring unit, the edge detection unit and the detection unit near the edge in the detector 1211, and the N second processing sub-units correspond to the detection units in the detector 1211, for example, corresponding to all the detection units in the detector 1211, or corresponding to the detection units in the detector 1211 except the detection units at and near the edge. As shown in Figure 16, the input end of any first processing sub-unit is connected to the corresponding monitoring unit or detection unit, and the output end is connected to the input end of the third processing sub-unit. The output end of the third processing sub-unit is connected to the feedback unit 1222. The input end of any second processing sub-unit is connected to the corresponding detection unit, and the output end is connected to the signal processing unit 1223.

[0215] In one possible implementation, a first processing subunit can correspond to a monitoring unit, or to a detection unit at the edge, or to a detection unit near the edge. In other words, each monitoring unit, each detection unit at the edge, and each detection unit near the edge can have its own corresponding first processing subunit, and be connected to its own corresponding first processing subunit. In this case, when any first processing subunit is operating, the first processing subunit can obtain information about the echo signal received by the corresponding monitoring unit or detection unit when determining that the scanning component has scanned to the maximum scanning angle, and can send it to the third processing subunit. Furthermore, the third processing subunit can, based on the information about the echo signals sent by each first processing subunit, integrate the information about the echo signals received by all monitoring units and all detection units at and near the edge, determine the strength of the echo signals received in each monitoring area, and then send the strength of the echo signals received in each monitoring area to the feedback unit 1222.

[0216] It can be understood that the monitoring area can be determined according to the specific scanning method. For example, in a row-by-row scanning scenario, a monitoring area can occupy a row of detection units or a row of monitoring units, and in a column-by-column scanning scenario, a monitoring area can occupy a column of detection units or a column of monitoring units. For example, assuming that the scanning component adopts a row-by-row scanning method and the monitoring unit is set at the upper edge of the detection unit, each monitoring unit and detection unit in the top row of detection units, the monitoring units above the top row of detection units, and the rows of detection units below the top row of detection units can correspond to a first processing sub-unit, and each first processing sub-unit can send the information of the echo signal and the identification of the corresponding monitoring unit (or detection unit) to the third processing sub-unit when it detects that the corresponding monitoring unit (or detection unit) receives an echo signal. Furthermore, the third processing sub-unit can determine the total strength of the echo signals received on the row of monitoring units (or detection units) based on the information of multiple echo signals sent by each first processing sub-unit and the identification of the corresponding monitoring unit (or detection unit), and then send the correspondence between the identification of the row of monitoring units (or detection units) and the total strength to the feedback unit 1222.

[0217] Further, optionally, referring to FIG. 16 , any first processing sub-unit may include a first time-to-digital converter (TDC), a first counter, and a first memory. The input of the first TDC is connected to the input of the first processing sub-unit, and the output of the first TDC is connected to the input of the first counter and the first memory, respectively. The output of the first counter is connected to the first memory, which is also connected to the output of the first processing sub-unit. When the monitoring unit (or detection unit) corresponding to the first processing sub-unit receives an echo signal, the first TDC in the first processing sub-circuit may record the time of arrival of the echo signal and send the time information to the first memory for storage, while simultaneously triggering the first counter to count. The first counter, in response to the trigger signal from the first TDC, increments the previously recorded photon count by 1 and sends the updated photon count to the first memory for synchronous updating.

[0218] According to the above method, the first memory of each first processing subunit can store the photon count and time information of the photon reception of the first processing subunit at the maximum scanning angle. The photon count corresponds to the intensity of the received echo signal. The greater the photon count, the greater the intensity of the received echo signal. Therefore, in one example, the third processing subunit can obtain the photon count of the echo signal received by the corresponding monitoring unit or detection unit from the first memory of each first processing subunit, and then, for each monitoring area, obtain the total photon count of the echo signal received by all monitoring units or detection units contained in the monitoring area. The identifier of each monitoring area and the corresponding total photon count are then sent to the feedback unit 1222, so that the feedback unit 1222 can determine the monitoring area with the highest intensity of the received echo signal based on the total photon count of the echo signal received by each monitoring area.

[0219] It should be noted that the structure of the first processing subunit shown in FIG16 is only an example. In other examples, considering that the intensity of the echo signal is basically unrelated to the time information of receiving the echo signal, the first processing subunit may not include the first TDC. After receiving the echo signal, the monitoring unit or the detection unit at the edge and nearby can directly trigger the first counter to perform counting processing. Alternatively, the first processing subunit includes the first TDC, but after detecting that the echo signal is received on the corresponding monitoring unit or detection unit, the first TDC can only trigger the first counter to perform counting processing without sending the time information to the first memory for storage. Alternatively, the first memory stores both the time information of receiving the echo signal and the photon count of the received echo signal. The photon count of the received echo signal is used to calibrate the maximum scanning angle, while the time information of receiving the echo signal can be used for statistical analysis, or can also be displayed to the user, or used to support other extended operations, etc.

[0220] In addition, the above implementation method takes the example of one first processing sub-unit corresponding to one monitoring unit, or corresponding to one detection unit, but it should be understood that one first processing unit can also correspond to multiple monitoring units, or multiple detection units at and near the edge. For example, taking the line-by-line scanning scene as an example, in another example, a first processing sub-unit can be set for each row of monitoring units, and a first processing sub-unit can be set for each row of detection units at and near the edge. In this way, any first processing sub-unit can directly count the information of the echo signal received on the corresponding row of monitoring units or detection units, and can directly send it to the feedback unit 1222 without the need to set up an additional third processing sub-unit. Using this example, it is possible to save power consumption caused by calibrating the maximum scanning angle by setting fewer first processing sub-units and third processing sub-units, save processing resources of the detector, and reduce communication loss and improve calibration efficiency by enabling the first processing sub-unit to communicate directly with the feedback unit.

[0221] In one possible implementation, referring to FIG. 16 , feedback unit 1222 may include a third memory and a comparator. The third memory is connected to the output of the third processing subunit and the input of the comparator, respectively. The output of the comparator is connected to control unit 1221. When feedback unit 1222 is operating, each time the third memory receives information about an echo signal corresponding to a monitoring area (e.g., the photon count of the received echo signal) from the third processing subunit, it stores the corresponding relationship between the monitoring area and the echo signal information. The comparator can retrieve the corresponding relationship between the monitoring area and the echo signal information stored over a period of time (e.g., the scanning period of the maximum scanning angle) from the third memory. By comparing the echo signal information of each monitoring area, the comparator determines the monitoring area with the highest echo signal strength and determines whether the monitoring area is the monitoring area where the edge detection unit is located. If not, the comparator sends a feedback signal to control unit 1221, instructing the control unit 1221 to adjust the maximum scanning angle based on the feedback signal.

[0222] Furthermore, optionally, the correspondence between the monitoring areas and the echo signal information can be stored in the third memory in any one or more forms, such as a table, a stack, a database, a graph, etc. Furthermore, after the scanning period at the maximum scanning angle ends, the third memory can automatically clear the previously stored correspondence to ensure that storage space in the third memory is always available.

[0223] Furthermore, optionally, the comparator can also be connected to the operation and maintenance unit. After determining that the monitoring area with the largest echo signal intensity is not the monitoring area where the edge detection unit is located, the comparator can also send an alarm signal to the operation and maintenance unit so that the operation and maintenance side can understand the details of this angle calibration.

[0224] In one possible implementation, a second processing subunit may correspond to one or more detection units. Any second processing subunit is connected to the corresponding one or more detection units, and the detection units corresponding to the N second processing subunits cover all detection units in the detector 1211. When any second processing subunit is operating, the second processing subunit may obtain relevant information about the echo signal received by the corresponding detection unit and send it to the signal processing unit 1223. The signal processing unit 1223 may perform target detection based on the information about the echo signals received by each detection unit sent by each second processing subunit.

[0225] Furthermore, optionally, to simplify the complexity of the circuit design on the detector 1211, multiple detection units on the detector can share a second processing subunit. In other words, one second processing subunit can correspond to multiple detection units. For example, in a row-by-row scanning scenario, since the scanning component uses a horizontal line beam for row-by-row scanning, each horizontal line beam should be focused on a row of detection units on the detector. Therefore, in one example, a second processing subunit can be provided for each column of detection units on the detector 1211. In this way, the information of the echo signals received on a column of detection units obtained by any second processing subunit can actually be understood as the information of the echo signals received on the detection units in the row of detection units on which the echo signals corresponding to the horizontal line beam are currently focused and the detection units in the column of detection units corresponding to the second processing subunit overlap. In this way, by referring to the information of the echo signals received on each column of detection units obtained by each second processing subunit, the information of the echo signals received on each detection unit in the row of detection units on which the echo signals corresponding to the horizontal line beam are currently focused can be determined. Target detection or point cloud construction can then be performed based on the information of the echo signals received on these detection units.

[0226] Further, optionally, referring to FIG. 16 , any second processing subunit may include a second time-determined circuit (TDC), a second counter, and a second memory. The input of the second TDC serves as the input of the second processing subunit, the output of the second TDC is connected to the input of the second counter and the second memory, respectively, the output of the second counter is connected to the second memory, and the second memory is further connected to the output of the second processing subunit. When the detection unit corresponding to the second processing subunit receives an echo signal, the second TDC in the second processing subcircuit can record the time of arrival of the echo signal and send this time information to the second memory for storage, while simultaneously triggering the second counter to count. The second counter increments the previously recorded photon count by 1 based on the trigger signal from the second TDC and sends the updated photon count to the second memory for synchronous updating. In this way, the second memory of each second processing subunit can store the photon count (which can be understood as intensity) and time information of the echo signal received by the corresponding detection unit.

[0227] Furthermore, optionally, the signal processing unit 1223 can obtain the photon count and time information of the received echo signal of each detection unit from the second memory of each second processing subunit, and determine the corresponding transmit and receive time interval of each detection unit by comparing the time information of the emitted light beam with the time information of the received echo signal on each detection unit. The distance to each point on the target can be determined based on the speed of light and the transmit and receive time interval corresponding to each detection unit, and then the distance and the photon count of each detection unit can be used to construct a three-dimensional point cloud image to complete target detection. Optionally, the signal processing unit 1223 can also send the result of the target detection to the control unit 1221 so that the control unit 1221 can decide on subsequent operations based on the result, such as planning the driving path, such as avoiding obstacles on the path to be traveled, and realizing automatic driving or assisted driving of the vehicle.

[0228] It should be noted that the above implementation is based on the example of setting corresponding second processing subunits for all detection units on the detector 1211. In this case, the first processing subunit, the third processing subunit, and the feedback circuit can be considered as redundant units set up separately for the edge and nearby detection units and monitoring units. The redundant units are specifically used to calibrate the maximum scanning angle. By separating the maximum scanning angle calibration process from the original detection process, the impact of the maximum scanning angle calibration on the original detection process is minimized. However, this is only one possible implementation. In another possible implementation, considering that the edge and nearby detection units have already been set up with corresponding first processing subunits, corresponding second processing subunits can also be set up only for detection units other than the edge and nearby detection units. In this case, the relevant information of the echo signals collected by the first processing subunits corresponding to the edge and nearby detection units needs to be sent to the signal processing unit 1223 to ensure that target detection is performed even when the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle, thereby improving the integrity of target detection.

[0229] In addition, the above content only introduces the circuit scheme required for calibrating the maximum scanning angle. In some scenarios, if the center scanning angle needs to be calibrated, a one-to-one corresponding first processing sub-unit can also be set for the detection units at the center position and its vicinity, so that the intensity of the echo signal received on each detection unit can be determined through the one-to-one corresponding first processing sub-unit, and then the center scanning angle can be adjusted based on the intensity.

[0230] The above mainly introduces the circuit structure of the detection device. The following is a further explanation of the entire process of using this circuit structure to achieve angle calibration, combined with Figures 12 and 16. In addition, for ease of understanding, the following uses the example of scanning a scene line by line and setting the monitoring unit at the upper edge of the detection unit. The entire angle calibration process mainly includes the following steps:

[0231] Step 1: When the scanning component 1231 is not scanning, the scanning component 1231 is at the center scanning angle, and a sufficiently large reflective object, such as a standard reflective plate or a white wall, is placed in the detection area;

[0232] Step 2: The control unit 1221 controls the middle rows of detection units on the detector 1211 to turn on, such as the middle row of detection units and 3 to 5 rows of detection units in the upper and lower directions, and controls the light source assembly 1232 to emit multiple pulse light beams, such as 100 first pulse light beams.

[0233] Step 3: Based on the distribution of the echo signals received on the detector 1211, determine the row of detection units on the detector 1211 with the largest echo signal strength. If the row of detection units is not the middle row of detection units, adjust the position of the light source assembly 1232 or the detector 1211 so that after the position adjustment, most of the echo signals corresponding to the central scanning angle are received by the middle row of detection units, thereby achieving accurate calibration of the central scanning angle.

[0234] Step 4: The control unit 1221 controls the driving electrical signal sent to the scanning component 1231 to control the scanning component 1231 to gradually increase the scanning angle from the center scanning angle in a bottom-to-top direction. When the scanning angle of the scanning component 1231 reaches the maximum scanning angle from the bottom-to-top direction, the control unit 1221 controls the top row of detection units on the detector 1211, several rows of detection units near the top row of detection units, and the monitoring units above the top row of detection units to turn on, and controls the light source component 1232 to emit multiple pulse light beams, for example, 100 second pulse light beams.

[0235] Optionally, the control unit 1221 may further configure an exposure time for the enabled monitoring unit and detection unit. For example, the exposure time may be configured to be the time required for the scanning component 1231 to complete a line scan, so that the enabled detection unit and monitoring unit receive echo signals during the same period of time as the scanning component 1231 scans, and terminate reception after the scanning component 1231 completes the scan. This allows the echo signals used to calibrate the maximum scanning angle to correspond to the maximum scanning angle, thereby improving the accuracy of the maximum scanning angle calibration. The exposure time may be configured, for example, in advance, according to an instruction, or automatically when a need is detected, etc., without further limitation.

[0236] Step 5: After being reflected and / or scattered by the target, the multiple pulsed light beams enter the receiving optical system 1212 and are then focused by the receiving optical system 1212 onto the detector 1211. When the top row of detection units, the detection units near the top row of detection units, or the monitoring units above the top row of detection units receive an echo signal, the first TDC in the corresponding first processing subunit records the time information of the echo signal's arrival and simultaneously triggers the first counter to record the number of times the detection unit or monitoring unit receives the echo signal within the exposure period. Furthermore, the first TDC and the first counter also send the recorded time information and number of times to the first memory for storage.

[0237] Step 6: The third processing subunit obtains the time information and the number of times the echo signal is received by each detection unit or monitoring unit from the first memory in each first processing subunit, processes this information, establishes a statistical histogram for each detection unit or each monitoring unit, and then integrates the relevant information of the detection units or monitoring units in the same row in the statistical histogram to obtain the intensity information, time information, and row identifier of the echo signal received by each row of detection units or each row of monitoring units, and sends this to the feedback unit 1222;

[0238] In step seven, the third memory in feedback unit 1222 stores information from the third processing subunit. Based on the information stored in the third memory, the comparator compares the strength information of the echo signals received by each row of detection units and each row of monitoring units to determine whether the row of detection units or monitoring units with the highest echo signal strength is the top row of detection units. If it is the top row of detection units, the maximum bottom-to-top scanning angle of scanning assembly 1231 is aligned with the top row of detection units on detector 1211, and no adjustment is required. If it is not the top row of detection units, the comparator can determine the positional relationship between the row of detection units or monitoring units with the highest echo signal strength and the top row of detection units based on the row identifier of the row of detection units or monitoring units with the highest echo signal strength and the row identifier of the top row of detection units. Based on this positional relationship, the comparator can then send a feedback signal to control unit 1221, instructing control unit 1221 how to adjust the maximum scanning angle of scanning assembly 1231. For example, when the row of detection units or monitoring units with the strongest echo signal strength is located above the monitoring units in the top row of detection units, the comparator may send a first feedback signal to the control unit 1221. The control unit 1221 reduces the driving electrical signal to the scanning component 1231 based on the first feedback signal, thereby reducing the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component 1231. For another example, when the row of detection units or monitoring units with the strongest echo signal strength is located below the top row of detection units, such as the second row of detection units or the third row of detection units, the comparator may send a second feedback signal to the control unit 1221. The control unit 1221 increases the driving electrical signal to the scanning component 1231 based on the second feedback signal, thereby increasing the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component 1231. Optionally, the comparator may also issue an alarm signal at the same time as sending the feedback signal.

[0239] It is understandable that the architecture shown in FIG12 or the circuit diagram shown in FIG16 does not constitute a specific limitation on the detection device. In other embodiments of the present application, the detection device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or split certain components, or arrange the components differently, or set the functions of the components differently. The components shown in the figure may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware. For example, in another example, the detection device may also include a window, which is used to isolate the influence of the external environment on the detection system. Alternatively, in another example, the feedback unit 1222 may also be integrated into one component with the control unit 1221 or the signal processing unit 1223. Alternatively, in another example, the feedback unit 1222 may also directly send the identifier of the area with the largest echo signal intensity to the control unit 1221, and the control unit 1221 may determine the positional relationship between the area with the largest echo signal intensity and the area where the edge detection unit is located based on the identifier of the area with the largest echo signal intensity, and then determine how to adjust the maximum scanning angle.

[0240] In addition, this application does not limit the timing of scanning angle (including center scanning angle and / or maximum scanning angle) calibration. For example, the scanning angle calibration scheme can be performed during the pre-factory installation of the detection device, or during the post-factory application process, or it can be performed online, such as after receiving an instruction from the user, or at each startup, or periodically, or after receiving an instruction from the cloud, etc.

[0241] Furthermore, the present application can also calibrate any scanning angle except the central scanning angle in a similar manner, without being limited to the maximum scanning angle. The specific execution process is similar to the above scheme, and the present application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0242] Based on the structure and functional principles of the detection device described above, the present application may also provide a control method, which may be executed by a processing module, such as the processing module 1220 described above. Referring to FIG. 17 , the control method may include the following steps:

[0243] Step 1701: Determine that the scanning component scans to a maximum scanning angle, and obtain information of echo signals received by the monitoring unit and the detection unit.

[0244] Exemplarily, the processing module may calibrate the center scanning angle before determining that the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle. Specifically, the processing module may turn on the detection units at the center position and nearby when the scanning component is at the center scanning angle, and then adjust the position of the light source component or the detector according to the position of the echo signal focused on the detection units at the center position and nearby, so that the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle after the position is adjusted is received by the detection unit at the center position, thereby realizing accurate calibration of the center scanning angle.

[0245] For example, before obtaining the information of the echo signals received on the monitoring unit and the detection unit, the processing module can also control the scanning component to scan to the maximum scanning angle, control the light source component to emit multiple pulse beams, and control the monitoring unit, the edge detection unit and the detection unit near the edge to start working, so as to make the prerequisite preparations for calibrating the maximum scanning angle.

[0246] Further illustratively, the maximum scanning angle may include a maximum scanning angle in a first direction and / or a maximum scanning angle in a second direction. When the scanning component is controlled to scan to the maximum scanning angle in the first direction, the processing module may control the monitoring unit of the first edge, the detection unit of the first edge, and the detection unit near the first edge to start working. When the scanning component is controlled to scan to the maximum scanning angle in the second direction, the processing module may control the monitoring unit of the second edge, the detection unit of the second edge, and the detection unit near the second edge to start working. The first edge is the edge in the direction of the detection unit where the echo signal corresponding to the light beam reflected by the scanning component at the maximum scanning angle in the first direction is focused, and the second edge is the edge in the direction of the detection unit where the echo signal corresponding to the light beam reflected by the scanning component at the maximum scanning angle in the second direction is focused.

[0247] Step 1702 : Based on the information of the echo signal, determine whether the area with the maximum echo signal intensity is the area where the edge detection unit is located. If so, execute step 1703 ; if not, execute step 1704 .

[0248] Exemplarily, when the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle in the first direction, the processing module determines whether the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit of the first edge is located based on the information of the echo signal. When the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle in the second direction, the processing module determines whether the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit of the second edge is located based on the information of the echo signal.

[0249] Step 1703: no processing.

[0250] Step 1704: Adjust the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component.

[0251] Exemplarily, the processing module can determine the positional relationship between the area with the largest echo signal intensity and the area where the detection unit at the edge is located. If the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the monitoring unit is located, the maximum scanning angle is reduced; if the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit near the edge is located, the maximum scanning angle is increased.

[0252] Further exemplarily, the processing module can adjust the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component by adjusting the driving electrical signal sent to the scanning component, such as by increasing the driving electrical signal sent to the scanning component to increase the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component, or by decreasing the driving electrical signal sent to the scanning component to decrease the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component.

[0253] Further exemplarily, when the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle in the first direction, if it is determined that the area with the largest echo signal intensity is not the area where the detection unit of the first edge is located, or, when the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle in the second direction, if it is determined that the area with the largest echo signal intensity is not the area where the detection unit of the second edge is located, then the processing module can synchronously adjust the maximum scanning angle in the first direction and the maximum scanning angle in the second direction, such as synchronously increasing the maximum scanning angle in the first direction and the second direction in the above manner, or synchronously decreasing the maximum scanning angle in the first direction and the second direction in the above manner, so as to quickly align the transmitting and receiving fields of view in two directions through one adjustment.

[0254] Further exemplarily, if when the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle of the first direction, the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit of the first edge is located, but when the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle of the second direction, the area with the largest echo signal intensity is not the area where the detection unit of the second edge is located, or, when the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle of the first direction, the area with the largest echo signal intensity is not the area where the detection unit of the first edge is located, but when the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle of the second direction, the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit of the second edge is located, then the processing module can also adjust the position of the light source component or the detector to perform calibration when the echo signal corresponding to the center scanning angle deviates from the detection unit at the central position, thereby realizing recalibration of the center scanning angle.

[0255] It should be noted that, for the specific implementation process of the above control method, reference may be made to the relevant contents of any embodiment in Figures 12, 13, 14a to 14c, 15 and 16, which will not be repeated here.

[0256] Based on the foregoing, this application also provides a detection device. Please refer to Figure 18 for a schematic diagram of the structure of another detection device provided herein. This detection device includes a transmitting module 1810. Transmitting module 1810 can be any of the transmitting modules described in the aforementioned implementation scheme 1, such as any of the transmitting modules described in Figures 4, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, and 7.

[0257] In a possible implementation, please continue to refer to FIG. 18 , the detection device may further include a receiving module 1820 , which is configured to receive an echo signal reflected and / or scattered from a target and convert the echo signal into an electrical signal.

[0258] Optionally, please continue to refer to Figure 18. The receiving module 1820 may include a receiving optical system 1821 and a detector 1822. The receiving optical system 1821 is used to receive echo signals reflected and / or scattered from the target and focus the echo signals to the detector 1822; the detector 1822 is used to convert the received echo signals into electrical signals.

[0259] In a further possible implementation, the detection device may further include a signal processing unit 1830, which is configured to determine target-related information based on the electrical signal from the receiving module 1820. For example, the signal processing unit 1830 may perform target location analysis based on the electrical signal from the receiving module 1820 to form a three-dimensional (3D) point cloud image, thereby enabling 3D ranging imaging or 3D modeling of the target.

[0260] Exemplarily, the signal processing unit 1830 may be a general-purpose processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processing (DSP) circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or other programmable logic devices.

[0261] In a further possible implementation, referring to FIG. 18 , the detection device may further include a control unit 1840 configured to control the detection device to detect the detection area. Alternatively, the control unit 1840 may be further configured to plan a driving path based on the determined target association information, such as to avoid obstacles on the path to be traveled or to achieve autonomous driving of the vehicle.

[0262] In a possible implementation, the detection device may further include a window (not shown in the figure), which is used to isolate the detection system from the influence of the external environment.

[0263] It is understandable that using the detection device shown in Figure 18, an angle expansion component can be introduced into a single transmitting module, and the angle expansion component can be used to deflect the output beam of the one-dimensional scanning component in a one-dimensional scanning direction, thereby obtaining an output beam with a larger diffusion angle than the output beam of the one-dimensional scanning component, thereby increasing the transmission field of view of the detection device. It should be understood that the figure only uses the detection device including a single transmitting module as an example. In another example, the detection device can also include multiple transmitting modules to further increase the transmission field of view. Alternatively, in some other examples, the detection device can also include multiple receiving modules to increase the receiving field of view.

[0264] In addition, the detection device architecture shown in FIG18 does not constitute a specific limitation on the detection device. In other embodiments of the present application, the detection device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine or split certain components, or have different component arrangements or different component functional settings. The components shown in the figure may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0265] Based on the foregoing, the present application further provides a detection device. Please refer to Figure 19 for a schematic diagram of the structure of another detection device provided in the present application. The detection device includes a transmitting module 1910 and a receiving module 1920. Transmitting module 1910 can be any transmitting module described in the aforementioned implementation scheme 1, such as any transmitting module in Figures 4, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, and 7. Receiving module 1920 can be any receiving module described in the aforementioned implementation scheme 2, such as receiving module 1100 in Figure 11 or receiving module 1210 in Figure 12.

[0266] In a possible implementation, please continue to refer to FIG. 19 , the detection device may further include a processing module 1930 , which may be any processing module introduced in the aforementioned implementation scheme 2, such as the processing module 1220 in FIG. 12 .

[0267] For example, please refer to Figure 7 and Figure 19 together. Figure 7 can be understood as an appearance diagram of the detection device shown in Figure 19. The light source component 430, the shaping component 440, the one-dimensional scanning component 410 and the angle expansion component 420 shown in Figure 7 jointly constitute the transmitting module 1910 in the detection device shown in Figure 19. The detector 510 and the receiving optical system 520 shown in Figure 7 jointly constitute the receiving module 1920 in the detection device shown in Figure 19. The processing module 600 shown in Figure 7 is the processing module 1930 in the detection device shown in Figure 19.

[0268] It can be understood that the detection device shown in Figure 19 can achieve a large transmission field of view without the need for multiple modules, reducing the complexity of the transmission optical system, reducing the size and cost of the detection device, and achieving high-precision calibration of the scanning angle, reducing the difficulty of dynamic scanning angle calibration, and improving the alignment accuracy of the transmitting and receiving fields of view. In addition, for the relevant content of the transmitting module, receiving module, and processing module, please refer to the introduction of the above-mentioned implementation plan 1 and implementation plan 2, and will not be repeated here.

[0269] Based on the structure and functional principle of the detection device described above, the present application may further provide a terminal device, which may include the detection device in any of the above embodiments.

[0270] Exemplarily, the terminal device can be a vehicle (such as an unmanned vehicle, a smart vehicle, an electric vehicle, or a digital vehicle, etc.), a robot, a surveying and mapping device, a drone, a smart home device (such as a television, a sweeping robot, a smart desk lamp, an audio system, a smart lighting system, an electrical control system, home background music, a home theater system, an intercom system, or video surveillance, etc.), an intelligent manufacturing equipment (such as industrial equipment), an intelligent transportation equipment (such as an AGV, an unmanned transport vehicle, or a truck, etc.), or an intelligent terminal (a mobile phone, a computer, a tablet computer, a PDA, a desktop computer, headphones, audio, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, virtual reality devices, augmented reality devices, etc.), etc.

[0271] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can mean: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, c can be single or multiple. In the text description of this application, the character " / " generally indicates that the related objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. In the formula of this application, the character " / " indicates that the related objects before and after are in a "divided" relationship. In addition, in this application, the word "exemplarily" is used to indicate an example, illustration or description. Any embodiment or design described as an "example" in this application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Alternatively, it can be understood that the use of the word "example" is intended to present concepts in a specific way and does not limit this application.

[0272] It will be appreciated that the various numerical numbers involved in this application are merely for the purpose of describing the distinctions made, and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not imply the order of execution, and the order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic. Terms such as "first", "second", and similar expressions are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any of their variations are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, comprising a series of steps or units. Methods, systems, products, or devices are not necessarily limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or that are inherent to these processes, methods, products, or devices.

Claims

1. A transmitting module, characterized in that: It includes a one-dimensional scanning component and an angle expansion component; The one-dimensional scanning component is used to reflect the line light beam to different directions at different scanning angles; The angle expansion component is used to deflect the direction of the light beam from the one-dimensional scanning component; Wherein, the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the angle expansion component is greater than the diffusion angle of the light beam emitted by the one-dimensional scanning component.

2. The transmitting module according to claim 1, characterized in that: The angle expansion component is a lens, a lens group, a metamaterial or a liquid crystal.

3. The transmitting module according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The emission module also includes a light source component and a shaping component; The light source assembly is used to emit a light beam; The shaping component is used to shape the light beam from the light source component into the line light beam.

4. The transmitting module according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The one-dimensional scanning component is a micro-electromechanical system MEMS scanning mirror.

5. The transmitting module according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The light beam from the one-dimensional scanning component includes a light beam obtained by scanning a line beam at different times.

6. A detector, characterized in that: It comprises a detection array and a monitoring array, wherein the monitoring array is arranged adjacent to the detection array, the detection array comprises a plurality of detection units, and the monitoring array comprises one or more monitoring units; Any of the detection units is used to receive the echo signal and transmit the echo signal to the signal processing unit for target detection; Any of the monitoring units is used to monitor a received signal, and the received signal is used to adjust a scanning angle.

7. The detector according to claim 6, characterized in that The monitoring array is arranged at one or more edges of the detection array corresponding to the scanning direction.

8. A receiving module, characterized in that: Comprising a detector as claimed in claim 6 or 7.

9. The receiving module according to claim 8, characterized in that: Also includes a receiving optical system; The receiving optical system is used to focus the echo signal from the target onto the detector.

10. A detection device, characterized in that: Comprising the receiving module as described in claim 8 or 9.

11. The detection device according to claim 10, characterized in that The detection device also includes a transmitting module as described in any one of claims 1 to 5.

12. The detection device according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that: The detection device also includes a feedback unit and a control unit; The feedback unit is used to determine that the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle, then obtain the information of the echo signal received on the detection unit and the information of the echo signal received on the monitoring unit, and send a feedback signal to the control unit if it is determined that the area with the maximum echo signal intensity is not the area where the edge detection unit is located according to the information of the echo signal; The control unit is used to adjust the maximum scanning angle of the scanning component according to the feedback signal, so that the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle is received by the detection unit of the edge.

13. The detection device according to claim 12, characterized in that The feedback unit is specifically configured to: if it is determined that the area with the maximum echo signal strength is the area where the monitoring unit is located, send a first feedback signal to the control unit; The control unit is specifically configured to reduce the maximum scanning angle according to the first feedback signal.

14. The detection device according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that: The feedback unit is specifically configured to: if it is determined that the area with the maximum echo signal strength is the area where the detection unit near the edge is located, send a second feedback signal to the control unit; The control unit is specifically configured to increase the maximum scanning angle according to the second feedback signal.

15. The detection device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that Before the feedback unit acquires information of the echo signal received by the detection unit and information of the echo signal received by the monitoring unit, the control unit is further used to: Control the scanning component to scan to the maximum scanning angle in the first direction, control the monitoring unit of the first edge, the first edge and the detection unit nearby to start working, the first edge is the echo signal corresponding to the light beam emitted by the scanning component at the maximum scanning angle in the first direction focused to the edge in the detector direction.

16. The detection device according to claim 15, characterized in that The control unit is also used for: The light source assembly is controlled to emit a plurality of pulse light beams.

17. The detection device according to any one of claims 12 to 16, characterized in that The control unit is specifically used for: According to the feedback signal, the maximum scanning angles in a first direction and a second direction are adjusted, wherein the first direction and the second direction are opposite directions.

18. The detection device according to any one of claims 12 to 17, characterized in that The control unit is also used for: When the scanning assembly is at a central scanning angle, turning on the detection unit at the central position and nearby positions; Based on the information of the echo signals received on the detection units at the central position and nearby positions, if it is determined that the area with the largest echo signal intensity is not the area where the detection unit at the central position is located, the position of the light source assembly or the detector is adjusted so that the echo signal corresponding to the central scanning angle is received by the detection unit at the central position.

19. The detection device according to any one of claims 12 to 18, characterized in that When only one of the following conditions 1 and 2 is met, the position of the light source assembly or the detector is adjusted: Condition 1: the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle in the first direction, the area with the maximum echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit of the first edge is located, and the first edge is the edge in the detector direction where the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle in the first direction is focused; Condition two, the scanning component scans to the maximum scanning angle in the second direction, the area with the largest echo signal intensity is the area where the detection unit of the second edge is located, and the second edge is the edge in the detector direction where the echo signal corresponding to the maximum scanning angle in the second direction is focused.

20. The detection device according to any one of claims 12 to 19, characterized in that The scanning component adopts a line-by-line scanning mode, and one area includes one or more rows of detection units or one or more rows of monitoring units on the detector; or, The scanning component adopts a column-by-column scanning method, and one area includes one or more columns of detection units or one or more rows of monitoring units on the detector.

21. A terminal device, characterized in that: Comprising a detection device as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 20.

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