Integrated sensor and movable platform

By integrating binocular vision cameras and lidar into intelligent driving sensors, the problems of scattered sensor layout and inconsistent field of view are solved, achieving high-precision data comprehensive analysis and cost reduction.

WO2025213362A1PCT designated stage Publication Date: 2025-10-16SZ ZHUOYU TECH CO LTD

Patent Information

Application Number
PCT/CN2024/086838
Authority / Receiving Office
WO · WO
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2024-04-09
Publication Date
2025-10-16

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

In existing intelligent driving vehicles, single sensors obtain single data, and the layout of multiple sensors is scattered and the field of view is not unified, which makes it difficult to comprehensively analyze the data and cannot meet the high requirements of intelligent driving.

Method used

Design an integrated sensor that integrates a binocular vision camera and a lidar, performs comprehensive data analysis through a control circuit board, and uses flexible circuit boards and shielding covers to connect components to ensure data alignment and accurate perception.

Benefits of technology

It achieves unified sensor layout, improves data perception accuracy and comprehensive analysis capabilities, reduces costs, and meets the high requirements of intelligent driving.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

Smart Images

  • Figure CN2024086838_16102025_PF_FP_ABST
    Figure CN2024086838_16102025_PF_FP_ABST
Patent Text Reader

Abstract

An integrated sensor, comprising a housing having a cavity formed therein; a control circuit board provided in the cavity; and a binocular vision camera arranged on the housing and provided with a left eye camera and a right eye camera that are electrically connected to the control circuit board; a lidar electrically connected to the control circuit board, wherein an optical window of the lidar is provided on the housing and a ranging module of the lidar is arranged in the cavity, said ranging module being used for transmitting and receiving a laser beam, wherein the laser beam is emitted through and returns through the optical window. The integrated sensor provided in the present application can be mounted outside or inside a vehicle, thus overcoming the defects of disorderly sensor layout and non-uniform field of view. The binocular vision camera provides the vehicle with visual image information of the surrounding environment, the lidar provides the vehicle with three-dimensional point cloud data, and the control circuit board comprehensively analyzes the visual image information and the three-dimensional point cloud data, all for the purpose of meeting the ever-growing requirements of intelligent driving.
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Description

Integrated sensor and movable platform TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of intelligent driving, and in particular to an integrated sensor and a movable platform using the same. BACKGROUND

[0002] At present, intelligent driving vehicles perceive the surrounding environment by installing various sensors, and then analyze the acquired information through the vehicle-mounted control system to make appropriate decisions, so as to realize intelligent driving of the vehicle. Common vehicle-mounted sensors include visual cameras, laser radars, millimeter wave radars, ultrasonic radars, etc.

[0003] The defect of the visual camera is that it is greatly affected by the environment, and the light conditions (too strong or too weak) and weather conditions (fog, rain, snow) will affect the clarity of the acquired image, and it cannot directly measure the distance, which needs to be estimated by algorithm (not accurate or reliable). Processing high-resolution image data usually requires strong computing power.

[0004] The defect of the laser radar is that the cost is high (usually more expensive than the visual camera), although it can measure the distance, but it has limitations in perceiving the texture and color of the object surface, and the three-dimensional point cloud data generated needs to be processed by complex algorithm to identify useful information.

[0005] Some existing intelligent driving vehicles only have a single sensor (for example, a visual camera or a laser radar), which leads to that the data acquired by the intelligent driving vehicle through the sensor is relatively single, and cannot meet the increasingly improved needs of intelligent driving. Another part of the intelligent driving vehicles has multiple sensors, but the sensor layout is relatively scattered (for example, some sensors are arranged on the roof and reflector outside the vehicle, and some are arranged on the front and rear windshields inside the vehicle), which may lead to that the fields of view of the sensors are not uniform, and the data acquired by each sensor is difficult to comprehensively analyze.

[0006] SUMMARY

[0007] In view of the problems in the background art, the present application provides an integrated sensor, comprising:

[0008] a shell having a cavity formed therein;

[0009] a control circuit board arranged in the cavity;

[0010] a binocular visual camera arranged on the shell, the binocular visual camera having a left eye camera and a right eye camera electrically connected with the control circuit board;

[0011] A laser radar electrically connected with the control circuit board, a light window of the laser radar is arranged on the shell, a ranging module of the laser radar is arranged in the cavity, the ranging module is used for emitting and receiving laser beams, and the laser beams are emitted and returned through the light window.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present application, the binocular vision camera and the ranging module have the same scanning mode of photosensitive chips, so that the image acquired by the binocular vision camera and the three-dimensional point cloud data acquired by the laser radar can be pixel-level aligned.

[0013] In some embodiments of the present application, the integrated sensor includes a long-distance vision camera arranged on the shell and electrically connected with the control circuit board.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present application, the binocular vision camera, the light window of the laser radar and the long-distance vision camera are directed to the front side of the shell; the control circuit board is electrically connected with a power supply interface and a communication interface, and the power supply interface and the communication interface are partially exposed outside the shell.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present application, the binocular vision camera, the light window of the laser radar, the long-distance vision camera, the power supply interface and the communication interface are all arranged with a sealing member or filled with sealant on the contact surface of the shell.

[0016] In some embodiments of the present application, the shell has an upper shell and a lower shell connected with each other, the lower shell and the upper shell cover to form the cavity, and a sealing member is arranged or sealant is filled between the upper shell and the lower shell.

[0017] In some embodiments of the present application, the surfaces of the upper shell and the lower shell are provided with heat dissipation fins.

[0018] In some embodiments of the present application, the binocular vision camera, the laser radar and the long-distance vision camera are all connected with the control circuit board through a flexible circuit board, and the flexible circuit board is pasted on the control circuit board or in the cavity of the shell.

[0019] In some embodiments of the present application, at least one pressing sheet is arranged on the control circuit board or in the cavity of the shell; the binocular vision camera, the laser radar and the long-distance vision camera are all connected with the control circuit board through a flexible circuit board, and the flexible circuit board is pressed on the control circuit board or in the cavity of the shell.

[0020] In some embodiments of the present application, the integrated sensor includes an inertial sensor arranged in the cavity and electrically connected with the control circuit board.

[0021] In some embodiments of the present application, the control circuit board is arranged in a stack with the lidar, and the control circuit board is covered with a shielding cover on at least a partial region corresponding to the lidar for preventing the laser emitted by the ranging module from being reflected by the control circuit board to form stray light.

[0022] In some embodiments of the present application, a support frame is arranged on the control circuit board, the support frame has a gap with the edge of the control circuit board, the shielding cover is connected with the support frame, and the shielding cover extends to the edge of the control circuit board.

[0023] In some embodiments of the present application, the bottom of the light window is located more forward than the top, so that the light window is arranged in an inclined manner in the vertical direction.

[0024] In some embodiments of the present application, the inclination angle of the light window is 3°-65°.

[0025] In some embodiments of the present application, the ranging module comprises: a light source board for emitting a laser beam; a collimating mirror for collimating the laser beam; a diffusion plate for diffusing the collimated laser beam in the vertical direction; and a prism for converging the diffused laser beam in the vertical direction to reduce the light exit aperture of the lidar.

[0026] In some embodiments of the present application, the ranging module comprises: a light source board for emitting a laser beam; a cylindrical lens and a prism, or a combination lens of a prism and a cylindrical surface, for collimating and converging the laser beam in the vertical direction to reduce the light exit aperture of the lidar.

[0027] In some embodiments of the present application, the light source board is a dot matrix light source, and the control circuit board controls a part of the dot matrix light source to be turned off, so that the lower left and right corners of the rectangular laser scanning surface emitted through the light window are chamfered.

[0028] In addition, the present application also provides an integrated sensor comprising any one of the integrated sensors described above.

[0029] The integrated sensor provided by the present application can be installed outside the vehicle (for example, on the roof of the vehicle) or inside the vehicle (for example, on the front windshield and / or rear windshield), thereby overcoming the defects of scattered sensor layout and non-uniform field of view of each sensor. At the same time, the binocular vision camera can provide visual image information of the surrounding environment for the vehicle, and the lidar can provide three-dimensional point cloud data for the vehicle, and the control circuit board comprehensively analyzes the visual image information and the three-dimensional point cloud data to meet the increasingly high demand for intelligent driving. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0030] Fig. 1 is a front view of an integrated sensor according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] Fig. 2 is a rear view of the integrated sensor shown in Fig. 1;

[0032] Fig. 3 is a view of the internal structure of the integrated sensor shown in Fig. 1 (with the upper case removed);

[0033] Fig. 4 is a view of the internal structure of the integrated sensor shown in Fig. 3 (with the control circuit board removed);

[0034] Fig. 5 is a view of the structure of the control circuit board of the integrated sensor;

[0035] Fig. 6 is a view of the structure of the control circuit board shown in Fig. 5 (with the shield removed);

[0036] Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of a portion of the control circuit board shown in Fig. 5;

[0037] Fig. 8 is a side view of the integrated sensor shown in Fig. 1;

[0038] Fig. 9 is a view of the incidence and reflection of laser light at the light window of a laser radar;

[0039] Fig. 10 is a view of the installation position of a sunshade in the cab of a vehicle;

[0040] Fig. 11 is a view of the structure of an integrated sensor with a sunshade;

[0041] Fig. 12 is a view of the structure of the emission end of a ranging module of a conventional laser radar;

[0042] Fig. 13 is a view of the structure of the emission end of a ranging module of a laser radar according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Fig. 14 is a view of the structure of the emission end of a ranging module of a laser radar according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Fig. 15 is a rectangular dot matrix light source possessed by a conventional laser radar;

[0045] Fig. 16 is a view of the formation of a rectangular scanning plane directly in front of the light window of the laser radar shown in Fig. 15;

[0046] Fig. 17 is a dot matrix light source with a chamfered rectangle possessed by a laser radar according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Fig. 18 is a view of the formation of a chamfered rectangular scanning plane directly in front of the light window of the laser radar shown in Fig. 17.

[0048] Explanation of reference signs: integrated sensor 100; housing 10; upper housing 11; lower housing 12; pressing sheet 13; control circuit board 20; power supply interface 21; communication interface 22; shielding cover 23; mounting buckle 23a; flange 23b; support frame 24; binocular vision camera 30; left eye camera 31; flexible circuit board 31a; right eye camera 32; flexible circuit board 32a; laser radar 40; light window 41; ranging module 42; flexible circuit board 42a; flexible circuit board 42b; light source board 42c; collimating mirror 42d; diffusion plate 42e; prism 42f; cylindrical lens 42g; rotating mirror module 43; flexible circuit board 43a; long-distance vision camera 50; flexible circuit board 50a; inertial sensor 60; light shield 70. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are some but not all of the embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art without creative work fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0050] The present application provides an integrated sensor 100, which is mainly applied to a movable platform, such as a vehicle, a drone, a robot, etc. The following will be described in detail with the integrated sensor 100 applied to a vehicle with intelligent driving function as an example.

[0051] As shown in FIGS. 1-4, the present application provides an integrated sensor 100, which mainly includes a housing 10, a control circuit board 20, a binocular vision camera 30, and a laser radar 40. The housing 10 has a cavity formed therein, and the control circuit board 20 is arranged in the cavity. The binocular vision camera 30 is arranged on the housing 10, and the binocular vision camera 30 has a left eye camera 31 and a right eye camera 32 electrically connected with the control circuit board 20. The laser radar 40 is electrically connected with the control circuit board 20, the light window 41 of the laser radar 40 is arranged on the housing 10, the ranging module 42 of the laser radar 40 is arranged in the cavity, the ranging module 42 is used for emitting and receiving laser beams, and the laser beams are emitted and returned through the light window 41.

[0052] In the embodiments of the present application, the binocular vision camera 30 is composed of a left-eye camera 31 and a right-eye camera 32. The principle of binocular vision is to obtain the parallax of each pixel point through left and right images, and then reconstruct three-dimensional information based on the principle of triangulation, so as to identify obstacles. The ranging principle is similar to that of human eyes. The field of view of the binocular vision camera 30 is generally wide, which is convenient for detecting the surrounding environment. The laser radar 40 generally measures the distance of the measured target by calculating the time difference between the emission and reception of electromagnetic waves. In order to match the image of the binocular vision camera 30, the field of view of the laser radar 40 is generally consistent with that of the binocular vision camera 30, so as to facilitate data comparison.

[0053] In one embodiment, the light window 41 of the laser radar 40 is arranged between the left-eye camera 31 and the right-eye camera 32, and is on the same horizontal line as the left-eye camera 31 and the right-eye camera 32. In other embodiments, the light window 41 of the laser radar 40 can also be arranged on the left side of the left-eye camera 31, or on the right side of the right-eye camera 32, or on the upper side or lower side of the binocular camera.

[0054] Those skilled in the art should understand that the integrated sensor 100 can be installed outside the vehicle (for example, on the roof of the vehicle), or inside the vehicle (for example, on the front windshield and / or rear windshield), so as to overcome the defects of scattered sensor layout and non-uniform field of view of each sensor. At the same time, the binocular vision camera 30 can provide visual image information of the surrounding environment for the vehicle, and the laser radar 40 can provide three-dimensional point cloud data for the vehicle. The control circuit board 20 comprehensively analyzes the visual image information and the three-dimensional point cloud data to meet the increasing demand for intelligent driving.

[0055] Further, the receiving end of the binocular vision camera 30 and the ranging module 42 have photosensitive chips with the same scanning mode, so that the image obtained by the binocular vision camera 30 and the three-dimensional point cloud data obtained by the laser radar 40 can be pixel-level aligned.

[0056] In the embodiments of the present application, the binocular vision camera 30 has a photosensitive chip with column scanning mode, and the receiving end of the ranging module 42 also has a photosensitive chip with column scanning mode. In other embodiments, they can also use photosensitive chips with row scanning, point scanning, and surface scanning.

[0057] Those skilled in the art should understand that, first, the control circuit board 20 can be pre-provided with a synchronization algorithm for synchronizing the visual image and the three-dimensional point cloud data (for example, by algorithm, the binocular visual camera 30 and the ranging module 42 are controlled to synchronously emit / receive the same column), and through the algorithm synchronization, the image acquired by the binocular visual camera 30 and the three-dimensional point cloud data acquired by the laser radar 40 can be pixel-level aligned, and the perception accuracy is greatly improved. Second, the laser radar 40 can also be used as a safety redundancy of the binocular visual camera 30, and the performance requirement of the laser radar 40 can be appropriately reduced, and the range and the field of view angle of the laser radar 40 can cover the range and the field of view angle of the binocular visual camera 30, and compared with the laser radar 40 working independently, the cost of a single piece can be reduced.

[0058] Further, the integrated sensor 100 comprises a long-distance visual camera 50 arranged on the shell 10 and electrically connected with the control circuit board 20.

[0059] In one embodiment, the long-distance visual camera 50 is arranged between the light window 41 and the right eye camera 32, and is in the same horizontal line with the left eye camera 31 and the right eye camera 32, and generally has a narrow field of view angle, and is mainly used to detect distant objects (for example, traffic lights, road sign information, etc.).

[0060] In other embodiments, the long-distance visual camera 50 can also be arranged between the light window 41 and the left eye camera 31, or more left of the left eye camera 31, or more right of the right eye camera 32. In addition, the long-distance visual camera 50 can also be higher or lower than the horizontal line where the left eye camera 31 and the right eye camera 32 are located.

[0061] Further, the binocular visual camera 30, the light window 41 of the laser radar 40 and the long-distance visual camera 50 are towards the front side of the shell 10, and the control circuit board 20 is electrically connected with a power supply interface 21 and a communication interface 22 (for example, adopting an SMT patch process), and the power supply interface 21 and the communication interface 22 are partially exposed outside the shell 10.

[0062] In the embodiment of the present application, the power supply interface 21 and the communication interface 22 are outwardly extended from the rear side of the shell 10, so as to avoid that the power supply cable and the communication cable connected with the corresponding interfaces shield the binocular visual camera 30, the light window 41 of the laser radar 40 and the long-distance visual camera 50 on the front side of the shell 10.

[0063] In other embodiments, the power supply interface 21 and the communication interface 22 can also be extended from the left side, the right side, the upper side or the lower side of the housing 10 according to the extension direction (cabling direction) of the power supply cable and the communication cable, or the power supply interface 21 and the communication interface 22 can also be partially built-in in the housing 10 and only partially exposed outside the housing 10 (for example, only the interface end face is exposed at the opening provided on the housing 10). As long as the binocular vision camera 30, the light window 41 of the laser radar 40 and the long-distance vision camera 50 are not blocked after the power supply cable and the communication cable are connected, it is feasible.

[0064] Further, the contact surfaces of the binocular vision camera 30, the light window 41 of the laser radar, the long-distance vision camera 50, the power supply interface 21 and the communication interface 22 are provided with sealing members or filled with sealant.

[0065] Further, the housing 10 has an upper housing 11 and a lower housing 12 which are fixedly connected with each other by screws, and the upper housing 11 and the lower housing 12 are closed to form a cavity, and a sealing member is provided or sealant is filled between the upper housing 11 and the lower housing 12. In one embodiment, the control circuit board 20, the binocular vision camera 30, the laser radar 40 and the long-distance vision camera 50 are all fastened on the lower housing 12 by screws. In other embodiments, the control circuit board 20, the binocular vision camera 30, the laser radar 40 and the long-distance vision camera 50 are all fastened on the upper housing 11 by screws; or the control circuit board 20, the binocular vision camera 30, the laser radar 40 and the long-distance vision camera 50 are partially fastened on the upper housing 11 and partially fastened on the lower housing 12.

[0066] Those skilled in the art should understand that, first, the binocular vision camera 30, the laser radar 40 and the long-distance vision camera 50 are all mounted on the lower housing 12, and the relative dimensional accuracy between them is very high, which can effectively ensure that the picture information obtained by the binocular vision camera 30 is accurately aligned with the three-dimensional point cloud information obtained by the laser radar 40, thereby improving the sensing accuracy of the entire integrated sensor 100. Second, the contact surfaces (mounting surfaces) of the binocular vision camera 30, the light window 41 of the laser radar, the long-distance vision camera 50, the power supply interface 21 and the communication interface 22 and the contact surfaces (mounting surfaces) of the upper housing 11 and the lower housing 12 are provided with sealing members (for example, sealing rings) or filled with sealant, thereby ensuring that the cavity of the integrated sensor 100 is waterproof and dustproof.

[0067] Further, the surfaces of the upper housing 11 and the lower housing 12 are provided with heat dissipation fins 11a and 12a.

[0068] In the embodiment of the present application, the heat sink 11a is arranged on the upper surface of the upper housing 11 and close to the control circuit board 20. The heat sink 12a is arranged on the rear surface of the lower housing 12 and close to the ranging module 42 and the rotating mirror module 43 of the laser radar 40. In other embodiments, the heat sinks 11a, 12a can also be arranged on other positions of the upper housing 11 and the lower housing 12 according to the heat distribution calculation.

[0069] As can be understood by those skilled in the art, the integrated sensor 100 is provided with multiple components such as the control circuit board 20, the binocular vision camera 30, the laser radar 40, the long-distance vision camera 50, and the like, and the sealing members are arranged on the contact surfaces (mounting surfaces) as described above or the sealing glue is filled therein, so as to ensure the waterproof and dustproof of the chamber of the integrated sensor 100. Therefore, the temperature in the chamber is easy to rise, and it is beneficial to accelerate the heat conduction from the chamber to the outside of the housing 10 after the heat sinks 11a, 12a are arranged on the surfaces of the upper housing 11 and the lower housing 12.

[0070] Further, at least one pressing sheet 13 is arranged on the control circuit board 20 or in the chamber of the housing 10, the binocular vision camera 30, the laser radar 40, and the long-distance vision camera 50 are respectively connected with the control circuit board 20 through the flexible circuit boards 31a, 32a, 42a, 42b, 43a, 50a (Flexible Printed Circuit, FPC), and the flexible circuit boards 31a, 32a, 42a, 42b, 50a are pressed in the control circuit board 20 or the chamber of the housing 10 by the pressing sheet 13. In other embodiments, the flexible circuit boards 31a, 32a, 42a, 42b, 50a can also be pasted in the control circuit board 20 or the chamber of the housing 10.

[0071] With particular reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, in the embodiment of the present application, the left eye camera 31 is connected with the control circuit board 20 through the flexible circuit board 31a, and the right eye camera 32 is connected with the control circuit board 20 through the flexible circuit board 32a. The receiving end of the ranging module 42 of the laser radar 40 is connected with the control circuit board 20 through the flexible circuit board 42a, and the transmitting end is connected with the control circuit board 20 through the flexible circuit board 42b. The rotating mirror module 43 of the laser radar 40 is connected with the control circuit board 20 through the flexible circuit board 43a. The long-distance vision camera 50 is connected with the control circuit board 20 through the flexible circuit board 50a.

[0072] In the embodiments of the present application, the flexible circuit board 31a, the flexible circuit board 42a and the flexible circuit board 42b are first pressed on the left end of the control circuit board 20 by the pressing sheet 13 arranged (for example, fastened by screws) on the control circuit board 20, and then stably electrically connected with the control circuit board 20. The flexible circuit board 32a and the flexible circuit board 50a are first pressed on the right end of the control circuit board 20 by the other pressing sheet 13 arranged (for example, fastened by screws) on the control circuit board 20, and then stably electrically connected with the control circuit board 20.

[0073] Those skilled in the art should understand that, due to the high integration of the binocular vision camera 30, the laser radar 40, the long-distance vision camera 50 and the like, they can be powered by the multi-pin power supply interface 21 on the control circuit board 20 and complete data exchange by the multi-pin communication interface 22 on the control circuit board 20. Compared with the independent binocular vision camera 30, the laser radar 40, the long-distance vision camera 50 and the like, the high integration design simplifies the power supply circuit, reduces the number of power supply interfaces 21 and communication interfaces 22, and brings efficiency improvement and cost reduction. In addition, the pressing sheet 13 can prevent the flexible circuit boards 31a, 32a, 42a, 42b, 43a and 50a from being pulled out under vibration conditions.

[0074] Further, the integrated sensor 100 includes an inertial sensor 60 (Inertial Measurement Unit, IMU) arranged in the cavity and electrically connected with the control circuit board 20, which is mainly used for measuring acceleration, inclination, impact, vibration, rotation and multi-degree of freedom (DoF) motion, and is an important component for navigation, orientation and motion carrier control.

[0075] In the embodiments of the present application, the inertial sensor 60 is locked in the cavity of the shell 10 by screws. The exemplary inertial sensor 60 is a flexible circuit board (FPC) itself. Therefore, the inertial sensor 60 can be directly connected with the connection port of the control circuit board 20.

[0076] Those skilled in the art should understand that the integrated sensor 100 can include the binocular vision camera 30, the laser radar 40, the long-distance vision camera 50 and the inertial sensor 60, which can be installed outside the vehicle (for example, on the roof of the vehicle) or inside the vehicle (for example, on the front windshield and / or rear windshield), further avoiding the defect of scattered layout of various sensors.

[0077] Further, the control circuit board 20 is arranged in a stacked manner with the laser radar 40, and the control circuit board 20 is covered with the shielding cover 23 on at least a region corresponding to the laser radar 40, so as to prevent the laser emitted by the ranging module 42 from being reflected by the control circuit board 20 to form stray light.

[0078] In combination with FIGS. 5-7, further, the laser radar 40 has a rotating mirror module 43 arranged in the cavity, for deflecting the laser beam emitted by the ranging module 42 to be emitted via the light window 41, and the control circuit board 20 is arranged in a stacked manner with the laser radar 40, and the control circuit board 20 is covered with the shielding cover 23 on at least a region corresponding to the rotating mirror module 43, so as to prevent the laser emitted by the ranging module 42 from being reflected by the control circuit board 20 to form stray light. In other embodiments, the shielding cover 23 can also be arranged on the control circuit board 20 on the entire region corresponding to the laser radar 40.

[0079] The laser radar 40 is classified into a mechanical laser radar, a semi-solid laser radar and a solid laser radar according to a scanning manner. Among them, the semi-solid laser radar is to decouple the transceiver unit and the scanning component, the transceiver unit remains stationary, and the scanning component rotates under the drive of the motor to form a plurality of laser scanning surfaces. In a possible embodiment of the present application, the laser radar 40 adopts a semi-solid laser radar, including a ranging module 42 (transceiver unit) and a rotating mirror module 43 (scanning component), the ranging module 42 remains stationary, and the rotating mirror module 43 rotates under the drive of the motor to deflect the laser emitted by the emitting end of the ranging module 42 to form a plurality of laser scanning surfaces, so as to realize the detection effect.

[0080] In other embodiments, the laser radar 40 can also adopt other types of semi-solid laser radars (such as prism type or micro-mirror type), mechanical laser radars or solid laser radars. Those skilled in the art should understand that the control circuit board 20 is arranged in a stacked manner with the laser radar 40 (rotating mirror module 43), and the control circuit board 20 is an FR4 substrate provided with semiconductor devices, which has a reflection effect on laser, so that the laser irradiated on the control circuit board 20 forms stray light through secondary or multiple reflections, and further interferes with the receiving end of the ranging module 42 of the laser radar 40 (which can also be regarded as interfering with the acquisition of three-dimensional point cloud data). The shielding cover 23 is used to form electromagnetic shielding for the FR4 substrate and the semiconductor devices arranged on the surface thereof, and on the other hand, a light extinction sticker with extremely low laser reflectivity or light extinction material can be pasted on the surface of the shielding cover 23, or the shielding cover 23 is made of light extinction material, so as to absorb the stray light in each direction that may exist in the covered region of the shielding cover 23, and eliminate the risk of stray light crosstalk.

[0081] Further, the control circuit board 20 is provided with a support frame 24, the support frame 24 has a gap with the edge of the control circuit board 20, the shielding cover 23 is connected with the support frame 24, and the shielding cover 24 extends to the edge of the control circuit board 20.

[0082] In the embodiment of the present application, the support frame 24 is connected with the control circuit board 20 through the SMT patch process. Due to the technical limitation of the SMT patch process, the shielding cover support frame 24 needs to reserve a gap of at least 1 mm wide with the edge of the control circuit board 20, which will cause the control circuit board 20 exposed in the gap area to reflect laser. Therefore, a plurality of mounting buckles 23a are arranged on one side of the shielding cover 23 at intervals, the mounting buckles 23a are formed by cutting and bending the edge of the shielding cover 23 at intervals, a flange 23b is formed on the other side, the shielding cover 23 is clamped on the support frame 24 through the mounting buckles 23a, and the flange 23b abuts against the control circuit board 20, so that the shielding cover 23 can be in a “suspended” state.

[0083] In other embodiments, the support frame 24 can be arranged in multiple directions (for example, the support frame 24 is enclosed into a rectangle), and the mounting buckles 23a can be arranged on more sides of the shielding cover 23, so that the shielding cover 23 is clamped on the support frame 24 in multiple directions, thereby keeping the shielding cover 23 in a “suspended” state.

[0084] In other embodiments, the mounting buckles 23a can be directly welded on the lower surface of the shielding cover 23, so that the integrity of the shielding cover 23 is not damaged, thereby enhancing the electromagnetic shielding effect of the shielding cover 23.

[0085] Those skilled in the art should understand that, since the shielding cover 23 is not directly connected with the control circuit board 20, it does not need to consider the technical limitation of the SMT patch process, and the shielding cover 23 can extend to the edge of the control circuit board 20 (covering the above-mentioned gap of at least 1 mm wide). In addition, the “suspended” shielding cover 23 also provides an attachment surface for the light extinction sticker, achieving the purpose of completely eliminating stray light.

[0086] As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, further, the bottom of the light window 41 of the laser radar 40 is located more forward than the top, so that the light window 41 is arranged in an inclined manner in the vertical direction. The inclination angle of the light window 41 can be 3°-65°, and is preferably 25°.

[0087] Those skilled in the art should understand that the existing laser radar 40 has a light window 41 arranged vertically (i.e. the incident angle of the laser emitted by the emitting end of the ranging module 42 on the light window 41 is 0°), which causes a part of the incident laser to be reflected by the light window 41 to form a reflected laser with a relatively large intensity (stray light) and to be received by the receiving end of the ranging module 42, thereby interfering with the imaging of the laser radar 40. In order to eliminate the reflected laser, it is necessary to coat the light window 41 with an optical anti-reflection film to suppress reflection. The light window 41 of the laser radar 40 of the present application is arranged with a certain degree of inclination, which can weaken the intensity of the reflected laser and reflect the reflected laser to the light-absorbing inner surface of the shell 10 for absorption (without being directly returned to the receiving end of the ranging module 42 to cause interference). For example, the inner surface of the shell 10 can be electrophoresed, anodized, and painted with light-absorbing paint, etc. to increase the absorption of the reflected laser. This design not only improves the performance of the laser radar, but also eliminates the need for coating an optical anti-reflection film, thereby reducing the production cost.

[0088] As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the visual cameras (binocular visual camera 30 and / or long-distance visual camera 50) and the laser radar 40 generally installed inside the vehicle and below the front windshield glass are provided with a light shield 70, which mainly functions to eliminate the reflection of the light from the light-emitting objects or strong light-reflecting objects in the vehicle on the windshield glass in front of the field of view of the visual cameras (binocular visual camera 30 and / or long-distance visual camera 50) and the laser radar 40, thereby avoiding the interference of the reflected light with the visual cameras (binocular visual camera 30 and / or long-distance visual camera 50) and the laser radar 40. Since the windshield glass more or less reflects the stray light of the environment inside the vehicle, it is unavoidable to provide the light shield 70. The width of the light shield 70 depends on the baseline size and the horizontal field of view angle of the binocular visual camera 30, and the overall height of the light shield 70 depends on the height of the light window 41 of the laser radar 40 and the vertical field of view angle. With particular reference to FIG. 11, the existing light shield 70 not only has a large width and height, but also has a stepped shape, which blocks the view of the driver and is not aesthetically pleasing.

[0089] FIG. 12 shows the working light path of the ranging module 42' of the existing laser radar, in which the laser emitted by the light source board 42c' is collimated (into parallel light) by the collimating mirror 42d', then diffused into the required angle by the diffusion board 42e', and finally emitted from the light window 41'. FIG. 12 indicates the position of the lower boundary of the existing light shield 70. Since the length L and the height H of the current light shield 70 are relatively large, the light shield 70 will form a relatively serious blockage to the line of sight of the driver.

[0090] As shown in FIG. 13, further, the ranging module 42 includes a light source board 42c for emitting a laser beam, a collimating mirror 42d for collimating the laser beam, a diffusion board 42e for diffusing the collimated laser beam in the vertical direction, and a prism 42f for converging the diffused laser beam in the vertical direction, so as to reduce the light exit aperture of the laser radar 40.

[0091] As can be understood by those skilled in the art, the prism 42f deflects the laser beam by a certain angle and inverts it, so that the laser beam is converged in the vertical direction, the lower boundary of the light shield 70 is obviously moved upward, the length L and the height H of the light shield 70 are reduced without changing the field of view angle of the laser radar 40, and the light shield 70 is prevented from blocking the driver's line of sight as much as possible. Moreover, after the laser beam is converged in the vertical direction, the height of the light window 41 can also be reduced, and the manufacturing cost of the laser radar 41 can be reduced.

[0092] As shown in FIG. 14, in an alternative embodiment, the ranging module 42 includes a light source board 42c for emitting a laser beam, and a combination of a cylindrical lens 42g and a prism 42f for collimating the laser beam and converging it in the vertical direction, so as to reduce the light exit aperture of the laser radar 40.

[0093] As can be understood by those skilled in the art, the combination of the cylindrical lens 42g and the prism 42f can be two separate lenses placed in combination, or can be a combination lens with one side being a prism and the other side being a cylinder. The combination of the cylindrical lens 42g and the prism 42f can replace the combination of the collimating mirror 42d, the diffusion board 42e and the prism 42f (which can achieve the same function), but this scheme reduces the number of lenses, which is beneficial to reducing the assembly error of the optical system.

[0094] As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, for the laser radar 40 with a dot matrix light source, when scanning each frame of image, the emitted laser beam is deflected after passing through the rotating mirror 43, and a vertical rectangular laser scanning surface is formed in front. Correspondingly, the light shield 70 also has a relatively wide width D, which will block the driver's line of sight.

[0095] As shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, further, the light source board 42c is a dot matrix light source, and the control circuit board 20 controls a part of the dot matrix light source to be turned off, so that the lower left and lower right corners of the rectangular laser scanning surface emitted through the light window 41 are chamfered. In other embodiments, the control circuit board 20 can control a part of the dot matrix light source to be turned off, so that the four corners of the rectangular laser scanning surface emitted through the light window 41 are chamfered.

[0096] Those skilled in the art should understand that, by controlling the algorithm, the left lower and right lower corners of the dot light source at the starting position can be turned off, so that the left lower and right lower corners of the rectangular laser scanning surface formed at the ending position are chamfered, the front edge of the light shield 70 can also be chamfered, thereby reducing the width D of the front edge of the light shield 70, and further avoiding the light shield 70 from blocking the driver's line of sight. Although this measure sacrifices part of the field of view angle of the laser radar 40, the left lower and right lower corner regions are not the regions that need to be focused on by intelligent driving perception, and the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

[0097] The embodiments of the present application also provide a movable platform comprising any one of the integrated sensors 100 as described above.

[0098] Those skilled in the art should understand that, for the movable platform comprising the integrated sensor 100, it has the same beneficial effects as the integrated sensor 100 described above. For example, the defects of scattered sensor layout and non-uniform field of view of each sensor are overcome. The control circuit board 20 can be pre-provided with a synchronization algorithm for synchronizing the visual image and the three-dimensional point cloud data (for example, by controlling the binocular visual camera 30 and the ranging module 42 to synchronously emit / receive the same column through the algorithm), and through the algorithm synchronization, the image acquired by the binocular visual camera 30 and the three-dimensional point cloud data acquired by the laser radar 40 can be pixel-level aligned, which greatly improves the perception accuracy. The laser radar 40 can also serve as a safety redundancy of the binocular visual camera 30, and the performance requirement of the laser radar 40 can be appropriately reduced, and the range and field of view angle of the laser radar 40 can cover the range and field of view angle of the binocular visual camera 30, and compared with the laser radar 40 working independently, the single-piece cost can be reduced, and the like.

[0099] In the description of the present specification, the description of the terms "certain embodiments", "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "an example", "a specific example", or "some examples" and the like means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in connection with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present application. In the present specification, the illustrative description of the above terms does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described can be combined in any appropriate manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. In addition, those skilled in the art can combine and combine the different embodiments or examples described in the present specification and the features of the different embodiments or examples without contradiction.

[0100] In the present application, the terms "first", "second", "third" are only used for descriptive purpose, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance; the term "multiple" refers to two or more, unless otherwise explicitly limited. The terms "mount", "connect", "connection", "fix", and the like should be interpreted in a broad sense, for example, "connection" can be fixed connection, or detachable connection, or integrally connected; "connection" can be directly connected, or indirectly connected through intermediate medium. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0101] Finally, it should be noted that the above examples are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, but are not limiting. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the examples, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent replacements of the technical solutions of the present application do not deviate from the spirit and scope of the present application, and they should be covered in the scope of the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. An integrated sensor, characterized in that: include: a housing having a chamber formed therein; a control circuit board disposed in the chamber; A binocular vision camera is provided on the housing, wherein the binocular vision camera comprises a left camera and a right camera electrically connected to the control circuit board; A laser radar is electrically connected to the control circuit board, wherein an optical window of the laser radar is arranged on the shell, and a ranging module of the laser radar is arranged in the cavity. The ranging module is used to emit and receive a laser beam, and the laser beam is emitted and returned through the optical window.

2. The integrated sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that: The binocular vision camera and the ranging module have photosensitive chips with the same scanning mode, so that the image obtained by the binocular vision camera and the three-dimensional point cloud data obtained by the laser radar can be aligned at the pixel level.

3. The integrated sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that include: A long-range vision camera is disposed on the housing and electrically connected to the control circuit board.

4. The integrated sensor according to claim 3, characterized in that: The binocular vision camera, the optical window of the laser radar and the long-range vision camera are facing the front side of the shell; the control circuit board is electrically connected to a power supply interface and a communication interface, and the power supply interface and the communication interface are partially exposed outside the shell.

5. The integrated sensor according to claim 4, characterized in that: The contact surfaces of the binocular vision camera, the optical window of the laser radar, the long-range vision camera, the power supply interface and the communication interface with the shell are all provided with sealants or filled with sealant.

6. The integrated sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that: The shell comprises an upper shell and a lower shell connected to each other, the lower shell and the upper shell are covered to form the chamber, and a sealing member is provided between the upper shell and the lower shell or filled with sealing glue.

7. The integrated sensor according to claim 6, characterized in that: Surfaces of the upper shell and the lower shell are provided with heat dissipation fins.

8. The integrated sensor according to claim 3, characterized in that: The binocular vision camera, the laser radar, and the long-distance vision camera are all connected to the control circuit board through a flexible The flexible circuit board is connected, and the flexible circuit board is pasted on the control circuit board or in the cavity of the shell.

9. The integrated sensor according to claim 3, characterized in that: At least one pressing piece is provided on the control circuit board or in the cavity of the housing; The binocular vision camera, the laser radar, and the long-range vision camera are all connected to the control circuit board through a flexible circuit board, and the flexible circuit board is pressed onto the control circuit board or in the cavity of the shell by the pressing sheet.

10. The integrated sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: include: An inertial sensor is disposed in the chamber and electrically connected to the control circuit board.

11. The integrated sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The control circuit board is arranged in a stacked manner with the laser radar, and the control circuit board is covered with a shielding cover on at least a portion of the area corresponding to the laser radar to prevent the laser emitted by the ranging module from being reflected by the control circuit board to form stray light.

12. The integrated sensor according to claim 11, characterized in that: A support frame is provided on the control circuit board. A gap is formed between the support frame and the edge of the control circuit board. The shielding cover is connected to the support frame, and the shielding cover extends to the edge of the control circuit board.

13. The integrated sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The bottom of the light window is located further forward than the top, so that the light window is tilted in the vertical direction.

14. The integrated sensor according to claim 13, characterized in that: The tilt angle of the light window is 3° to 65°.

15. The integrated sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that The ranging module includes: A light source board for emitting a laser beam; a collimating mirror for collimating the laser beam; A diffuser plate for diffusing the collimated laser beam in the vertical direction; A prism is used to converge the diffused laser beam in the vertical direction to reduce the light output aperture of the laser radar.

16. The integrated sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that The ranging module includes: A light source board for emitting a laser beam; A cylindrical lens and a prism, or a combined lens comprising a prism and a cylindrical surface, is used to collimate the laser beam and converge it in the vertical direction to reduce the light output aperture of the laser radar.

17. The integrated sensor according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that: The light source board is a dot matrix light source, and the control circuit board controls a portion of the dot matrix light sources to be turned off, so that the lower left and lower right corners of the rectangular laser scanning surface emitted through the light window are chamfered.

18. A movable platform, characterized in that: Comprising the integrated sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

Citation Information

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