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. 2020 Oct 7;20(19):5706.
doi: 10.3390/s20195706.

Accuracy-Power Controllable LiDAR Sensor System with 3D Object Recognition for Autonomous Vehicle

Sanghoon Lee  1   2 , Dongkyu Lee  2 , Pyung Choi  2 , Daejin Park  2
Affiliations

Accuracy-Power Controllable LiDAR Sensor System with 3D Object Recognition for Autonomous Vehicle

Sanghoon Lee et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors help autonomous vehicles detect the surrounding environment and the exact distance to an object's position. Conventional LiDAR sensors require a certain amount of power consumption because they detect objects by transmitting lasers at a regular interval according to a horizontal angular resolution (HAR). However, because the LiDAR sensors, which continuously consume power inefficiently, have a fatal effect on autonomous and electric vehicles using battery power, power consumption efficiency needs to be improved. In this paper, we propose algorithms to improve the inefficient power consumption of conventional LiDAR sensors, and efficiently reduce power consumption in two ways: (a) controlling the HAR to vary the laser transmission period (TP) of a laser diode (LD) depending on the vehicle's speed and (b) reducing the static power consumption using a sleep mode, depending on the surrounding environment. The proposed LiDAR sensor with the HAR control algorithm reduces the power consumption of the LD by 6.92% to 32.43% depending on the vehicle's speed, compared to the maximum number of laser transmissions (Nx.max). The sleep mode with a surrounding environment-sensing algorithm reduces the power consumption by 61.09%. The algorithm of the proposed LiDAR sensor was tested on a commercial processor chip, and the integrated processor was designed as an IC using the Global Foundries 55 nm CMOS process.

Keywords: 3D object recognition; LiDAR sensor processor; autonomous vehicle; low-power circuit design.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The founding sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Time-of-flight (ToF) of laser.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Structure and operation of conventional light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Block diagram of multi-channel scanning LiDAR sensor.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Time domain of time-to-digital converter (TDC).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Power consumption of LiDAR sensor.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Power consumption of TDC.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Relation of power consumption and accuracy.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Structure of propoesd LiDAR sensor’s sensing.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Horizontal field of view (HFoV) of LiDAR sensor.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Point cloud of LiDAR sensor.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Power consumption of speed detection-based LiDAR sensor.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Power consumption of environment sensing-based LiDAR sensor.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Time domain of sleep mode.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Test environment and implemented LiDAR system. (a) Test environment for LiDAR evaluation (bicycle, person, and car are detected). (b) Power consumption measurement setup for evaluating implemented LiDAR system.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Comparison of TP. (a) 580 laser transmissions at 11.57 μ s intervals. (b) 483 laser transmissions at 13.89 μ s intervals. (c) 414 laser transmissions at 16.21 μ s intervals. (d) 362 laser transmissions at 18.54 μ s intervals. (e) 322 laser transmissions at 20.84 μ s intervals. (f) 290 laser transmissions at 23.14 μ s intervals.
Figure 16
Figure 16
Comparison of TP in normal and sleep mode. (a) Laser transmissions of Nx every cycle in normal mode. (b) Laser transmissions of 290 times for only 1-cycle in 5-cycles in sleep mode.
Figure 17
Figure 17
Comparison of power consumption depending on Nx. (a) Average power consumption graph of 7.442 W in 580 laser transmissions. (b) Average power consumption graph of 7.409 W in 483 laser transmissions. (c) Average power consumption graph of 7.347 W in 414 laser transmissions. (d) Average power consumption graph of 7.308 W in 362 laser transmissions. (e) Average power consumption graph of 7.289 W in 322 laser transmissions. (f) Average power consumption graph of 7.154 W in 290 laser transmissions.
Figure 18
Figure 18
Designed microprocessor (MP) chip.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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