Test station to characterize the emission of a LiDAR

N. F. Cunha; Manuel J. L. F. Rodrigues; F. Ferreira; J. Viana-Gomes; J. M. M. Linhares; S. Franco; F. Oliveira; N. Soares; M. I. Vasilevskiy; L. Rebouta

doi:10.1364/AO.505749

Applied Optics
Vol. 63,
Issue 1,
pp. 17-29
(2024)
•https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.505749

Test station to characterize the emission of a LiDAR

N. F. Cunha, Manuel J. L. F. Rodrigues, F. Ferreira, J. Viana-Gomes, J. M. M. Linhares, S. Franco, F. Oliveira, N. Soares, M. I. Vasilevskiy, and L. Rebouta

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N. F. Cunha, Manuel J. L. F. Rodrigues, F. Ferreira, J. Viana-Gomes, J. M. M. Linhares, S. Franco, F. Oliveira, N. Soares, M. I. Vasilevskiy, and L. Rebouta, "Test station to characterize the emission of a LiDAR," Appl. Opt. 63, 17-29 (2024)

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Abstract

A test station setup devised to measure the emission characteristics and beam propagation parameters of a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system is presented. The main blocks of the station to measure the accessible emission, wavelength peak and FWHM, pulse duration, pulse repetition rate, horizontal and vertical angular resolution, field of view, beam propagation factor ${{\rm M}^2}$, beam waist size, waist location, and divergence are described. The performance of this test station was demonstrated using a commercial spinning LiDAR, a Velodyne VLP-16, which successfully enables these measurements for a laser beam with a wavelength of 913 nm.

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Data underlying the results presented in this paper are not publicly available at this time but may be obtained from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Setup	Equipment and Components
LiDAR alignment	Two irises I4, I5
Time dependence and optical spectrum of a LiDAR emission	Irises I6 and I7 Lens (L2) Beam splitter (BS) 5 GHz bandwidth photodiode (D2; Thorlabs DET08C, InGaAs photodetector) 1 GHz digital oscilloscope (DPO7254, Tektronix Inc.) Spectrometer (CCD Spectrometer; Thorlabs CCS200/M)
M2 setup	Periscope P1 Two irises I2, I3 (alignment) and iris I8 Neutral density filters (Filt) CCD sensor (C1; Allied Vision Manta G-917B) 200 mm motorized linear translational stage (LTS; Optosigma OSMS26-200) $2^{''}$ plano–convex lens (L1) with a focal distance of 150 mm Photodiode (D1; Thorlabs APD 430C/M) 125 mm plano–convex lens (L3) Electronic delay system (T560-9, Highland Technology, Inc).
Field of view (FoV) and horizontal and vertical angular resolution	Ground glass diffuser (Diff; grit 220) Lens (L4, objective Kowa $f = 25 m m / F 1.4$ ) CCD sensor (C2; Allied Vision Manta G-917B) Pair of plane mirrors (M1 and M2, $75 m m \times 100 m m$ )
LiDAR optical power emission and eye safety	Power meter (PM; Thorlabs S120C with interface Thorlabs P100USB) Iris (I1)

Beam Parameter	Horizontal $x$	Vertical $y$
$M^{2}$	$51.1 \pm 0.2$	$9.086 \pm 0.002$
Divergence (mrad)	$4.65 \pm 0.01$	$1.665 \pm 0.001$
Waist beam diameter, $d_{01}$ (mm)	$12.79 \pm 0.01$	$6.34 \pm 0.001$
Waist position, $z_{01}$ (m)	$0.097 \pm 0.005$	$- 4.3 \pm 0.2$
Rayleigh length, $z_{R 1}$ (m)	$2.750 \pm 0.005$	$3.81 \pm 0.07$

Laser ID	Axis	Diameter (mm)	Divergence (mrad)	Rayleigh Length (m)	Waist Position (m)	$M^{2}$
$3 (+ 3)$	x	$11.74 \pm 0.03$	$4.31 \pm 0.02$	$2.72 \pm 0.01$	$0.38 \pm 0.01$	$43.5 \pm 0.3$
$3 (+ 3)$	y	$5.5590 \pm 0.0001$	$1.768 \pm 0.001$	$3.1 \pm 0.1$	$- 4.6 \pm 0.4$	$8.453 \pm 0.001$
$1 (+ 1)$	x	$12.79 \pm 0.01$	$4.65 \pm 0.01$	$2.750 \pm 0.005$	$0.097 \pm 0.005$	$51.1 \pm 0.2$
$1 (+ 1)$	y	$6.3477 \pm 0.0002$	$1.665 \pm 0.001$	$3.81 \pm 0.07$	$- 4.3 \pm 0.2$	$9.086 \pm 0.002$
14(−1)	x	$10.47 \pm 0.09$	$4.38 \pm 0.04$	$2.390 \pm 0.006$	$0.78 \pm 0.04$	$39.4 \pm 0.7$
14(−1)	y	$7.2424 \pm 0.0001$	$1.384 \pm 0.001$	$5.23 \pm 0.01$	$- 5 \pm 1$	$8.621 \pm 0.002$
12(−3)	x	$10.18 \pm 0.08$	$4.35 \pm 0.05$	$2.34 \pm 0.01$	$0.49 \pm 0.04$	$38.1 \pm 0.7$
12(−3)	y	$6.9963 \pm 0.0003$	$1.416 \pm 0.002$	$4.94 \pm 0.07$	$- 5 \pm 2$	$8.520 \pm 0.003$

Beam Parameter	Calculated		Manufacturer [7]
Beam Parameter	Horizontal	Vertical	Horizontal	Vertical
Spot size at LIDAR sensor’s ring lens (mm)	$12.8 \pm 0.2$	$8.8 \pm 0.3$	12.7	9.5
Spot size at 5 m (mm)	$20.3 \pm 0.5$	$16.7 \pm 0.5$	26.4	17
Spot size at 25 m (mm)	$103.5 \pm 0.5$	$52.0 \pm 0.5$	81.2	47

Rotation Frequency (Hz)	Angular Resolution (°)
20	$0.397 \pm 0.007$
15	$0.295 \pm 0.008$
10	$0.198 \pm 0.005$

Laser ID	Angular Resolution (°)
5-3	$2.014 \pm 0.002$
3-1	$2.051 \pm 0.002$
1-14	$2.022 \pm 0.002$
14-12	$1.992 \pm 0.002$
12-10	$2.059 \pm 0.002$
Average (°)	Standard deviation (°)
2.03	0.03

Rotation Frequency (Hz)	Angular Resolution (°)
20	$0.400 \pm 0.008$
15	$0.300 \pm 0.006$
10	$0.20 \pm 0.01$
5	$0.100 \pm 0.004$

Frame Rate (Hz)	Power at Position of the Highest Average Power (µW)	Rotation Period (s)	AE during a Cycle (J)	Time to Scan 7 mm Aperture (s)	AEL (J) Class 1
5	57.3	0.2	$1.1 \times 10^{- 5}$	$2.23 \times 10^{- 3}$	$1.92 \times 10^{- 5}$
10	68.0	0.1	$6.8 \times 10^{- 6}$	$1.11 \times 10^{- 3}$	$1.14 \times 10^{- 5}$
15	63.3	0.0667	$4.2 \times 10^{- 6}$	$7.43 \times 10^{- 4}$	$8.42 \times 10^{- 6}$
20	69.0	0.05	$3.5 \times 10^{- 6}$	$5.57 \times 10^{- 4}$	$6.78 \times 10^{- 6}$

Parameters	Specified by Manufacturer	Measured
Effective pulse duration (ns)	6	$5.8 \pm 0.2$
Pulse FWHM (ns)	-	$5.0 \pm 0.2$
Pulse repetition period (µs)	55.296	$55.2962 \pm 0.004$
Frame period (at 10 Hz) (s)	0.1	0.1
Laser class	Class 1 Eye Safe	Class 1 Eye Safe
Vertical angular resolution (°)	2	$2.03 \pm 0.03$
Horizontal angular resolution for 10 Hz (°)	0.2	$0.20 \pm 0.01$
Horizontal angular resolution for 20 Hz (°)	0.4	$0.400 \pm 0.008$
Vertical FoV (°)	30	$29.6 \pm 0.4$
Laser wavelength (nm)	903 (min/max 896/910 nm)	$913 \pm 2$
Laser peak FWHM (nm)	-	$5 \pm 0.3$
Full horizontal divergence (mrad) (average of 4 lasers)	3	$4.42 \pm 0.04$
Full vertical divergence (mrad) (average of 4 lasers)	1.5	$1.558 \pm 0.002$
Horizontal $M^{2}$ (average of 4 lasers)	-	$43.0 \pm 0.7$
Vertical $M^{2}$ (average of 4 lasers)	-	$8.670 \pm 0.003$
Horizontal beam diameter at sensor ring lens (mm)	12.7	$13.2 \pm 0.2$
Vertical beam diameter at sensor ring lens (mm)	9.5	$8.7 \pm 0.3$
Horizontal laser spot diameter at 5 m (mm)	26.4	$20.3 \pm 0.5$
Vertical laser spot diameter at 5 m (mm)	17.0	$16.7 \pm 0.5$

Abstract

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Applied Optics