Adaptive Sampling LIDAR for High Speed, High Resolution Hazard Detection

PSI is proposing an Adaptive Sampling (AdS) LiDAR for high-speed, high-resolution hazard detection capable of generating digital elevation maps (DEMs) for entry/deorbit, descent, and landing. This system will function as a standalone 3D terrain mapping sensor, mapping from altitudes over 250 m, that can be generalized to various missions and platforms regardless of illumination condition. The AdS-LiDAR uses a highly flexible receiver architecture that allows it to generate DEMs at high speeds (< 4 seconds) with high resolution (1000 x 1000 pixels) without scanning. This is achieved by using a large-format (1080p) DMD that superimposes Walsh-Hadamard (WH) masks on an image of the scene for 3D imaging, exploiting computational imaging (CI) concepts with a single pixel camera architecture. AdS further reduces DEM acquisition time by sampling only the spatial frequencies which are salient. In the Phase I program, we will build and functionally test an AdS-LiDAR breadboard, demonstrating ranging and mapping capabilities.