nLIGHT has patented a system to reduce glint effects in active illumination systems, preventing errors in distance calculation caused by saturation. By using polarizers with crossed polarization axes, specular reflections are filtered out, ensuring accurate 3D imaging. GlobalData’s report on nLIGHT gives a 360-degree view of the company including its patenting strategy. Buy the report here.
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According to GlobalData’s company profile on nLIGHT, Welding robots was a key innovation area identified from patents. nLIGHT's grant share as of February 2024 was 70%. Grant share is based on the ratio of number of grants to total number of patents.
Reducing glint in active illumination systems for 3d imaging
A recently granted patent (Publication Number: US11902494B2) discloses a method and system for reducing glint from a returned electromagnetic radiation signal in an active illumination 3D imaging system to prevent saturation effects that can lead to errors in distance calculation. The method involves illuminating a scene with a predetermined polarization electromagnetic radiation signal, receiving the returned signal, passing it through a polarizer with a different polarization to filter out specular reflections, modulating the filtered signal based on time to vary intensity with distance, converting it into electrical signals, and determining 3D information about the scene based on these signals, including calculating distances to objects within the dynamic range of the system.
The system includes an illuminator for uniform scene illumination, a sensor subsystem with a polarizer to filter out specular reflections, a modulator to vary intensity with distance, a sensor to generate electrical signals, and a processor to compute 3D information based on these signals. The polarizer used in the system can be orthogonally crossed with the predetermined polarization, and the illuminator emits short pulses of electromagnetic radiation. The system aims to reduce glint by ensuring the specular reflections fall within the dynamic range of the system, with the polarizer having a high extinction ratio to effectively filter out unwanted reflections and improve distance calculation accuracy. Additionally, the system can use various types of polarizers such as thin film polarizers or crystal polarizers to achieve the desired reduction in glint and saturation effects.
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