LIDAR OPTICAL SYSTEM WITH FLAT OPTICS AND ROTATING MIRROR ENABLING 360-DEGREE FIELD-OF-VIEW AT HIGH FRAME RATE, HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION AND LOW POWER CONSUMPTION

A 360-degree Field-Of-View LiDAR is capable of delivering light to a target and detecting a fraction of the light reflected from the target to determine the distance from the light source/detector to the target placed at any point of a 360-degree panoramic field of view across various vertical elevation angles depending on the azimuthal angles. The LiDAR implementation allows the built-in array laser light source and an array of detectors to be scanned across the entire azimuthal angular range. The LiDAR implementation has the unique arrangement of the array of laser light sources, and the array of detectors affixed to a rigid base while the rotating periscope scanner contains a motor and mirror which can rotate in-plane to project the light source to its surroundings and receive light from surroundings. The system delivers a high frame rate, a high spatial (VGA-like) resolution, and a low power consumption system.