LIDAR system with electromagnetic two-axis scanning micromirror based on indirect time-of-flight method

Abstract This paper presents a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system using electromagnetically actuated two-axis scanning micromirror. The distance measurement with the LIDAR is based on the indirect time-of-flight method using the relative ratio of the accumulated charges in capacitors connected to photodiode pixels, which is determined by the time difference between the transmitted and reflected light pulse. The micromirror has double gimbaled structure for two-axis actuation and circular reflection plate with the diameter of 3 mm. The horizontal scan angle of 49.13° was obtained by the resonant actuation at 28 kHz, and the vertical scan of 29.23° was achieved by the sinusoidal forced actuation at 60 Hz. The distance to multiple targets could be measured at once by laser scanning using the micromirror, and the distance profile LIDAR image was constructed by the measurement results