A compact omnidirectional laser scanner based on an electrothermal tripod mems mirror for lidar

Low-cost LiDAR with compact omnidirectional 360° scanners are needed for automobiles and robotics. This paper reports a compact omnidirectional scanner based on an electrothermal MEMS mirror, in which a circular pattern is generated by a two-axis tripod electrothermal MEMS mirror at non-resonant mode combined with a cone mirror. Meanwhile the vertical scanning field of view (FoV) up to 8° is also achieved. Compared to other omnidirectional scanners based on motorized optomechanics, this MEMS-based omnidirectional scanner has the potential to greatly decrease the size, cost and power consumption for LiDAR.