Sunday, January 12, 2020

LiDAR News: SK Telecom, Pioneer, Canon, Outsight, SOS Lab, ON Semi, Valeo, Kyocera, Livox

SK Telecom announces ‘Next-Generation Single Photon LiDAR’ developed with Pioneer Smart Sensing Innovations Corporation (PSSI). SK Telcom and PSSI entered into a joint development agreement in September 2019 to develop a next-generation single photon LiDAR and have been actively working together since to commercialize the new LiDAR by 2021. The LiDAR combines SK Telecom's 1550nm SPAD with Pioneer's 2D MEMS scanning mirror.

SK Telecom’s single photon LiDAR transceiver technologies consist of 1550 nm laser, SPAD, and Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC). 1550 nm laser, much stronger than 905 nm laser, is said to enable extended detection of objects at a distance of up to 500m.

Rather than a linear-mode APD, SK Telecom uses SPAD to ensure higher sensitivity to light. With SPAD, Next-Generation Single Photon LiDAR can accurately detect low-reflectivity objects like tires or pedestrians dressed in black.


Pioneer adds that Canon too is a part of this joint 500m-range LiDAR project with SK Telecom:

"Together with Canon Inc. (“Canon,” hereafter), PSSI is engaged in co-development of 3D-LiDAR sensors, which are regarded as an indispensable key device for the realization of autonomous driving in level-three and above autonomous vehicles (conditional automation).., which utilizes Micro Electric Memory Systems (MEMS) mirror-based scanning method and Canon’s optical technologies... The newly developed next-generation 3D-LiDAR sensor is a 1550nm wavelength sensor model which—although based on the same core technologies developed by PSSI and Canon—offers a greatly extended measurement distance made possible by the addition of transceiver (transmitter / receiver) technologies developed by SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (“SK Telecom,” hereafter) of South Korea. The new sensor is capable of high resolution and measurement at long distance of 500m."


EIN Newsdesk: Hyperspectral LiDAR startup Outsight just got a first customer. After an international competition, the Paris airport group (ADP) has chosen Outsight's "3D Smart Monitoring" system to be used in two areas of Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport in the international Terminal 2E, including the baggage claim zone. One of the key elements of this technology is the Edge Privacy feature: the video stream doesn't leave the sensors. Because the calculations on the images are created on the device itself, it is completely autonomous in the analysis of the data captured, thus avoiding the transit of sensitive data via the networks.

Raul Bravo, President and Co-Founder of Outsight, says: "This first deployment at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle Airport, just a few months after the company's creation, demonstrates the relevance of our 3D perception approach in the context of improved operations and security. This first implementation follows a succession of announcements for Outsight, and can then be extended to other areas such as shopping malls and train stations."


BusinessWire: SOS Lab is to use ON Semi SPADs in its LiDAR. “We expect to develop (solid-state) type lidars more quickly and plan to mass-produce lidars for vehicles with built-in headlamps and bumpers within 2-3 years,” says JiSeong Jeong, CEO of SOS Lab.


Valeo Investor Presentation releases some data on its LiDAR sales, as a response to skeptics saying there is no market for automotive LiDARs now:


Kyocera presents LiDAR and camera in a single box:

There is a big problem with many of these LIDAR systems,” Senior Manager of Research Hiroyuki Minagawa says, “they use mechanical motors to rotate their scanning mirrors, and they can’t withstand the shaking and vibration that happens normally in a car. I don’t think they would last more than a couple of years.To overcome this limitation, Kyocera develops another exclusive solution, using a MEMS Mirror housed inside Kyocera’s exclusive Ceramic Packaging Technology. Ceramics are in Kyocera’s DNA, right down to its name, and breakthroughs in ceramic technology are an integral part of Kyocera’s history. This advanced ceramic technology makes Kyocera’s Camera-LIDAR Fusion Sensor far more durable in real-world driving conditions, making it the superior choice for autonomous driving systems.


Livox explains its non-repetitive scanning pattern advantages:

"The environment scanned by a Livox sensor increases with longer integration time as the laser explores new spaces within its Field of View (or FOV). As seen in the image below, a Livox Mid-40 or Mid-100 sensor generates a unique flower-like scanning pattern to create a 3D image of the surrounding environment. Image fidelity increases rapidly over time. In comparison, conventional lidar sensors use horizontal linear scanning methods that run the risk of blind spots, causing some objects in their FOV to remain undetected regardless of how long the scan lasts. The unique non-repetitive scanning method of the Livox lidar sensors enables nearly 100% FOV coverage with longer integration time which does not exist in any market alternatives today at this cost."

Livox Horizon LiDAR is sold for for $999, Tele-15 costs $1,499.

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