Saturday, April 04, 2020

Ibeo 4D LiDAR Looks Similar to Apple iPad Pro

Ibeo presented its 4D solid-state LiDAR at EPIC World Photonics Technology Summit in San Francisco on Feb 3, 2020. It looks quite similar to the one inside Apple iPad Pro 2020, other than a much longer range of Ibeo LiDAR:

iPad Pro 2020 LiDAR:


Ibeo LiDAR:



Posted by Vladimir Koifman at 13:03

7 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 5, 2020 at 1:12 AM

    Isn't this comparison like comparing a smartphone video camera to a studio broadcast camera?
    The approach might be similar but the budget and scale are completely different. Smartphone vs automotive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousApril 5, 2020 at 9:32 AM

      I agree. Ibeo's solution is geared towards outdoor medium-to-long range automotive apps, while the other is a short-range indoor phone/pad app. They look similar if you just look at the projectoon of light, etc, but the hardware and the underlying mechanisms/physics are different.

      -AA

      Delete
    2. Vladimir KoifmanApril 5, 2020 at 10:15 AM

      There are some similarities though:
      - Both use SPADs, apparently
      - Both approaches are scanning
      - Both scan sparse patterns
      - Both claim to work outdoors

      Obviously, they are built for different purposes. Thus, their power, size, price, resolution, range, etc. are different.

      Delete
    3. AnonymousApril 5, 2020 at 10:55 AM

      I am not sure if Apple's solution uses SPAD. Any references will give more insights. Ibeo is not really scanning - it is a sequential flash and there are as many emitters as the number of depth points one wants (no moving scanner). It is not affordable to put so many emitters in a pad/phone.

      -AA

      Delete
    4. Vladimir KoifmanApril 5, 2020 at 12:41 PM

      Apple says its LiDAR is (a) scanner and (b) dToF. dToF is usually implemented with SPADs or APDs.

      https://image-sensors-world.blogspot.com/2020/03/apple-releases-its-first-product-with.html

      Techinsights iPad LiDAR teardown shows an array of VCSELs right above the imager. It seems to have 4 horizontal lines of emitters.

      As for scanning or sequential flash, it's mostly a choice of words of their respective marketing departments.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousApril 5, 2020 at 3:15 PM

    OK. Thanks for the info - so it is a direct one. Still amazed that they could put an emitter array chip in a pad.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 6, 2020 at 4:24 PM

    I don't know how long their emitter lines are. But four lines of emitters is not a big deal. I guess their VCSEL array is below 2 USD.
    If the image with that cat is real Apple's angular resolution is rather coarse compared to the Ibeo 10k points.

    ReplyDelete

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