Intel LiDAR Reverse Engineering

SystemPlus publishes its reverse engineering of Intel L515 short-range LiDAR:

"The RealSense L515 is the third generation of 3D sensing camera from Intel and the first with a MEMS based solid-state LIDAR.

The 3D sensor has a minimum depth of 0.25m. It can scan environments up to 9m wide with a resolution depth of up to 1024×768 at 30 frames per second (fps). The system uses Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) from Intel for vision processing and MEMS control. This camera LIDAR with its machine vision processor is optimized for 3D scanning, smart building and robotic applications.

The RealSense L515 integrates an intelligent USB-C powered solid-state LIDAR camera in a compact aluminium case. It combines a conventional red/green/blue (RGB) color sensor, a near infrared LIDAR for 3D sensing. The LIDAR is based on an Edge-Emitting Laser (EEL) for the light source, a MEMS micro-mirror to scan the environment, a photodiode to measure the time of flight and optical lenses to focus the beam. The bi-axial micro-mirror from STMicroelectronics is the core of the scanning mechanism."