News: Optoelectronics
6 January 2025
Voyant launches FMCW LiDAR sensor on a chip
Light detection & ranging (LiDAR) solution provider Voyant Photonics of Long Island City, NY, USA has announced the availability of the CARBON frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) LiDAR sensor, featuring what is claimed to be the first truly effective and affordable LiDAR on a chip with solid-state beam steering.
Developed to revolutionize machine perception capabilities in industrial, robotics and security applications, the low-cost 4D LiDAR sensor’s highly integrated silicon photonic chip is fingernail-sized and provides high-resolution, millimeter precision, object detection and static/dynamic segmentation up to 200m, at a fraction of the cost of existing best-in-class LiDAR makers, it is claimed.
Voyant says that it has achieved this performance and affordability by integrating optics on a LiDAR photonic integrated circuit (PIC).
Instant identification of moving objects
Unlike time-of-flight (ToF) LiDAR, FMCW LiDAR enables instant velocity at each point on top of traditional distance, reflectivity and intensity measurement. This provides ‘4D’ capability: providing high-fidelity point cloud data with unparalleled accuracy, to give applications a true real-time view of their environment, up to 20 times per second. Instant velocity also enables vehicle to have ego-positioning capabilities, which is extremely efficient in GPS-denied environments and potentially makes a high-end inertial measurement unit (IMU) substitutable.
Operation in all weather conditions, and immune to retroreflective objects
CARBON is claimed to outperform best-in-class ToF LiDAR in operating through dust, fog, rain and snow, as well as being immune to sunlight interference – most notably at sunrise and sunset. The technology is also invulnerable to highly reflective objects, particularly retroreflectors (such as street signs, traffic cones, and safety vests), that suffer from blooming, blinding legacy ToF LiDARs.
Despite weighing just 250g, the compact-size CARBON is robust, with IP67 dust and water protection, with strong shock and vibration endurance. In addition, the low power required by FMCW laser technology ensures eye safety.
High-resolution, wide-angle and long-range
CARBON’s high resolution of native 128 lines per frame provides camera-level resolution and, coupled with instant velocity measurement, it enables highly accurate detection and tracking of moving objects up to 200m away. The field of view is 45° vertical and 90° horizontal. Maximum detectable radial velocity is 63m/s (140mph). The sensor’s software-defined LiDAR (SDL) allows users to modify the frame rate and adjust the field of view during operation, to focus on a zone of interest when and where it is needed and make any small object detectable and classifiable.
Voyant is demonstrating CARBON at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2025) in booth #3175 in the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), West Hall Vehicle – Tech and Advanced Mobility section.
The CARBON LiDAR is available for order now, at $1490 for single units, with volume pricing available, and a two-year warranty.
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