Toshiba recently announced significant progress in downsizing the laser projector portion of their LiDAR to one-quarter the size of the previous iteration, which was introduced in June 2021. Using two of the new projector modules, the new LiDAR has a volume of only 206 cubic cm and can fit comfortably into the palm of the hand. It now has a range of 300m and an industry-leading image resolution of 120084 pixels. It can be built with a variety of flexible projector unit combinations to address a wide range of long-range and wide-angle detecting applications.
Toshiba palm-sized LiDAR will accelerate progress in key application areas of autonomous driving and infrastructure monitoring, as well as pave the opportunity for collaboration in other areas such as robotics, drones, and small security devices.
Toshiba’s solution is a LiDAR with many tiny projector units as laser beam sources. They all emit the same eye-safe beam in the same direction, extending the effective range. This method also reduces the total size of the LiDAR.
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The advancements that resulted in the improved LiDAR began with reducing the volume of the projector unit to 71cubic cm. This was accomplished through the use of an innovative circuit design that decreased the size of the motor control board by 60% compared to the prior prototype, as well as the use of 3D component mounting know-how to reposition components and lenses.
Toshiba revealed that a LiDAR equipped with two of the new projectors has a range of 300m, which is 1.5 times more than its prior prototype equipped with a single projector. In extremely intense sunshine, 100,000 lux, the two-projector LiDAR revealed significantly more detail in the scanned image than its predecessor.
The ability to customize the LiDAR for long-range and wide-angle scanning is enabled by combining numerous projectors and fine-tuning control of the generated laser. This will broaden its application to fields such as autonomous guided vehicles, which require combining wide-angle views with long-range route monitoring.
The technology, in our opinion, will have an impact on the growth of palm-sized LiDAR or miniature LiDAR sensors in a variety of industry sectors, including 3D data capture capabilities for autonomous vehicles, 3D mapping, infrastructure monitoring, and drones. LiDAR sensors based on this new architecture will be less expensive, easier to integrate, and more dependable due to fewer moving parts.
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These types of advancements are dramatically raising the bar for what can be expected from LiDAR sensors in terms of cost, size, and reliability. Nonetheless, advances in integrated circuits to address various areas of LiDAR functionality are paving the way for a new generation of dependable, compact, and cost-competitive LiDAR systems. And, with advancements in integrated circuit design, it is reasonable to anticipate more compact, dependable, and accurate LiDAR sensors in the future.
