The platform, which is intended to speed up the adoption of next generation 3D lidar sensors for mobility and industrial applications such as autonomous navigation of robots in logistics environments, comprises of Lumotive’s LM10 LCM beam steering chip and Gpixel’s GTOF0503 sensor.
"Autonomy and automation are the future, and 3D sensing using lidar is a key enabler for both these megatrends,” said Rakinder Grover, Vice President Strategy and Partnerships at Lumotive. “Working with Gpixel we have delivered the industry’s first-ever Lidar 2.0 reference design based on our optical semiconductor solutions for high-volume mobility and industrial products that require feature-rich, cost-effective, solid-state lidar capabilities.”
According to the company, unlike traditional flash illumination solutions, lidar sensors based on LCM electronic beam steering have numerous advantages such as:
- Superior outdoor range performance compared with flash illumination
- Software-defined scan modes for increased and application-specific performance (range, field of view, frame rate, resolution) only where it matters
- Reduced multipath effects resulting in better point cloud quality
- Optimisation of illumination across the field of view in high ambient light levels and for varying levels of reflectivity
- Significantly improved interference mitigation from other sensors
“The pairing of Gpixel’s GTOF0503 indirect time-of-flight image sensor with Lumotive’s LM10 beam steering chip provides a solution for medium to long range 3D applications, and highlights both the precision and flexibility offered by Gpixel’s sensor,” said Wim Wuyts, Chief Commercial Officer at Gpixel. “We are especially excited about the performance enhancements possible for robot navigation in logistics environments, where Lumotive’s lidar solution offers improved speed and accuracy.”
The first version of the M30 Reference Design Platform is currently being evaluated by a number of lidar systems developers, ToF camera makers, and industrial OEMs.
The next generation of the platform with look to enhance performance and will be optimised for volume manufacturing. It will be available by mid-2023.
