Voyant Photonics is pleased to announce the availability of the “CARBON” FMCW LiDAR sensor, which features the world's first truly effective and affordable LiDAR on a chip with solid-state beam steering. Carbon's highly integrated photonic silicon chip is the size of a fingernail and provides high-resolution, millimeter-accurate object detection and static/dynamic segmentation up to 200 m – all at a fraction of the cost of today's best-in-class LiDAR manufacturers.
Voyant achieved this exceptional performance and affordability by integrating optics into a LiDAR photonic integrated circuit (PIC). This low-cost 4D LiDAR sensor is designed to revolutionize machine perception capabilities in industrial, robotics and security applications.
Instantly identify any moving object in the scene
Carbon uses FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) technology. Unlike time-of-flight LiDAR, FMCW enables instantaneous velocity at any point in addition to traditional distance, reflectance and intensity measurement. This enables the “4D” capability: providing high-precision point cloud data with unprecedented accuracy to give applications a true real-time view of their environment up to 20 times per second. The instantaneous speed also enables vehicle ego positioning capability, which is extremely efficient in non-GPS environments and potentially makes a high-end inertial measurement unit (IMU) replaceable.
Works in all weather conditions and is immune to retroreflective objects
Voyant's Carbon outperforms best-in-class Time-of-Flight (ToF) LiDAR because it works in dust, fog, rain and snow and is immune to sunlight interference – especially at sunrise and sunset. The technology is also invulnerable to highly reflective objects, particularly retroreflectors (such as road signs, traffic cones and safety vests), which suffer from over-radiation and glare from outdated time-of-flight lidar devices.
Although the compact carbon only weighs 250g, it is robust, with IP67 dust and water protection and high shock and vibration resistance. In addition, the low power of FMCW laser technology ensures eye safety.
High resolution, wide angle and long range
Carbon's high resolution with a native 128 lines per image provides camera-level resolution and, combined with instantaneous speed measurement, enables high-precision detection and tracking of moving objects at a distance of up to 200 m. The field of view is 45° vertical and 90 ° horizontal. The maximum detectable radial speed is 63 m/s (140 mph). The sensor's software-defined LiDAR (SDL) allows customers to change the frame rate and adjust the field of view on the fly to focus on an area of interest on demand, making any small object detectable and classifiable.
Available to order now
Voyant's groundbreaking Carbon LiDAR is available to order now for a retail price of $1,490, with volume pricing and a two-year warranty. For more information, visit https://www.voyantphotonics.com
About Voyant Photonics
Voyant Photonics, a pioneering sensor innovator, has developed and brought to market a unique chip-scale LiDAR sensor technology. Voyant develops LiDAR-on-a-chip solutions for 3D sensing, offering competitive performance at breakthrough prices, sizes, weights and performance. Voyant leverages patented nano-optical approaches to provide a range of image sensors for a variety of applications including autonomous vehicles, drones, robotics and factory automation. Founded in 2018 by researchers at Cornell and Columbia universities, Voyant has raised over $20 million in funding to date. Voyant is based in New York City.