Scantinel Photonics, a German company developing frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) lidar, has demonstrated what it claims to be the world’s first full solid-state parallelized FMCW 5D+ lidar system based on its photonic integrated circuit (PIC). “The first lidar demonstrator based on 5D+ full solid state will be available by the middle of this year,” stated company MD, Dr Michael Richter.
The company states that FMWC lidar is a key enabler for long-range (>300m) measurements and enables direct velocity measurement in every pixel, which is not possible for ToF (time-of-flight) systems. The 5D+ full solid-state scanning system measures three-dimensional vector, velocity, reflectivity and meta information and is said to have superior robustness and scanning rate potential. To reduce potential reliability issues, the company has also made efforts to cut the number of mechanical moving scanning parts.
It is claimed that FMCW lidar based on a PIC presents significant cost reduction potential thanks to an easily scalable manufacturing process.