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Lidar is an essential technology for autonomous vehicles as it helps in recognizing and detecting surrounding objects. Now, researchers at KTH Sweden, have taken aim at a key component of the lidar, optical beamsteering, and developed a device, that is significantly cheaper to manufacture, lighter and more resource efficient than previous variations of the technology. This advance could pave the way for smaller autonomous craft such as drones and robots, and help enable better profitability in the vehicle industry.
Current lidar technology costs thousands of dollars, weighs around one kilo and consumes several watts of power. The new version of lidar being developed at KTH is in another league altogether. According to Carlos Errando-Herranz, a postdoc in the Division of Micro and Nanosystems, this version of lidar would cost about USD 10 each given large production volumes, weigh a few grams (including peripheral equipment) and consume some 100 milliwatts. The research was reported in the journal Optics Letters.
According to Errando-Herranz, the miniaturized beamsteering device measures approximately 100 micrometres, and is best observed under a microscope. It has been developed using the same production techniques used for manufacturing accelerometers and gyroscopes for smartphones. This means the costs can be really low on large volumes. The technology can enable more craft, such as robots or drones, to be self-flying or self-driving for example, according to the researchers.
The advance could also eliminate the need for remote control on drones that are designed to deliver emergency medical equipment to remote places, such as defibrillators, says Kristinn B. Gylfason, Associate Professor at KTH. According to him, robots and drones are absolutely possible application areas. Current lidar systems are also too expensive for self-driving cars. The vehicle industry is very cost sensitive. Other possibilities are facial recognition for smartphones, such as Apple’s Face ID.
The difference with the KTH approach to lidar is that it uses micro-electromechanical optical beam steering. A traditional lidar is based on mounting an array of lasers on a rotating tower, like the Velodyne puck. The newer approach to lidar is based on integrated micro-opto-mechanics, where the KTH researchers have built a tuneable grating into the surface of a silicon chip. By modifying the grating period, they decide in which direction the beam should sweep.
Optical beam steering can also be used for three dimensional imaging in medical diagnostics, with a technique known as Optical Coherence Tomography. With this miniaturized technology, a scanner could be inserted into the body during keyhole surgery and used to identify changes in tissues.
Published Paper: Low-Power Optical Beam Steering by Micro-electromechanical Waveguide Gratings
