A Brief Tutorial on Solid-State LiDAR

Solid -State LiDAR: The beginning of new era of 3D Scanning

Over the past few years, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) has become more popular as well as affordable than it was once. In a simple language, LiDAR calculates the distance of things from you. LiDAR is a surveying method that measures the distance to a target by highlighting the target with laser lights and measures the laser reflections with a sensor to get an accurate distance. With the evolution of modern technologies, LiDAR also has seen advancements. Solid-State LiDAR has come up with a small and cheap tool enough for everyone to use. A new era of LiDAR is approaching very soon. Here is everything you need to know about Solid-state LiDAR.

Solid-State LiDAR

Also read: A Complete Guide To What Is Lidar: Light Detection And Ranging

Solid-State LiDAR: Check the real heck here

Solid-state LiDAR is nothing but a LiDAR on a microchip. You all are aware of computer microchips. Right? A microchip is an integration of working with the separate transistors and capacitors. Solid-State LiDAR does the same thing. It integrates the different mechanical parts into a single microchip.

By eliminating the mechanical parts, Solid-State LiDAR gains a lot of benefits. Firstly, it is amazingly small in size. The researchers have managed to develop Solid-state LiDAR chips that are only of hundred microns in size, pretty much smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

The DARPA Program Manager explains “We’ve been able to transform what currently is the largest and most expensive part of laser-scanning systems into something that could be inexpensive, robust and fabricated using the same manufacturing technology as silicon microchips.”

Uses and Benefits of using Solid-State LiDAR

The solid-State LiDAR is a big deal for the customers as it likely makes the technology omnipresent. The technology can be easily implemented in cell phones, self-driving vehicles, and many more places that are far from its reach. However, it will also be a big deal for the commercial users regarding following points:

Speed

Besides of cost and compact size, the solid-state LiDAR has the significant advantage of speed which allows fast building plans, security scans, drone mapping and so on.

Better SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping)

The solid-state LiDAR will be able to make use of SLAM efficiently than the terrestrial scanner. The device will be excellent at creating a map of space and can simultaneously use that map to figure out its location within that space.

Live-Mapping

The Live Mapping will also be possible by using Solid-state LiDAR. It will undoubtedly allow project teams to stream data back to the office in real time. Thus, the data process will be rapid as well as viewed right to perform the mapping.

Breaking the Point Boundary

Up till now, it was difficult for scanners to cross “1 Million Point boundary” with one laser and one sensor. Thus, with the introduction of Solid-state LiDAR, the next logical step would seem to be of multiple sensors, laser scanners, etc. would be a considerable leap indeed!

To conclude, the solid-state LiDAR scanners will certainly lead to a whole new era of 3D Imaging for customers and commercial users.

Source: https://blog.nibt.education/2018/03/what-is-solid-state-lidar/