Abstract
University of Central Florida researchers have developed an innovation in remote sensing technology that may help speed the large-scale deployment of LIDAR (light detection and ranging) in autonomous vehicles. With its novel few-mode (FM) preamplified receiver architecture, the new UCF LIDAR system has demonstrated a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that is almost an order of magnitude higher than that of other systems. Besides providing much improved sensitivity and signal quality, the new eye-safe LIDAR system also allows for lower transmitter (laser) power, and thus, reduced costs.
Technical Details
The invention is a LIDAR system that attaches to the roof or front of a motor vehicle. The system includes a transmitter with amodulated infrared light source that emits an optical signal toward an object. It also includes a receiver that collects light reflected from the object. The receiver consists of a few-mode pre-amplifier, such as an Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) or a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), which supports two or more spatial modes. The system outputs the amplified signal to a photodetector with a p-intrinsic-n (PIN) photodiode and a processing unit.
Benefit
Provides better signal quality at longer distances than existing LIDAR systemsEnables the use of lower power, less costly lasers as transmittersUses PIN detectors, which are two to three times cheaper than current avalanche photodiode (APD) detector technologyMarket Application
Receiver for 1550 nm LIDAR systemsPublications
Improving the Sensitivity of LiDARs Using Few-Mode Pre-amplified Receivers, Frontiers in Optics / Laser Science OSA Technical Digest , Optical Society of America, 2018, conference paper FW7A.2
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