The leader in 3D LiDAR technology - ARPA-E · The leader in 3D LiDAR technology . The State of Solid-State 3D LiDAR And its effects on Power Consumption April 2019

www.velodynelidar.comThe leader in 3D LiDAR technology.

The State ofSolid-State 3D LiDARAnd its effects on Power ConsumptionApril 2019

www.velodynelidar.com

Introduction

• Founded in 1983 on $200K capital

• Origins in novel servo-driven subwoofers

• 3D LiDAR sensors invented in 2005

• $500,000,000 – 30,000 units shipped

• Legacy Production in Morgan Hill, CA.

• MegaFactory in San Jose, CA.

• Co-manufacturers Nikon & Veoneer(Autoliv)

• 600 Full-time Employees

www.velodynelidar.com3

Security

MilitaryTransport

MarineNavigation

Virtual Reality

Mapping in 3D

Navigation and Car Safety

NavigationHeavy

MachineryUAV

HDL-32 DesignIntroduced 2011

- 32 lasers over a 40 degree horizontal FoV.

- Close to 5,000 components.

- 20+ hrs. to hand manufacture and calibrate.

HDL-32 Design

- Roughly 25x12x3mm LxWxH- Over 50 Capacitors, Inverters, Rectifiers, Resistors, etc. on each PCB.- Over 100 for each laser/detector pair. (AKA – Channel or LiDAR Pixel)- Slow manufacturing process to align and calibrate each channel. - Highly specialized and difficult to integrate into different sensor packages.

ASIC Design

Laser + Detector + Optics are pre-aligned, offline, prior to final assembly

Single Stack vs. Array

Emitter Receiver

Solid-State ASIC Design

• Old PCB Technology

• Thousands of parts

– High number of failure modes.

• Relatively slow capacitor recharge time to fire the pulsing laser diode.

• High density electronics emit more heat and EMI/RF interference.

• Limited onboard diagnostics and no run-time environment.

• Design constraints due to size and operability of the laser channels.

• Difficult to Align + Calibrate.

• Solid-State ASIC

• Brings components from 5,000 to closer to 200.

• 10x-100x increase in firing rate for each LiDAR Pixel.

• Allows for higher LiDAR pixel density, smaller form factors.

• Integrated Circuit allows for smart sensing applications.

• Smaller and more integratableLiDAR Pixels can be used in a variety of form factors and new products.

Problems Solutions

Key Power Advantages for Velodyne- 905 nm uses less power compared to 1550nm

- Alpha Puck – 360 degree VLS-128 requires only 60 watts

- Comparable coverage with 1550nm LiDAR requires 4 sensors, 250 watts each

- Velodyne focuses on advanced Optics R&D to enhance photon density

- 3D LiDAR point clouds require considerably less Deep Learning processing power compared to Camera Images

Velarray – Solid-State Sensor

Solid-State, non-rotating sensor further reduces power with the removal of the spinning brushless DC motor.

www.velodynelidar.comThank You!