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31 Dec 2024
New York startup says its 'Carbon' sensor is the first affordable on-chip lidar with solid-state beam steering.
Voyant Photonics, a lidar startup based in the heart of New York City, says its new chip-scale sensor - harnessing frequency modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) technology - will become available at next week’s CES 2025 event, at the eye-catching price of $1490.
Known as “Carbon”, the silicon photonics device operates at 1550 nm and is described as “the world's first truly effective and affordable lidar on a chip with solid-state beam steering”.
Aimed at robotics applications, it is said to be capable of high-resolution, millimeter-scale precision, and a range of up to 200 meters.
FMCW performance
Though requiring significantly more complex photonics engineering than conventional lidar units, FMCW technology offers major advantages by capturing both positional and velocity data, alongside the possibility of mass production and an extremely compact design.
Other developers of FMCW lidar sensors include Aurora Innovation, Aeva, Bajara, SiLC Technologies, and Scantinel Photonics, although the approach is currently regarded as a significantly more costly option than conventional lidar.
“Voyant has achieved this exceptional performance and affordability by integrating optics on a lidar photonic integrated circuit (PIC),” claims the firm, whose headquarters is just off Times Square.
“This low-cost 4D lidar sensor was developed to revolutionize machine perception capabilities in industrial, robotics, and security applications.”
The company points out that the FMCW approach also enables so-called vehicle “ego-positioning” capabilities - the ability to determine the location and orientation of a robot - in GPS-denied environments.
“Voyant's Carbon outperforms best-in-class time-of-flight (ToF) lidar in operating through dust, fog, rain, and snow, and being immune to sunlight interference - most notably at sunrise and sunset,” it claims.
“The technology is also invulnerable to highly-reflective objects, particularly retroreflectors (such as street signs, traffic cones, and safety vests), that suffer from blooming, blinding legacy ToF lidars.”
Vital statistics
The startup adds that its new sensor’s vital statistics include a weight of only 250 g, alongside IP67-level dust and water protection, and strong shock and vibration endurance.
“Carbon's high resolution of native 128 lines per frame provides camera-level resolution, and coupled with instant velocity measurement, enables highly accurate detection and tracking of moving objects up to 200 m away,” it says.
“The field of view is 45° vertical and 90° horizontal. Maximum detectable radial velocity is 63 m/s (140 mph).”
Co-founded by chief science officer Chris Phare and CTO Steven Miller, who had both worked on lidar development while at Michal Lipson’s nanophotonics research group at Columbia University, Voyant raised $15 million in a series A funding round three years ago .
The company says that the Carbon lidar is available to order now, at a price of $1490 for a single unit, with a two-year warranty. Volume pricing is also available, while according to Voyant’s web site its “Titanium” sensor - which adds optical amplification for a longer range and will be aimed at automotive applications - is coming soon.
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