WISDOM project aims for sharper machine vision

07 May 2025

Singapore/US program combines optics, optoelectronics and electronics in sensor research.

A joint US and Singapore research program has been created to develop next-generation 3D-sensing and machine vision systems.

The Wafer-scale Integrated Sensing Devices based on Optoelectronic Metasurfaces program, or WISDOM, brings together over 20 Singapore and US-based researchers. It has been initiated by MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART).

Jointly led by faculty from MIT and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, WISDOM will focus on developing ultra-thin, scalable sensing devices, helping machines such as autonomous vehicles and robots to perceive depth, shape and spatial detail safely and with more versatility.

"3D sensing is essential for many modern applications, from autonomous vehicles and robotics to augmented reality and medical diagnostics," commented the project.

"However, current systems still fall short of human-like perception capabilities, which pose limitations such as contextual unawareness and decision errors."

Current optical systems are also often bulky, expensive and difficult to mass-produce due to reliance on complex components and manual assembly. New materials such as optoelectronic metasurfaces show great potential, but it has been difficult so far to turn them into practical, widely used products.

To solve these challenges, WISDOM aims to develop compact solutions that are high performance and enable optoelectronic metasurfaces to be manufactured using standard semiconductor processes, ready for mass-market adoption.

Redefining the capabilities of lidar systems

Announcing the three-and-a-half year program, the researchers noted that WISDOM will capitalize on wafer-scale integration using standard silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processes, to revolutionize how meta-optical systems are produced.

"This is the first time a program is put together to study the combination of these three separate elements: optical metasurfaces; optoelectronic devices with a focus on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and vertical surface emitting laser arrays (VCSELs); and silicon CMOS electronics," said the project.

WISDOM's goal is to integrate the three distinct elements into a wafer-scale platform. This tri-element integration seeks to unlock new functionalities in optical metasurface technology, leading in turn to next-generation sensing systems with multi-modal illumination and detection, advanced displays with built-in high-speed communication, and biomedical devices with versatile light sources for diagnostics and therapeutics.

The first step on this path will be development of a high-performance metasurface-enabled lidar prototype, addressing challenges in scalability, integration and performance. By combining metasurface optics, optoelectronic devices, and CMOS electronics on a single silicon substrate, WISDOM "seeks to redefine the capabilities of lidar systems."

"WISDOM represents a paradigm shift in how meta-optical systems are integrated, from discrete assembly to wafer-scale packaging," commented Co-Lead Principal Investigator Jeujin Hu from SMART.

"Even at the research stage, we have clear objectives for bringing our innovations to market and for societal impact, enabling transformative sensing technologies for mass-market applications. WISDOM is designed to streamline manufacturing by eliminating costly and intricate die-to-die assembly, significantly improving throughput."