Succeeded in miniaturization of "LIDAR (Rider)" sensing technology that dramatically advances automated driving cars and robots

The remote sensing technology which can analyze the distance and the property to the object at a long distance by using ultraviolet ray, visible light, near infrared ray, etc. rather than a radio wave like "radar" is "LIDAR (rider)"is. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have succeeded in mounting the rider's sensor on one extremely small chip, and the evolution of automatic driving cars and robot recognition technology It is expected.

MIT and DARPA Pack Lidar Sensor onto Single Chip - IEEE Spectrum
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/optoelectronics/mit-lidar-on-a-chip

A rider (Light Detection And Ranging) is a technology similar to radar, but since the wavelength length is one hundred thousandth level of a laser beam of radio waves, it can not be detected by radar or a small substance such as aerosol or cloud particles It is suitable for detection. Riders are also important for the development of robot technology, and if you make a robot that only has radar, you can not detect small substances, which makes it difficult to analyze complex objects.

The rider measures the distance of the object by radiating the light beam and receiving the reflection signal, and at that time it can measure not only the distance but also the moving speed and material composition of the object. By measuring multiple points in the surroundings you can also create a complete 3D model. In recent years riders have been used in fields such as automatic driving cars, robotics engineering, geology, ocean mapping, drone, etc. Riders are essential systems for almost all robots that autonomously operate.


Most rider systems used today require optical components and receivers like lasers and lenses. The precision of these rider systems is limited by the size, complexity, long-term reliability in harsh environments, etc. A state-of-the-art rider system on the market is sold at $ 1,000 (about 100,000 yen) to $ 7000 (about 720,000 yen), and the cost becomes higher as the size of the device becomes smaller. If it is compact, it will be easier to install on automated driving cars and robots, but mounting an expensive rider module will hinder productization.

MIT's Photonic & Micro Group has succeeded in mounting this expensive and large rider system module on the microchip and is trying to mass-produce it inexpensively in a commercial CMOS factory. This "rider chip" is expected to produce several million units a year at a low price of 10 dollars (about 1000 yen) per one by manufacturing on a 300 mm diameter large diameter wafer. Do not use a movable mechanism for rider chipsBeam steering, Which realized a speed of over 1000 times that of the current mechanical rider system, and that the scanning speed can also be increased.


MIT to realize riders' chipsSilicon photonicsWe have already developed a method to manufacture silicon · photonics in the same mass production line as computer microprocessor etc. after 10 years development research period. The rider tip at the moment can scan a range of up to 2 meters and a minimum 5 cm and will be expanded to 10 meters within one year. Ultimately the possible scan distance is also expected to reach 100 meters.

The rider system installed in Google's automated driving car cost more than $ 75,000 (about 7,700,000 yen), but it has a huge device that overlooks 360 degrees on the roof . Since MIT's rider chips are going to be commercialized in a few years, it seems that they can play a role in the appearance of an automatic driving car that looks refreshing at a low cost.

"Eye" cost of automatic driving car, laser becomes obstacle - WSJ