INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
It seems like every company making lidar has a new and clever approach, but Baraja takes the cake
Its method is not only elegant and powerful, but fundamentally avoids many issues that nag other lidar technologies
my handy introduction to the topic
selecting which color came out of the prism, sending more light to the top part of the scene (red and orange) or middle (yellow and green)
we could set the light free, send it through prism-like optics, then we could steer a laser beam without moving parts
and worked on it for a few months with a friends and family round, anyway
laser at a single wavelength (1550 nanometers, well into the infrared, is the lidar standard), Baraja uses a set of fixed lenses to refract
that beam into a spectrum spread vertically over its field of view
differently through the lenses
problems other lidars are facing or about to face.First, there are next to no moving parts whatsoever in the entire Baraja system
Spinning lidars like the popular early devices from Velodyne are being replaced at large by ones using metamaterials, MEMS, and other
The engine, which can be located nearby or a foot or two away, produces the laser and sends it to the head via a fiber-optic cable (and some
kind of proprietary mechanism that rotates slowly enough that it could theoretically work for years continuously)
The head itself also can be resized more or less arbitrarily without significantly altering the optical design, Collarte said.Second, the
method of diffracting the beam gives the system considerable leeway in how it covers the scene
Different wavelengths are sent out at different vertical angles; a shorter wavelength goes out toward the top of the scene and a slightly
longer one goes a little lower
But the band of 1550 +/- 20 nanometers allows for millions of fractional wavelengths that the system can choose between, giving it the
ability to set its own vertical resolution.It could for instance (these numbers are imaginary) send out a beam every quarter of a nanometer
in wavelength, corresponding to a beam going out every quarter of a degree vertically, and by going from the bottom to the top of its
frequency range cover the top to the bottom of the scene with equally spaced beams at reasonable intervals.But why waste a bunch of beams on
the sky, say, when you know most of the action is taking place in the middle part of the scene, where the street and roads are? In that case
you can send out a few high frequency beams to check up there, then skip down to the middle frequencies, where you can then send out beams
with intervals of a thousandth of a nanometer, emerging correspondingly close together to create a denser picture of that central region.If
the spectrum beam provides against interference from other lidar systems
It is an emerging concern that lidar systems of a type could inadvertently send or reflect beams into one another, producing noise and
hindering normal operation
frequency match and come in at the precise angle at which that frequency emerges from and returns to the lens
set of pulses that can be individually identified
to good use here.Collarte acknowledged that competition is fierce in the lidar space, but not necessarily competition for customers
Many are running out of money
solution is not merely a good idea technically, but that it is a sound investment and reasonable to deploy at volume
Collarte praised his investors, Sequoia and Blackbird, but also said that the company will be announcing significant partnerships soon, both
in automotive and beyond.
