What is Solid-State Lidar?

The Benefits of Solid-State Lidar

Solid-state lidar is one of the cutting edge areas in the evolution of lidar technology. Unlike traditional systems that depend on mechanical parts such as spinning mirrors or rotating assemblies, solid-state lidar relies entirely on electronic or optical components to direct laser beams. Think of solid-state lidar like the solid-state drive (SSD) in your computer—just as SSDs offer faster speeds, greater reliability, improved durability, and lower power consumption compared to mechanical hard drives, solid-state lidar provides similar advantages over traditional mechanical lidar systems.

Solid-state lidar development has been primarily driven by advancements in the autonomous vehicle industry, which has invested significantly in this promising technology. Autonomous vehicle developers have both the resources and motivation to benefit greatly from solid-state lidar’s advantages. These advantages include increased reliability, more compact designs, reduced manufacturing and maintenance costs, lower power consumption, and enhanced durability under challenging environmental conditions such as shock, vibration, and harsh weather. Such attributes are critical not only for autonomous vehicles but also for related applications, including robotics and drones.

Solid Approaches to Solid-State Lidar

Currently, there are several approaches to achieving solid-state lidar. These include flash lidar, which illuminates entire scenes in one burst; optical phased array (OPA) lidar, leveraging arrays of integrated optical emitters and detectors on silicon chips; and metasurface beam-steering – using ultra-thin, nanostructured surfaces to electronically direct laser beams. Comment below if you would be interested in an article discussing these topics in more detail…

Ontology of Lidar

One notable advancement within solid-state lidar is chip-scale lidar technology. Solid-state lidar and chip-scale lidar are different concepts, though the terms are frequently used together. Chip-scale lidar integrates lidar functionality onto semiconductor chips, significantly reducing the size, power consumption, and cost compared to traditional lidar systems. Unlike general solid-state lidar, chip-scale lidar specifically refers to integrating lidar elements into microchips, enabling even greater miniaturization suitable for applications like consumer electronics, drones, and wearable devices. It’s a square-rectangle situation – not all solid-state lidar is chip-scale, but all chip-scale lidar is solid-state.

Time To Throw Out Your Old Disco Ball?

The transition to solid-state is not going to take place overnight. Some applications will be inherently more suitable for solid-state and the adoption will take place faster. For short range detection on autonomous vehicles, the revolution is here. For longer range detection that requires detailed resolution and a wide FOV, mechanic scanning is here for now. However, advancements in photonics, semiconductor technologies, and optical integration will lead to improvements.

That’s All Folks!

In summary, solid-state lidar represents a significant technological advancement with the potential to transform the lidar industry. The potential for cost reductions associated with chip-scale lidar will likely lead to a proliferation and democratization of lidar technology.

This post was inspired by a recent article by Sabbir Rangwala (Autonomy of Things) in Forbes titled, Lumotive Raises $45M For Chip Scale Light Management Chip that discusses Lumotive’s recent $45 million Series B funding round, to commercialize their optical chips that use metasurface beam-steering for 3D sensing in industrial applications, with plans to expand into automotive, consumer electronics, and optical communications sectors.

For a related topic, read What is Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) LiDAR?.

Photo credit: Lumotive LCM – https://lumotive.com/products/lek/.