LiDAR LiDAR

LiDAR

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing technology that measures distance by irradiating a laser light on objects and catching the light reflected back with a photosensor. In recent years, great progress has been made towards realizing fully autonomous automobiles. LiDAR has high azimuth resolution, making it possible to find the distance, shape, and relative positions of surrounding vehicles, pedestrians, buildings, and other objects with high accuracy. This technology has attracted attention for its potential in various applications, including ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicles).
Hamamatsu offers a variety of devices for LiDAR, including pulsed laser diodes as light sources and Si APDs, InGaAs APDs, and MPPCs (SiPMs) as photosensors. We also offer custom support for these devices.

Hamamatsu Photonics Solutions for Automotive LiDAR

Mechanism of LiDAR

LiDAR for automobiles mainly uses the direct TOF method. This method calculates the distance by calculating the length of time for a light pulse to travel from its light source, be reflected off an object, and return to the sensor.

Relationship between light source / photosensor and wavelength

Comparison of photosensors

Parameter PIN photodiode APD MPPC®
Measurement distance Short Middle Long
Readout circuit TIA required TIA required Simple circuit design
Operation voltage Up to 10 V 100 to 200 V Up to several tens of V
Gain 1 10 to 100 105
Temperature characteristics Excellent Fair Good
Response speed Good Good Excellent
Tolerance to background light Excellent Good Good

Recommended products

This device features low voltage operation and small variation in characteristics with temperature changes, which allows easy handling. It is mainly used in short distance applications.

This Si APD has sensitivity to the emission wavelength of the LiDAR laser (905 nm). It is mainly used for medium to long distances.

This device integrates a Si APD and front-end IC. It occupies a smaller mounting area on the substrate compared to discrete semiconductors.

This device integrates a 16-channel Si APD array and front-end IC. It is capable of reading the output from all 16 channels simultaneously.

This is a photon-counting device using multiple APD pixels operating in Geiger mode. It is mainly used in long distance applications.

This PIN photodiode is mainly used for LiDAR with a wavelength of 1550 nm (the eye safe band).

This APD is mainly used for LiDAR with a wavelength of 1550 nm (the eye safe band). It has a dark current significantly reduced from that of conventional products.

This 3-stack pulsed laser diode offers a sharp light emission pattern. We offer two wavelength types: 870 nm, 905 nm.

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