Baraja, developer of Spectrum-Scan LiDAR technology for autonomous vehicles, showcased its industry-first per-point Doppler capabilities, demonstrating significant progress toward the first Random Modulation Continuous Wave (RMCW) LiDAR to deliver Doppler capabilities embedded in the hardware.
The LiDAR is the latest in a series of technological advancements Baraja has achieved with its Spectrum HD technology, designed for automotive integration at scale.
Baraja will be demonstrating its Doppler capability on its proven Spectrum-Scan LiDAR technology, revolutionizing the autonomous driving landscape by helping vehicles accurately measure the velocity of moving objects and fully understand the world around them.
Traditional LiDAR systems typically rely on computationally intensive, frame-to-frame estimations of velocity, requiring tradeoffs in performance, accuracy, and timeliness of critical measurements. Spectrum HD uses RMCW (Random Modulation Continuous Wave) and homodyne detection to measure the distance and velocity of an object. This means that every point, and every object within the scene, has its velocity directly measured, instantly. By combining this detection with Spectrum-Scan and RMCW, Spectrum HD helps reliable detection of objects,?from pedestrians to vehicles or animals,?at long range and speed to enable safer autonomous driving.
Instantaneous per point Doppler velocity measurement, at speed, also enables Spectrum HD to help detect critical edge cases ensuring autonomous vehicles can understand and react to extreme scenarios quickly. By measuring and differentiating objects at speed and long distance, Spectrum HD will enable autonomous vehicles to detect and track small, individual objects such as pedestrians at range, and monitor for sudden changes in movement, which require fast reaction from the vehicle.
"Per-point Doppler at the hardware level is critical to enabling safer and more reliable autonomous driving," says Federico Collarte, Founder and CEO of Baraja. "We are proud to be the first company to have accomplished this with a RMCW Spectrum-Scan LiDAR. We continue to meet our milestones and are excited to develop a product that the automotive industry desperately needs."
In 2021, Baraja announced Spectrum HD, a world-first LiDAR system ready for full autonomy at scale. Spectrum HD delivers high-performance sensing at range, with per-point Doppler capability at the hardware level to enable automotive integration at scale. This announcement is further confirmation Baraja is on track.