Analog Devices announced a collaboration with First Sensor AG to develop products aimed at fastening the launch of autonomous sensing technology serving unmanned automotive, aerial and underwater vehicles in transportation, smart agriculture, industrial manufacturing and more. ADI and First Sensor are developing offerings that shrink the LIDAR signal chain to enable higher system performance, reduce size, weight, power and cost for manufacturers. They also plan to develop other LIDAR products for automotive and industrial manufacturing applications. Stewart Sellars, general manager, LIDAR at ADI, stated: “The first step in our working together is to optimize ADI’s industry leading transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs) with First Sensor’s avalanche photodiodes (APDs) so we can offer our customers more powerful and efficient LIDAR solutions, and better support the mass commercial launch of LIDAR systems into the autonomous transportation market,”
First Sensor and ADI will provide a common evaluation board with which system manufacturers can test the combined solution
The optimization of the interconnection between the APDs and TIAs is critical as it consistently influences the noise floor and bandwidth achieved. Improvements in these two parameters directly translate to LIDAR systems which can detect objects at longer range and with higher precision. Dr. Dirk Rothweiler, CEO of First Sensor said: “The market for LIDAR systems is maturing with customers expecting a renewed focus on implementing economically and technically compatible solutions. Adapting APDs and TIAs to each other is a logical next step in this evolution. By expanding our cooperation with Analog Devices, our customers will benefit from better LIDAR receiver performance.”
Next step: implementation of Drive360™ autonomous driving solutions strategy
The next phase of this collaboration will see the implementation of ADI’s Drive360™ autonomous driving solutions strategy. Drive360 suite of technologies leverage ADI’s core competencies in high performance MEMS, RF/mmWave, and photonics/optics technologies, allowing ADI to provide the automotive industry with holistic solutions and be a dedicated partner for highly automated and autonomous driving technology needs.
