SiLC Technologies Inc., a compact vision sensor startup, has introduced what it claims is the first frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) lidar transceiver for industrial robots and autonomous vehicles.
The heart of the Eyeonic vision sensor is a silicon photonic chip that integrates lidar into a single, tiny chip that provides depth, velocity and dual-polarization intensity information allowing immunity to multi-user and environmental interference.
The lidar brings together high-performance components into a single silicon chip through a mature fabrication process into a compact and low power option.
"Eyeonic represents one giant step forward in the quest to bring true vision to machines," said Kris Peng, president at UMC Capital. “This is the first step toward a scalable, lightweight, low-cost solution that can measure the full motion of any object — without any prior training.”
SiLC intends to make the technology available to all systems integrators and end-users starting with companies in autonomy, security and industrial applications.
The Eyeonic comes in two configurations — fiber and fiberless — and relies upon vision sensors to embrace market opportunities. Fiberless vision sensors enable low cost in a compact configuration and the fiber Eyeonic allows for design flexibility by supporting configurations where the FMCW lidar transceiver and scanning unit are at different locations.
