Development of SWIR 3D Lidar System with Low Optical Power Using 1 Channel Single Photon Detector

Now that the development of autonomous driving is progressing, LiDAR has become an indispensable element. However, LiDAR is a device that uses lasers, and laser side effects may occur. One of them is the much-talked-about eye-safety, and developers have been satisfying this through laser characteristics and operation methods. But eye-safety is just one of the problems lasers pose. For example, irradiating a laser with a specific energy level or higher in a dusty environment can cause deterioration of the dust particles, leading to a sudden explosion. For this reason, the dust ignition proof regulations clearly state that "a source with a pulse period of less than 5 seconds is considered a continuous light source, and the average energy does not exceed 5 mJ/mm 2 or 35 mW" [2]. Energy of output optical power is limited by the law. In this way, the manufacturer cannot define the usage environment of the LiDAR, and the development of a LiDAR that can be used in such an environment can increase the ripple effect in terms of use in application fields using the LiDAR. In this paper, we develop a LiDAR with low optical power that can be used in environments where high power lasers can cause problems, evaluate its performance. Also, we discuss and present one of the directions for the development of LiDAR with laser power limited by dust ignition proof regulations.

1채널 단일광자검출기를 이용한 낮은 광출력의 SWIR(Short Wave Infrared) 3D 라이다 시스템 개발