The innovative Light Control Metasurface (LCM) technology offers a digital beam steering solution that increases efficiency and versatility in 3D lidar sensing applications.
Lumotive has launched the LM10, the first complete production of innovative Light Control Metasurface (LCM) technology, setting a new standard as the world’s first digital beam steering solution. The company claims that digital beam steering surpasses traditional lidar sensor constraints by offering better cost efficiency, size, and reliability than mechanical systems. As pure solid-state optical semiconductors optimized for large-scale production, the LCMs chart a path for the next wave of lidar technology, expanding its horizons into innovative applications and establishing a worldwide standard for smart 3D sensing. Designed for mid and short-range scenarios, the LM10 heralds this new era, influencing a broad spectrum of solutions from object tracking to self-guided navigation.
The digital beam steering offers an ultra-wide 160-degree Field Of View (FOV) in the steering axis. With a 10x9mm active aperture area, it’s versatile enough to fit a variety of system designs. It provides true solid-state, zero-inertia beam steering and supports software-definable, non-sequential dynamic scanning. Furthermore, it’s compatible with all lasers, including Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) and Edge-Emitting Laser (EEL). The quest for a highly efficient, mass-manufacturable approach to beam steering has remained a hurdle for solid-state lidar to emerge as the universal go-to in 3D sensing. But that gap has been bridged with Lumotive’s digital beam steering, empowered by the LCM technology. This technology provides the efficacy of a scanning lidar sensor, sidestepping the challenges of cost, size, and dependability that plague mechanical systems. This ushers in a transformative era of lidar, democratizing top-tier 3D sensing for applications of every scale.
“After eight years of rigorous R&D, we are thrilled to bring the first-ever solid-state optical beam steering product to market,” said Dr. Gleb Akselrod, Founder and CTO of Lumotive. “LCM technology, which uses the revolutionary physics of dynamic metasurfaces to steer light without any moving parts actively, is enabling never before seen capabilities in 3D sensing and many other applications where software-controlled optical beamforming is critical.”
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