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Velodyne VLP-16 LiDAR 

March 28, 2018 | College Park, Maryland

On occasion I get extremely lucky. This is one of those times. 

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This semester I am taking a course titled "Remote Sensing." In essence, remote sensing focuses on LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) which uses geometric properties, lasers, and detectors to determine the distance the instrument is from an object. This is one of the fundamental technologies incorporated into Autonomous Vehicles.

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Now, it is worth noting the recent shortcomings with Autonomous Vehicles. A couple of weeks ago, an autonomous vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona. This tragic event should never happen, and it is still unclear who or what was at fault.

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That being said, Velodyne, an industry leader in LiDAR systems for autonomous vehicles released a statement saying their technology was not at fault.

Nevertheless, my professor for Remote Sensing allowed me and a friend to tinker around with a Velodyne VLP-16 "puck." This technology was simply fascinating. We were able to map the entire lab around us and even pick up hand signals 30 feet away.

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The computer interface created a map based on the point cloud of the room. This map could be colored coded based on distance, height, and intensity. 

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I was particularly curious about the systems' reaction to specific obstructions. I tested a concave lens, plane mirror, and additional laser source. Then, I recorded and noted the room mapping response to each object.

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For the mirror, the (16) LiDAR laser beams reflected and scattered at roughly the same angle of incidence. [Side note: I'm not sure what the absorptivity of the mirror is]. This was expected, but still interesting to see how the system reacted.

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For the lens, the room map had a complete blank spot. Now I'm sure there is some physics behind the lens concavity and where the beams should converge, but I did not expect a completely blank spot. This could raise  design concerns in the future particularly if similar behavior occurs through other features.

 

Lastly, I simply pointed a laser pointer at the puck and it was completely unaffected. From what I could tell, the protective screen around the sensor opening diffused most direct light. 

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Takeaways

I was blown away by the technology's accuracy and mapping ability. It was simply fascinating. I'm extremely grateful to work hands-on with the technology that's driving the Autonomous Vehicles industry. 

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Looking forward

I will be building a LiDAR instrument for the Remote Sensing course which will be no where near as complex as the Velodyne system. Time permitting, I would like to build an even more complex system and run further tests on the Velodyne VLP-16

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