Osram and GaN Systems unveil fast high-power multichannel laser driver for lidar

Osram Opto Semiconductors (Regensburg, Germany) has announced an ultrafast laser driver with a high-power, multichannel surface-mount (SMT) laser for lidar systems. Osram and GaN Systems (Ottawa, ON, Canada) partnered to develop the device, which they say enables longer range and higher resolution lidar architectures. Osram has increased the peak power of the SPL DS90A_3 pulsed nanostack laser-diode chip to 120 W at 40 A. In addition, Osram plans to release a four-channel SMT laser in 2019. The additional channels increase the field of view and total peak power, with each channel being capable of generating 120 W.

One of the issues with lidar technology, says Osram, has been its inability to transmit laser light in short pulses while maintaining high peak power, which is necessary to ensure that the lidar is eye-safe with a long range and high resolution. To address this need, Osram worked with GaN Systems to develop a laser driver with a 1 ns pulse rise time while driving all four channels at 40 A each to deliver 480 W peak power. This peak power then can be modulated at low-duty cycles to produce high resolution 3D cloud points at long range for new lidar designs.

Scanning lidar is a key technology for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), which are designed to increase road safety and enable autonomous driving. These electronic devices react instantly to potential collisions without wasting precious seconds of reaction time. Scanning lidar creates high-resolution 3D images of a car's surroundings and registers obstacles early enough for ADAS or self-driving cars to initiate the appropriate driving maneuvers, such as automatic braking to prevent collisions.

Source: Osram Opto Semiconductors