Baraja are based in Sydney, Australia. They’ve devised a novel lidar technology based around wavelength-tuneable lasers, and now say they have signed a deal with a major automotive manufacturer that should see the hardware deployed in vehicles. Baraja say they have entered the agreement alongside Veoneer, with the aim of accelerating the scale-up in production required for automotive integration.
The Baraja Spectrum HD25 lidar is based on the company’s proprietary Spectrum-Scan solid-state scanning platform. When this company emerged in 2018, they revealed this original approach based on tuneable lasers emitting around the telecommunications wavelength of 1.5 µm.
Baraja founding engineers Federico Collarte and Cibby Pulikkaseril had the idea to use components and technologies that were already mature; volume-produced; ultra-reliable, and affordable by dint of their extensive use in optical telecommunications. Their lidar’s concept based on tuneable semiconductor laser and dispersive optics is very simple compared to the complexity of other solid-state technologies.
Baraja say the Spectrum HD25, the latest iteration of that approach, can use the inherent advantages of a Doppler system without the higher costs usually associated with using frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) lidar capture both the position and velocity of other road users.
The HD25 can deliver a range in excess of 250 meters with a wide field of view, from a compact system combining the laser transmitter, receiver, and fast-axis beam steering components on a single, integrated, wafer-scale package. Baraja say it “delivers the world’s first lidar system combining per-point Doppler capability at the hardware level, with Spectrum-Scan and random modulation continuous wave (RMCW) ranging method to deliver unparalleled performance and accuracy at range and speed”.
Veoneer initially chose to partner with Baraja after extensively evaluating 70 lidar technology companies globally. They chose Baraja based on their robust technology and product roadmap that lends itself to be among the smallest-size lidar technology to enable large-scale vehicle integration.
Baraja raised USD $32m in a series A round of financing in late 2018 and followed that up with a $31m series B effort last year, shortly before embarking on the collaboration with Veoneer.
DVN comment
The possibility to classify point clouds by their doppler is another advantage of radars. A single cycle of measure is sufficient to filter echoes by their speeds and quickly isolate a relevant obstacle. Other lidars spend numerous cycles of image’s depth segmentations to evaluate relative speeds of objects. The use of per-point Doppler in HD25 lidar makes that this sensor can merge radar’s performances in term of early objects separation by their speeds.