Light detector adds awareness to autonomous vehicles
Autonomous vehicles could be given extra awareness thanks to a unique light detecting device that can more accurately amplify weak signals reflected from faraway objects.
Developed by engineers at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Virginia, the first-of-its-kind device promises to give autonomous vehicles a fuller picture of what is happening on the road.
The new device is claimed to be more sensitive than other light detectors because it eliminates inconsistency, or noise, associated with the detection process.
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"Autonomous vehicles send out laser signals that bounce off objects to tell you how far away you are. Not much light comes back, so if your detector is putting out more noise than the signal coming in you get nothing," said Joe Campbell, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Virginia School of Engineering.
Researchers globally are working on so-called avalanche photodiodes to meet these needs, but it is this device’s staircase-like alignment that makes it unique. It includes physical steps in energy that electrons roll down, multiplying along the way and creating a stronger electrical current for light detection as they go.
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