ADI and First Sensor Partner on LiDAR
We will develop products that shorten the lidar signal chain.
Lidar Receiver Performance Depends on TIA-APD Optimization

Analog Devices strengthens collaboration with First Sensor in the LIDAR field.

Analog Devices (ADI) announced on June 27 that it has partnered with First Sensor AG to develop autonomous sensing products for unmanned vehicles, aerial and underwater vehicles used in various industries such as transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing.

As part of this collaboration, the two companies will develop products that shorten the lidar signal chain.

This product will enable manufacturers looking to incorporate sensing and perception technologies into autonomous safety systems to achieve superior system performance while reducing system size, weight, power consumption, and cost.

The two companies also plan to develop other lidar products for automotive and industrial manufacturing applications.

“The first step in this collaboration is to integrate ADI’s Trans Impedance Amplifier (TIA) with First Sensor’s Avalanche PhotoDiode (APD),” said Stewart Sellars, General Manager of LiDAR at ADI. “This will allow us to provide our customers with more powerful and efficient commercial lidar solutions at scale,” he said.

Recently, ADI has developed new products, including multi-channel TIAs designed to convert wide-dynamic-range photocurrent into low-impedance voltage signals. First Sensor has been manufacturing lidar APDs, high-sensitivity detector arrays that convert light into photocurrent, for over 25 years.

Optimizing the interconnection between the APD and the TIA significantly impacts the achieved noise level and bandwidth. Improving these two parameters enables the development of lidar systems capable of detecting objects at longer ranges and with higher precision.

“The lidar system market will focus on implementing solutions that are economically and technically compatible,” said Dr. Dirk Rothweiler, CEO of First Sensor. “By optimizing the APD and TIA, we will be able to achieve superior lidar receiver performance.”

Meanwhile, the two companies will provide a common evaluation board to enable system manufacturers to test the integrated solution.