Better safety through radar

ajdelange

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Samsung probably markets their technology as "ToF" rather than "LiDAR" because the latter implies a device that gathers data, while the purpose of the former is to create photographs.
They don't call it LIDAR because it isn't LIDAR because there is no scanning AFAIK. LIDAR does not imply data collection any more than RADAR or SONAR does. They all collect data. Now of course I don't have any design data on ToF and I conclude that there is no scanning because the description that is available to me does not suggest any. It seems that there is a flash lamp that illuminates the whole scene at once and that TOF is measured in each pixel which detects a signal with TOA of each "pulse" noted (at each pixel - there may be more than one target return). That TOA is data used I don't know how but it evidently can be combined with the visible band data to produce interesting pictures. In this sense the system is a RADAR (that happens to operate in the NIR and visible spectrum) with the lens is a very high gain (narrow beamwidth) RECEIVE antenna which gives high resolution in x and y. The TOA data adds the z dimension and reccording over time, t.

Now a LIIDAR works in the opposite fashion, X and Y information comes from very high effective antenna gain during TRANSMIT as the coherent laser beam is highly collimated. The receive antenna does not need to have nearly the resolution of a large aperture lens because the resolution of the transmitter antenna is sufficient. In layman's terms x and y data are derived from where the beam is pointed at the time the laser is fired.

The newest iPhones have LiDAR in the camera, and they provide an API for applications to leverage the raw data.
Now the latest iPhone does have a true scanning LIDAR in it. The blows my mind as much as the ToF technology but there it is! What I wonder, of course, is how they implement the scanning.. Piezo electric something or other would be my guess.

Anyway, LIDAR implies only that it is an optical RADAR - not what is done with its data. SONAR indicates that it is an accoustic RADAR - not what is done with it's data. Etc.
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As for Radar on Teslas, I wouldn't put it past them using a variation of Starlink Dishy tech on the their cars as well. Beam forming radar to look around corners and traffic would be pretty epic, like they used to recieve and use signals from under the car in front of you. 😋
That is an interesting thought. Lets assume a super duper ultra wideband 60GHz+ 3D phased array SDR transceiver in the frunk. How many different uses (and wild unrelated tangents) can we imagine for that?

Melt driveway ice (microwave radiation?).
Detect empty spaces in parking structure from outside.
802.11p at least https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11p
In motion Starlink access.
Communication for platooning.
Queing for wireless stoplight chargers. Tesla/Boring company offers to update municipal stoplight presence detect coils under roadways with inductive brief opportunity range boosters.
Use IR range of cameras to detect body temp of pedestrians and adjacent drivers. Automatically roll up windows when fever(or lit cigarette) detected.
Scan mailbox for presence of mail while approaching driveway.
Detect presence of unrecognized people/vehicles in home driveway and send alert/camera feeds to home security system.
Detect vehicle approaching from rear at unsafe speed and change lanes to avoid.
Fish finder while aboard ferry.
Detect owner's cell phone approaching (by standby signal, not app) and unlock only the nearest door.
Detect Cyberquad approaching and deploy ramp and open vault.
Detect full bladder and suggest nearby restroom.
Detect cancer.
Detect roadside animals.

That was fun. Seriously, fingers crossed for in motion Starlink.
 
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ajdelange

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You can also get a MASER that operates at radar frequencies. So technically theres no reason not to have a Midar as well...
MASER = Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission Radiation
LASER = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission Radiation

We don't have Midar because the long wavelengths imply poor resolution of targets in azimuth and elevation but we do have LIDAR which does have excellent az/el resolution in the transmit "antenna" if not the receive one and we have ToF which has excellent az/el resolution in the receive antenna if not the transmit antenna..

Actually, of course, we do have MIDAR but we call it RADAR.
 
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ajdelange

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Melt driveway ice (microwave radiation?).
Have you checked the heat of fusion of water?
In motion Starlink access.
I believe that's been enabled.
Use IR range of cameras to detect body temp of pedestrians and adjacent drivers. Automatically roll up windows when fever(or lit cigarette) detected.
Cameras use NIR. To detect temperature of objects we need to be in the deep IR with its germanium lenses - way too expensive.
 


ajdelange

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Call me when we get a PHASER
We've had those for years. A phaser is a piece of signal processing equipment that splits the incoming signal into two paths. One goes straight through and the other through one or more all-pass filters with adjustable delay. When the two are recombined some frequencies are notched with the frequencies depending on the delay(s). Delays are usually varied programatically. An example of what this sounds like is (rumor) the voice of C3PO.
 

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Have you checked the heat of fusion of water?
I gave it the same amount of research as finding fish and detecting cancer. Just a vague notion that it might be possible... somehow.

I believe that's been enabled.
Roaming is enabled. You can haul it place to place while off, set it up and use it if there is capacity in that area. It has been shown to work in motion. But that type of use is currently in violation of FCC license terms and if detected could get your account terminated. AFAIK. In motion rated dishes have not yet released.
Cameras use NIR. To detect temperature of objects we need to be in the deep IR with its germanium lenses - way too expensive.
Maybe just 1 FLIR cam on a gimbal. Regular cams or radar detect potential targets and task the FLIR. Now we get to make up use cases for that! ... I got nothin.

Actually that isn't true. The value I continually get from my $100 reservation is the motivation to speculate.
 

ajdelange

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First of all it is hilarious that Samsung doesn't just call it Lidar. That's what it is.
Well it is LIDAR in the sense that any device that does detection and ranging in the light frequency band is that. In the current context of a geo mapping device on a car LIDAR is generally understood to mean a device which fires a laser beam at a point and waits for returns measuring TOA and comparing it to time of firing and then moves the laser on to the next point repeating the process for the next point until a raster of the FOV is complete. Antenna gain is all in the transmitter. That is not what the Samsung approach appears to be. This appears to fire an IR flash which illuminates the whole scene at once and measure TOA of the returns simultaneously at each pixel using the very high gain of the phased array provided by the lens to separate x and y. There are obviously huge advantages to doing it this way over what we usually call a LIDAR for mapping applications as we don't have to deal with the huge subsampling (and hence the time it takes to acquire an image) imposed by the scanning but technically it is a LIDAR for sure. I imagine they don't call it LIDAR in order to emphasize its advantage over the scanning LIDARs.
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