LiDAR is emerging in the security field

Autonomous driving technology using LiDAR has brought LiDAR to center stage, and now the safety sector is also adopting LiDAR in next-generation systems.

One of the major hardware breakthroughs that has enabled the advent of autonomous driving is the availability of LiDAR technology. Thanks to the autonomous driving industry, LiDAR is cheaper, more powerful, and has higher performance than ever before.

As the technology develops, companies outside the autonomous driving industry are looking to LiDAR to enhance their products. One such sector is the security industry, which is buying LiDAR in droves.

In this article, we’ll look at several security companies that have recently adopted LiDAR.

Quanergy and Mirasys combine LiDAR with VMS

Earlier this week, LiDAR company Quanergy made headlines when it announced a technology integration with video management system (VMS) company Mirasys. From a hardware perspective, the collaboration is based on Quanergy’s QORTEX DTC platform, a LiDAR-based technology for real-time detection, tracking, and classification of people and vehicles.

QORTEX DTC is based on Quanergy's M8 LiDAR sensor. Image courtesy of Quanergy

Designed for security and "smart city" applications, the QORTEX DTC platform leverages the power of LiDAR to deliver a precise security system with a range of up to 70 meters, 360-degree FOV (field of view), and 1.3 million 3D point clouds per second. By using LiDAR for security, QORTEX DTC can handle harsh lighting conditions. This is in stark contrast to traditional camera-based security cameras, which are easily obscured by harsh environmental conditions such as glare, darkness, rain and snow.

On the software side, Quanergy integrates its technology with Mirasys' intelligent VMS. VMS provides users with important features such as analytics and video content analysis (VCA). In addition, Mirasys' VMA is designed with scalability in mind, allowing for the connection of an unlimited number of cameras within a centrally managed network domain.

The goal of the collaboration is clear: by integrating LiDAR with VMS, customers will be able to gain advanced insights and analytics for physical security applications.

Ouster and Hexagon Team Up for Crowd Safety

Late last month, Ouster and Hexagon announced a partnership. According to the two companies, the collaboration aims to produce a new lidar-based safety solution called Ouster x Accru8vision. The new product is based on combining Ouster's digital LiDAR technology with Hexagon's crowd safety system, called Accru8vision.

The two companies will combine LiDAR with volumetric safety solutions. Image from Business Wire

Ouster offers a wide range of digital LiDAR sensors, from long range to ultra-wide field of view, where the combination of sensors can provide a holistic, all-around view of a scene. This is exactly the approach the company plans to take. They explain that they will use multiple LiDAR sensors simultaneously in the Accru8vision volumetric safety architecture to achieve a complete view of an area.

The solution will be designed specifically for crowded environments such as airports, where the companies hope to offer a number of useful features to security solution operators. Some of these features include monitoring areas of any custom size using a single view and setting up 3D zones for custom priority alerts and controls. The two companies claim that the main value proposition of their new product is the improved resolution and accuracy provided by LiDAR, which significantly reduces false alarms.

Blickfeld Outdoor LiDAR with PoE

Blickfeld recently announced a new outdoor LiDAR sensor for security applications.

The new product, Cube 1 Outdoor, is an IP65-rated LiDAR sensor designed for harsh outdoor environments where rain and dust can damage other sensors. This is an important feature for security cameras, which are often deployed outdoors and need to be able to withstand all elements.

Cube 1 outdoor lidar sensor. Image courtesy of Blickfeld

The LiDAR sensor also features Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology. This innovation allows the camera’s power to be supplied via the same Ethernet as the data line. The technology uses an integrated PoE splitter to separate the power from the data signal, which significantly reduces the number of external components, allowing for a simpler, more compact design.

Blickfeld said its PoE innovations are possible thanks to the Cube 1 Outdoor's low power consumption, which minimizes EMI and other interference.

Using LiDAR for safety monitoring

LiDAR sensing has found significant applications in the field of security systems due to its many advantages, such as immunity to lighting and other environmental variables. The promise of this field has prompted many companies to collaborate on the development of new LiDAR-based systems specifically for security, where the combination of imaging and video surveillance paves the way for applications such as area monitoring, object and person tracking, intrusion detection, and more.