LiDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging. It works on the principle of reflection of light. LiDAR is one among the other sensors like RADAR and Camera to help achieve a higher level (Level 3 & above) of Autonomous driving capabilities. LiDAR, as a sensor, is used to perceive the environment in 3D by calculating the ‘Time of flight’ of the Laser beam transmitted from LiDAR and the rays reflected from the Object, along with the intensity of reflection from the object. The frame of perception is plotted as a point cloud.
LiDAR is integrated in front of the vehicle, precisely in the grill of the car having a high vantage point to perceive the environment to extract the best possible sensor performance. LiDAR sensor needs to be held within the front panel cutout with uniform gap and flush condition. However, due to tolerance reasons it may have following issues:
Sensor functional degradation will happen if it is not aligned properly at the center to the cutout, because the view cones will interfere with grill cutout edges.
Aesthetic compromise is not acceptable by customers.
Based on the above problems, we have defined a solution. Since we need to maintain LiDAR sensor equidistant from grill cutout in Y and Z direction, Bracket architecture has 3 components,
One sheet metal bracket
2 plastic brackets.
These 3 brackets are connected by screws and adjustable components to have the LiDAR movement in Y and Z direction. A unique design rack and adjustor pin is used for the same.
With this solution, we were able to solve both the problems mentioned above.