LiDAR Sensor System Application

In recent years, with the development of smart cars and mobile robots, the LiDAR sensor system as “eyes” have also made great progress. However, the use of LiDAR sensor systems is not limited to smart cars and mobile robots. There are more application scenarios to be explored. A large number of mature cases in many industrial and service scenarios are based on LiDAR sensor systems. Under the huge application demand and open market environment, the trend of intelligent development is becoming more and more obvious. Let’s have a look at a few actual use cases of LiDAR sensor systems.

Rail traffic security

In the field of rail traffic security, the LiDAR sensor system can assist in the safety monitoring of train platforms, subway boarding points, and other areas to prevent pedestrians or other objects from entering dangerous areas. The LiDAR sensor system is installed as an end detection device on the platform gates of the rail transit area to effectively prevent accidents such as pinching and to ensure the safety of subway operations.

Case 1: On September 23, 2021, Guangzhou Metro and Tencent jointly released the Suiteng OS2.0 version, which further strengthens the capabilities of the Internet of Things and integrated data processing capabilities. In the past, incidents happened occasionally such as passengers items being caught in subway doors, now the incident rate is decreased because the foreign body detection function of the smart station doors can effectively solve this problem. The installed LiDAR sensor system is based on the time-of-flight principle (TOF), it is top-mounted between the train door and the platform door to monitor the subway door condition. This high-performance LiDAR sensor system greatly reduces the probability and risk of accidents and ensures the safety of passengers getting on and off the subway.

Case 2: The surveying and mapping technology and remote sensing technology of the LiDAR sensor system have been applied to the Beijing-Xiong Intercity Railway for surveys, and the work efficiency and measurement accuracy have been improved through three-dimensional collaboration. Based on technologies such as BIM and GIS, designers have simulated the entire railway data before starting construction, and every point can be consistent with reality.

Port applications

Case 1: Five unmanned horizontal transportation robots ART started the test operation at terminal C of the Tianjin Port project site. It is intelligent transportation equipment designed and built exclusively for the new generation of intelligent container terminals with the integration of navigation, electric drive, new energy, and other multiple disciplines. ART body is equipped with multiple sensors such as LiDAR, camera, ultrasonic radar, millimeter-wave radar, and adopts positioning system, which can autonomously complete automatic driving functions such as intelligent perception, intelligent planning, intelligent decision-making, and truly achieves high precision, fully-unmanned, safe and stable transportation operations in complex operating scenarios. Compared with the AGV used on the traditional automated terminal, the cost of ART can be saved by more than 30%.

There are two major difficulties in port logistics, one is large vehicle deviation correction, and the other is the interactive operation of grabbing containers. The LiDAR sensor system is suitable for both application scenarios.

Vehicle deviation correction

The crane requires the driver to perform manual correction and positioning when the vehicle is running, which increases the difficulty of the vehicle operation and also increases the labor intensity of the driver. With the application of automation technology in the port, the LiDAR sensor system is installed on the crane and the image recognition positioning technology can realize the high-precision correction and positioning functions of the vehicle, and can effectively improve the automatic operation efficiency and safety rate. 

Interactive work on container grabbing

On the dock, when the rail crane grabs the container from the truck, how to safely and efficiently perform fully automated interactive operations is an unsolved industry problem in global ports. Because it is easy to cause the truck to be hoisted, and there is a great safety hazard when lifting and unloading containers on the track, once the container and the truck’s tray lockpin are not completely separated. With the positioning technology of intelligent LiDAR image recognition, manual intervention is avoided, the operation safety is further improved, and the industry problem is effectively solved.

Smart logistics

LiDAR sensor system also plays an important role in smart logistics, covering the entire process from handling to warehousing, and even covering fields such as port logistics, as mentioned above.

Smart warehousing

LiDAR can assist the stacker to realize the automatic warehousing of goods. The LiDAR is installed on the stacker to ensure accurate obstacle avoidance when the stacker moves, and it can also assist positioning. This kind of three-dimensional smart storage based on stackers has been widely used in various manufacturing scenarios, especially in the lithium battery industry.

Industrial manufacturing

For applications in industrial manufacturing, the LiDAR sensor system mainly focuses on mobile robots and industrial automation processes.

To reduce labor costs and improve operational efficiency in the field of industrial automation, most companies have begun to introduce automated production lines and build intelligent production workshops. This trend has also entered the subsequent link of warehousing and logistics. Companies have introduced handling robots to manage warehouses, to realize the automated operation management of the warehouse, and all these automation processes must rely on the LiDAR sensor system.

In the production process, the LiDAR sensor system can assist in monitoring the materials on the conveying equipment. After the LiDAR is installed in the middle of the support beam, during the measurement, LiDAR quickly scans the materials on the conveyor belt, and transmits the scanned data and the speed and width of the conveyor belt to the computer, to effectively ensure the smooth technological process of the conveyor belt. 

3D volume measurement/scanning

Due to the irregularity of the bulk cargo in the scenes of earthwork transportation, raw material purchase, etc., accurate volume measurement has become a time-consuming and laborious task. LiDAR sensor system uses high-definition solid-state video LiDAR to measure the empty truck body and loaded truck body, to obtain 3D imaging of the surface of the empty truck and the surface of the loaded truck with cargo.

AGV industry

The LiDAR sensor system is also widely used in the AGV industry. LiDAR can assist navigation, make the AGV trolley drive along the prescribed path. Currently, LiDAR used for mobile robots is mainly responsible for the path planning and guidance of AGV as well as safety protection in the travel area of AGV.

Smart governance

The LiDAR sensor system is increasingly used in the field of smart governance, and the main application scenarios include transportation infrastructure, security, and other fields.

Smart transportation/V2X

In the field of transportation infrastructure, LiDAR sensor system is often installed at the entrance of high-speed toll gates for vehicle counting, can detect the contours of passing vehicles in real time, and provide early warning for vehicles’ over-length, over-load and over-speed information.

Waterway transportation safety

Bridge-side LiDAR sensor system can detect the sailing ship’s height to make sure whether the ship can safely pass the bridge deck to avoid a collision. Point cloud of LiDAR installed at the bridge shows LiDAR can detect the navigating ship’s speed and distance to the bridge.  

Commercial applications

With the development of LiDAR technology, safety has been fully recognized, and it has now entered commercial application scenarios, such as service robots, smart parking, etc.

In the field of service robots, service robots are mainly used in food delivery, hospital cleaning and disinfection, and other scenes, and LiDAR sensor systems can effectively improve the operation efficiency of service robots.

Food delivery service robots

The food delivery service robots mainly perform actions of providing room food delivery services, leading the way for guests, and information promotion services in complex environments such as hotels, office buildings, and shopping malls. With the LiDAR sensor system, the robot can automatically construct a scene map according to the hotel’s corridor, elevator, and room location, so that the robot can determine the service path, realize precise navigation, and automatically avoid people and obstacles, to complete various services without human control.

Intelligent cleaning robot

The intelligent cleaning robot equipped with a LiDAR sensor system can not only realize automatic path planning and navigation, obstacle avoidance functions but also efficiently reduce the labor cost. The entire cleaning process does not require human control, which reduces the burden of operation. At present, cleaning robots have been used in various commercial environments such as shopping malls, office buildings, hotels, exhibition centers, etc.

Smart parking

The LiDAR sensor system is a powerful aid to the automatic parking system. Based on the vehicle scheduling system, combined with the LiDAR sensor, it can detect the state of the car in the process of moving, and can effectively ensure the safety of the system and surrounding operators and equipment under various conditions.