Evaluation Engineering - 21

Mapping in clear conditions (left) and tracking in snowy conditions (right).

around using lidar or a camera, we use
something called ground-penetrating radar, which is radar that goes underneath
the vehicle and maps the subsurface,
typically 10 feet into the ground, getting
reflections off things like changes in soil
type, density, rocks, cavities, and utility
infrastructure," he said in a recent phone
interview. GPR, he added, "...generates a
very unique, very differentiated, very stable fingerprint that you can use to navigate..." after the mapping has taken place.
He said the need for reliable, precise positioning for autonomous cars, trucks, and
robots as well as vehicles with ADAS is
skyrocketing, with passenger vehicles increasingly featuring autonomous parking,
active lane keeping, and other positioning
capabilities in all sorts of conditions.
GPS, he added, can be unreliable and
unstable. And with lidar- and camerabased approaches, you need three things
to be true: you need a lot of roadside features, which may be lacking on an open
highway; you need differentiation, which
may be lacking in a parking garage with
repetitive columns; and you need the
mapped environment to be static over
time, which may not be possible because
of changes in foliage or inclement weather.
With ground-penetrating radar, "...

Automotive groundpenetrating radar application.

looking into the ground, we are able to
satisfy all those conditions," he said,
adding that the subsurface is very rich
in features, highly differentiated like a
fingerprint, and static over time (with
some obvious exceptions). City environments in particular, he said, are highly
dynamic, and it's difficult to keep maps
based on lidar and cameras from going
stale. He said the company is doing a lot
of work in parking garages, where other
sensors can have difficulty determining
what level a vehicle is on.
WaveSense hasn't set pricing yet for the
technology, but Bolat put the BOM cost

at less than $100 per vehicle. He said the
ground-penetrating radar could knock
out some of the lidar cost. The unit itself measures 2 feet by 2 feet by 1 inch
and delivers a finished position. He said
the trucking sector might want to retrofit existing vehicles, but the company's
primary targets are automakers' future
vehicle platforms. Pilots in conjunction
with automakers are ongoing, he said.
REFERENCE

1.	Nelson, Rick, "Three-way race to the future,"
EE-Evaluation Engineering, November 2019,
p. 2.

APRIL 2020 EVALUATIONENGINEERING.COM

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Evaluation Engineering

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Evaluation Engineering

Editor's Note: Combining Forces
By the Numbers
Industry Report
Electrical Safety Test: EST instruments provide safe environment to ensure compliance
RF/Microwave Switching: RF/microwave switching adds flexibility to diverse applications
RF/Microwave: Ground penetrating radar offers new sensor modalities for vehicles
Software: Software boosts power applications
Automated Test: Non-destructive analysis of TO-247 structural defects
Tech Focus
Featured Tech
Machine Vision: The blindfolds are coming off for robotics
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Evaluation Engineering - By the Numbers
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Evaluation Engineering - Industry Report
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Evaluation Engineering - Electrical Safety Test: EST instruments provide safe environment to ensure compliance
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Evaluation Engineering - RF/Microwave Switching: RF/microwave switching adds flexibility to diverse applications
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Evaluation Engineering - RF/Microwave: Ground penetrating radar offers new sensor modalities for vehicles
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Evaluation Engineering - Software: Software boosts power applications
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Evaluation Engineering - Automated Test: Non-destructive analysis of TO-247 structural defects
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Evaluation Engineering - Tech Focus
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Evaluation Engineering - Featured Tech
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Evaluation Engineering - Machine Vision: The blindfolds are coming off for robotics
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