Velodyne Lidar Unveils New Puck Lite
Photo: Velodyne Lidar.
Velodyne Lidar unveiled its new Puck Lite at the International Lidar Mapping Forum today in Denver, aimed at the unmanned aircraft market. Puck Lite weighs in a 590 grams, making it the world’s lightest 16-channel lidar sensor, according to the company.
Velodyne, which was founded in 1983 and based in California’s Silicon Valley, says the Puck Lite, builds on the success of the company’s VLP-16 Lidar Puck — a 16-channel, real-time 3-D lidar sensor weighing 830 grams, which was released in late 2014. At last fall’s UAS/UAV Mapping Forum, the company announced that more than 1,000 VLP-16 sensors had been sold since the product’s formal release the previous year. Puck Lite matches VLP-16’s features and specifications while weighing less.
Weight remains a critical factor for operating UAS since the lighter the UAV, the longer the flight time. Puck Lite reduces sensor weight by almost 30 percent, enabling longer flight times while providing the same performance as the VLP-16.
According to MarketsandMarkets, the global UAS market is set to grow at a 34.36 percent compound annual growth rate from 2015 to 2020, with UAS shipments to reach 3.8 million units in 2020.
“The UAV market is clearly in high growth mode,” says Ravindra Puranik, market analyst, and Sachin Garg, Research Manager, of MarketsandMarkets. “Moving forward, we look for lidar technology to become an even more integral part of mobile mapping, surveying, inspection and navigation.”
Velodyne is now accepting orders for Puck Lite, with initial production scheduled for April.
