Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FRESCO (Frequency Agile Silicon Nitride Compact LiDAR)
Período documentado: 2021-03-01 hasta 2022-02-28
The recent progress in integrated photonics achieved at EPFL and the “HOT” FET-proactive project led to the development of a CMOS-compatible hybrid piezo-electric-mechanical photonic chip-based resonator. We combined this technology with recent advances of the EPFL on laser self-injection locking to develop coherent laser distance ranging system (LIDAR) or frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) LIDAR. Such a LiDAR enables fully autonomous driving of consumer cars, industrial transportation, and drones and improves the performance with all societal benefits related to improved security. However coherent LIDAR faces major issues: it requires lasers that are frequency agile, low noise, compact, and above all can be scanned in a very precise fashion. Today, no compact, mass manufacturable coherent LiDAR module exists. FRESCO provided a novel cost-efficient and scalable technology for FMCW LIDAR. A novel hybrid piezoelectrical resonance tuner, a core of the FRESCO project, allows extending frequency-agile scanning of a laser. Therefore, the chirp linearity and bandwidth, which are key system parameters for FMCW detection sensitivity, precision, and accuracy, are improved greatly. Within the FRESCO project, we performed industrial testing of the first prototypes and perform the technology assessment with industrial partners. We performed a market study and determined the market niche for the product. The first prototypes served as FRESCO’s minimum viable product and were presented at various industry trade-shows. In conclusion, FRESCO defined a go-to-market strategy for a novel laser system, a game-changer for the distance-ranging systems for the automotive industry, and defined other potential markets.
The EPFL team used the developed prototypes of hybrid integrated lasers in the FRESCO project for initial dissemination and exploitation activities. The developed project website allowed us to reach out to the target audience and explain the concept of a novel platform of laser sources for a broad range of applications. We established collaborations with early adopters of the technology and together we performed the evaluation study of the prototypes. They provided valuable feedback, which allowed us to revise the technology roadmap and adjust the business development activities. We defined unique product features which should become a core aspect of the commercial success of FRESCO laser sources: (i) compactness, robustness, and scalability; (ii) frequency agility, tuning linearity, and absence of amplitude modulation; and (iii) potential to address other wavelength ranges. We decided to keep our activities focused and concentrated on one of the most commercially attractive and emerging high-volume applications: the FMCW LiDAR market for the automotive industry and the fiber sensing market. We performed the market study and defined the market potential. Using IP analysis, we defined the IP strategy for the commercialization. With the feedback from the industry we refined the technological approaches and adjust the product characteristics. We defined the right pricing strategy as well as determined the main assumptions and the underlying estimates for the business plan. Through EPFL participation at trade shows, we reached a significant part of the photonic industry players to pitch FRESCO light sources. In addition, we participated in professional events and workshops and had direct contacts with established partners within the industry, including all key players in the FMCW LIDAR industry, to define the pilot projects.
We demonstrated that FRESCO laser sources provide nonlinearity <0.1% without any predistortion or linearization. Moreover, the developed laser system is unique in terms of the laser frequency noise and the laser frequency actuation bandwidth. Wafer-scale technology enables high-volume fabrication. The long-term stability tests performed with the industrial partners prove the feasibility of our approach. The EPFL team contacted a significant amount of key players in the field from the most relevant application fields: FMCW LiDAR developers and suppliers of photonic components for the automotive industry and distributed optical fiber sensing. We introduced a novel laser system to the market and established long-term research and engineering collaborations. The EPFL team founded a start-up company, DeepLight SA, to lead the commercialization of frequency-agile ultra-narrow linewidth lasers. The start-up company has been advancing the laser sources toward high-end scientific and research applications. Moreover, during the project we defined an all-European value chain for fabricating the envisaged light sources, covering the basic III-V and Si3N4 PIC, the assembly technology, the fabrication of the devices, as well as their deployment in application fields of high impact. Furthermore, FRESCO may bring the hybrid electro-optomechanical transducer technology, based on integrated AlN piezoceramics in the framework of the HOT project, to a market-level foundry process in Europe.