XPONENTIAL 2018, AUVSI’s annual conference held in Denver, Colorado, earlier this month, provided a valuable cross-section perspective of the latest in unmanned vehicles and their emerging applications. Last year there was a general interest in autonomous vehicles, with automotive technology well-represented on the trade floor, as well as tremendous interest in technical papers, including our own, Increasing Field of View and Reducing Costs in Lidar. This year was almost exclusively airborne platforms, although there was still an interesting array of ground and aquatic vehicles, including a ‘transformer,’ with air and land operation.
An important development this year was the prevalence of counter-drone technology. Leonardo, our parent company, demonstrated a range of airborne unmanned vehicles. While our laser solutions team, formally Lasertel, works independently with aerospace and defense companies worldwide, Leonardo has been a proof point of Leonardo Electronics US's ranging, illumination, targeting and directed energy capabilities. Our innovations in high power and lightweight laser diode systems will provide a necessary advantage for unmanned autonomous vehicle (UAV) applications.
The breadth and quality of the technologies on display at the exhibition demonstrated that the market for unmanned vehicles is solidifying. Specific technical approaches and products are gaining traction in the race to be the dominant technology for various applications and platforms. While the market leaders and early adopting commercial applications, such as surveying and inspection, are becoming clear, the market remains highly fractured. Component and software companies have the opportunity to build partner networks and collaborate on integrated systems.
is uniquely positioned to be the preferred OEM partner for:
- Lidar
- Illumination
- Ranging and targeting
- Directed energy, drone detection and defense
With a significant investment in engineering capability and laser diode research, and a vertically-integrated facility, we can design diode laser systems that are custom optimized from the circuit substrate all the way to the laser packaging.
Learn more about using laser diodes in your application by downloading our white paper on high energy laser systems.
