Safer, Cost-Effective And More Efficient: An Integrated, FMCW-Enabled Approach (Sensors USA 2019)

There are a few approaches to lidar, and while the most wide-spread is the pulsed, Time-of-Flight (AM) approach at 905 nm wavelength that is about to change. Just as radar evolved decades ago, lidar is evolving and many experts agree that the Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) approach is the next step in lidar technology. SiLC is one of a few FMCW champions and has demonstrated the benefits of their FMCW enabled integrated vision chip. The presentation from SiLC VP of Marketing and Business Development Ralf Muenster is about the vast differences in safety, cost, and efficiency between the two approaches and why the future of lidar lies in FMCW and the importance of silicon photonics in SiLC's integrated chip.

Ralf J. Muenster is SiLC's vice president of business development and marketing. He has over two decades of experience commercializing and growing differentiated high-tech businesses and expanding customer and partnership engagements. Prior to SiLC, Muenster was the director of Texas Instruments' CTO office where he was responsible for identifying and developing impactful new growth vectors and strategic technology partnerships for the company. Muenster has held various executive roles in the semiconductor industry, including serving as an intrapreneur and business executive at National Semiconductor, Micrel and AMD, where he was head of the automotive market segment. Muenster founded a successful computer start-up company in Germany and was a scientist at the University of California at Berkeley performing research in the photonics field. He holds a master's degree in physics from the Technical University in Munich. Muenster has authored a long list of publications and is frequently invited to speak at leading industry forums. Muenster is a multiple U.S. patent holder.

SiLC Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of chip-integrated FMCW LiDAR solutions, located in Monrovia, Southern California. Company's initial focus is on integrated 4D Vision Sensors targeting a wide range of applications. Founded by a group of highly experienced industry veterans with over 20 years of commercial product development and manufacturing heritage, SiLC utilizes a proprietary silicon-based semiconductor fabrication process to manufacture its chips and standard, automated IC style assembly processes, enabling robust, cost-effective and compact solutions. Please visit us at Silc.com.