LightWare is going places

 

 

June was a particularly exciting month for LightWare, as we racked up two noteworthy global accolades: not only have we been named as finalists in the AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards, we were also included in Silicon Valley’s Woodside Capital Partners’ roundup of 99 startups poised for growth. With our new investment partners also coming on board in the past month, we’re looking forward to even more fantastic developments.

AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards

We’re extremely proud to have been named as a finalist in the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI)’s Xcellence Awards, with our SF45 microLiDAR nominated in the Hardware – component category.

Taking place for the third time this year, the awards are an acknowledgement of achievement in the unmanned systems community and are open to companies and individuals alike. It’s a tremendous honour to be part of a community that’s being recognized for its contribution to addressing challenges affecting business and society, particularly as the awards are a badge of innovation. We’re also pleased to be able to play a role within a group that uses unmanned systems to improve the quality of life and which is leading the way in the safe adoption and advancement of these technologies.

The awards will take place at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, on 6 and 8 October, during AUVSI Xponential 2020.

Thumbs up from Woodside Capital Partners

We were thrilled to be included in a roundup by Silicon Valley’s Woodside Capital Partners, recognizing 99 startups from around the world which are positioned for growth in spite of the challenging conditions presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report included companies in sectors ranging from health tech to ed tech and distance learning, enterprise tech for distributed workforces and robotics, and all were heralded as having the potential to address some of the key challenges that have emerged as a result of the coronavirus crisis. LightWare was included in the robotics and drone delivery sector, keeping company with the likes of Diligence Robotics, Flirtey, Locus Robotics, Matternet and Zipline, and Woodside Capital Partners commended us for developing a product that has the potential to shorten the timeframe for mainstream drone delivery to take place – a massive advantage in the conditions which have been ushered in by the coronavirus crisis.

Welcome our new investment partners

Every company with aspirations reaches a point where it’s time to seek investment – and this time has come for LightWare. We’re pleased to announce that Sanari Capital has come on board as partners in our ever growing venture.

Sanari is a Private Equity investment firm which focuses on high growth emerging market opportunities. Established in 2013, the company has developed a track record of targeting high-potential companies and takes pride in helping these entities embrace corporate best practice. This is precisely the input we need as we prepare to embark on our next dynamic chapter, and we look forward to seeing our relationship grow from strength to strength.

FACTOID – did you know?

How does a LiDAR measure distance?

It’s simple, really: by timing how long it takes a flash of light to travel from a laser to a specific surface, and then back to a detector. To do this, the timing system needs to run at very high speeds – if not, it won’t have the resolution needed to detect small changes in distance. The best way to get the high resolution timing required is by using two low frequency clocks, both running at different, unrelated frequencies. One of these clocks will determine when the laser is fired, while the second clock runs a slow speed counter. The start time of this counter isn’t clearly defined, as the edges of the two clocks are not aligned. The timer is stopped once a return signal is detected, at which point its count value is recorded. You can repeat the measurement, but it’s important to note that the values may differ by one count because the timers aren’t matched. How do we solve this problem? By taking the average timer count value from several different resolutions. This improves the timer’s resolution, to an indefinitely fine resolution given by the following equation: the timing resolution is proportional to the square root of the number of readings taken.