Terrestrial LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) for 3D imaging has matured tremendously in the last decade, thanks to consumer (mobile phones and computers) and automotive safety and autonomy applications. Over 70 companies are vying for a portion of this $billion market. In the meantime, the technology has progressed for drone and higher altitude aerial 3D imaging for defense and commercial mapping (forest, urban, real estate). Commercial space-based 3D LiDAR imaging has yet to emerge in a big way. Nuview, an Orlando, Florida-based company, aims to disrupt this market. It recently emerged from stealth mode to address the nascent space-based LiDAR mapping market and announced a $12M Series A funding round led by MaC Venture Capital.
Terrestrial LiDAR data is generated either on fixed or moving platforms (cars, ground robots, people) and addresses shorter ranges (< 1 km). The LiDAR units are lower cost, less demanding in optical and electrical power requirements, and provide superior spatial and depth resolution. However, the data is more expensive to acquire in terms of mapped area/hour and challenging to scale over large areas. Drone and aerial LiDAR are more scaleable and efficient (higher mapped area/hour).
However, spatial and depth resolution is poorer, and more expensive LiDARs are needed to image at longer ranges (5-10 km). Satellite-based LiDAR solves the scalability problem and ensures data freshness. However, such satellites are typically in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and require LiDAR ranges of ~400 km, requiring very high power lasers and sensitive detectors, as well as on-board data storage and transmission. Consequently, it requires large and expensive satellites.
NuView plans to launch a network of twenty satellites with proprietary LiDAR payloads to map the Earth annually. This constellation would be in LEO and require an imaging range of 400 km. Clint Graumann is the CEO of NuView. The proprietary flash LiDAR design uses lasers in the ~1 um wavelength and an array of SPADs (Single Photon Sensitive Detectors). The depth resolution is < 1 m (tens of centimeters), and the angular resolution is ~1.5 m. Onboard processing and compression algorithms minimize data storage and transmission overhead.
