the.com/lidar
a laser that measures the world by timing its own echo, billions of times a second.
means a sensing system that fires laser pulses and calculates distance from how long the light takes to bounce back, building a 3d map of everything it hits.
from born in the 1960s from combining laser tech with radar's echo-ranging logic, first proving itself by measuring the moon's distance during the apollo missions.
name originblend of light and radar, not an acronym originally
speedcan fire over a million pulses per second
moon proofapollo 15 used it to map lunar terrain in 1971
weaknessstruggles badly in heavy fog or rain
for instance
waymo robotaxis — roof-mounted lidar spins constantly to spot pedestrians in real time
nasa mars missions — phoenix lander used lidar to study martian atmosphere in 2008
maya jungle scans — archaeologists found a hidden ancient city under guatemala's canopy in 2018
iphone pro lidar — apple added it in 2020 for instant room-scale ar mapping