News: Optoelectronics
5 May 2023
PARALIA to develop LiDAR/radar optical multi-beam beam-forming platform based on multi-port linear optical operator architectures using InP and SiN integration
PARALIA (Photonic Multi-beam Beamforming Technology enabling RADAR/LiDAR Multisensor Fusion platforms for Aerospace and Automated Driving applications) is a new EU HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions Project launched on 1 January that aims to develop fundamental innovations in automotive and aerospace applications. Funded under the HORIZON-CL4-2022-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01-03 Call (project number 101093013), PARALIA is coordinated by Greece’s Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and runs from January 2023 through to June 2026.
The milestones achieved in the on-going global race for highly automated or autonomous vehicles are setting the stage for major transformations across the transportation industry, led primary by the expected wide adoption of Level 2 and Level 3 automated driving systems in next-generation automotive vehicles, the forward-looking roadmaps of major technology vendors, predicting next-generation consumer-centric fleets of robo-taxis and the growing maturity and expected proliferation of autonomous or Enchanted Flight Vision System (EFVS)-augmented Urban Air Mobility. However, transforming these technological concepts into tangible reality has been proving challenging, with recent studies urgently calling for a new generation of integrated, cost-effective and multi-domain sensory systems, capable of providing machine learning (ML) algorithms with the required heterogenous environmental information in a low-energy envelope.
PARALIA aims to demonstrate breakthrough performance by enabling an agile, low-cost and energy-efficient multi-sensor that combines radar and light detection & ranging (LiDAR) technologies and by re-architecting the sensors ecosystem, enabling ultra-high resolution at ultra-long distances, which is crucial for existing and future automotive and aerospace applications.
PARALIA aims to develop a powerful common LiDAR/radar optical multi-beam beam-forming platform based on best-in-class multi-port linear optical operator architectures exploiting the synergy of indium phosphide (InP) and silicon nitride (SiN) integration platforms.
The consortium brings together six leading industrial partners, and three academic and research institutes in the photonic integrated circuit (PIC) and photonic system value chain. Project participants are the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (Greece), Argotech a.s (Czech Republic), Collins Aerospace Ireland (Ireland), LioniX International BV (Netherlands), SIKLU Communication Ltd (Israel), Sivers Semiconductors (Sweden), VALEO Autoklimatizace K.S. (Czech Republic) and Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (Germany).
