At CES 2022, Blickfeld, the Munich-based start-up developing high-performance, mass-producible lidar, has launched its own perception software, Percept. Designed for Blickfeld’s Cube sensor range for industry use, Percept includes functions like movement-based detection and tracking of objects, object classification and counting, zone occupancy detection, and zone entry detection with integrated alarm generation. This makes Percept suitable for a wide variety of applications, such as crowd analytics, traffic management, smart industry, and security solutions.
Blickfeld’s Percept software is designed to lower the barrier to 3D applications and aims to make extracting value from 3D data simpler. Users are can create and deploy projects with the help of a browser-based setup wizard and then directly generate actionable data. Blickfeld claims that the software can be used with “no specific know-how in 3D data processing” to develop scalable solutions for a variety of purposes. Percept has already successfully been deployed in customer projects, including a people counting application at Frankfurt airport. Percept software is currently available.
New smart lidar
Blickfeld also announced the next generation of “smart” lidar - the Qb2. Combining software and hardware in one device, Qb2 is an integrated smart lidar that does not require additional computers, servers, or adaptor boxes to provide efficient capturing and processing of 3D data in one single unit. Blickfeld will deliver the first Qb2 prototypes to selected customers in the third quarter of 2022, according to the announcement.
Blickfeld hopes that Qb2 will become “a quantum leap in the lidar domain”. The smart device combines Blickfeld’s patented and industry-proven MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) lidar hardware with a powerful compute module that runs the company’s Percept software stack on device.
Translating data gathered through lidar sensors into actionable information will no longer require an additional network of computing hardware, thus reducing complexity, energy consumption and the costs of implementation and operation drastically.
We are very excited to introduce Percept and Qb2 to the global industry at CES 2022 for the first time,” says Florian Petit, co-founder and Chief Experience Officer at Blickfeld.
“They are setting a new benchmark for smart lidar solutions and will promote their widespread use. Lidar perception software brings great value to customers. It enables them to build individual solutions that perfectly match their needs. Qb2 and Percept are real game-changers in the field of smart LiDARs.”
