PISA (Photonic Inertial Sensors for Automotive)

About the project

Zero Point Motion (ZPM) develops ultra-sensitive chipscale devices to measure acceleration and rate of rotation of moving objects. These inertial sensors are 100x more sensitive than existing ones inside cars today because we use light instead of a noisy electrical readout, enabling our sensors to measure smaller motions without becoming larger in size or more expensive. Our sensors can improve the performance, safety and resilience of driverless cars because inertial sensors work anywhere, anytime.

Currently, autonomous navigation relies on external reference signals from satellites (e.g. GPS), LIDAR/RADAR or cameras. However, all these external references output data at 10-100x lower rates than inertial sensors, and their signals can be spoofed, jammed or denied, for example, GPS is not available underground or in tunnels and is a weak signal prone to interference, whereas LIDAR/RADAR and cameras require huge computational processing powers to stitch together images which can fail if false objects are tracked or if there are no prominent features.

Autonomous vehicles cannot reach Level 5 full autonomy using a single sensor solution, but instead, a multitude of inputs that are fused together (sensor fusion) such that LIDAR/RADAR and cameras enable obstacle tracking and avoidance, satellite navigation provides an absolute position relative to the Earth, and inertial sensors measure the car dynamics. Improving the inertial sensors is therefore critical to guarantee traceable decision making, as they provide measurements and not ‘black box’ software or AI/machine learning interpretations of static LIDAR/RADAR/camera data.

To prepare our sensors for automotive certification, we will use standard packaging practices known to satisfy regulatory testing and begin our quality assurance process, running tests defined by the AEC-Q100 certification. Our partner Fortescue Zero will conduct testing on motorsport platforms, exposing our sensor to real-world extreme dynamics and conditions. To verify how the inertial sensor sits within the navigation stack and the safety or mission critical role it plays compared to external references, our partner UWE will conduct independent research on integrity and resilience using their expertise on autonomous vehicles. We will work with our partner the Royal Institute of Navigation to ensure our IMUs and UWE’s research is visible to the UK CAM hardware supply chain by holding two events involving academic and industry leaders in autonomous navigation, and to encourage debate and discussion on topics around sensor fusion, safety, resilience and the UK’s position. These events are opportunities to generate new insights and collaborations between interested stakeholders.

Project Partners

• Royal Institute of Navigation
• University of the West of England
• Fortescue Zero
• ZERO POINT MOTION LTD