A smartphone-based laser distance sensor for outdoor environments

Abstract

Laser distance sensors such as LIDAR are useful for many outdoor robotic vehicles, but their high cost and complexity precludes their use in low-cost applications, while other low-cost depth sensing technologies are not suitable for outdoor use. We present a low-cost, smartphone-based planar laser distance sensor design for outdoor use with 6 cm accuracy at 5 meters, 30 Hz scan rate, and 0.1 degree resolution over the field of view. The cost of the hardware additions to the off-the-shelf smartphone used in our prototype is under $50.