Compact Pulsed Doppler LiDAR and FMCW LaDAR system for space range finding, target tracking, and fine pointing acquisition with 10 km operational range.
Optical communication links, orbital rendezvous, and space defense operations all share the same fundamental challenge: you need to know precisely where another object is, how far away it is, and how fast it’s moving. Radar works, but it’s bulky, power-hungry, and imprecise at close range. GPS tells you where you are, not where your target is.
NantNova’s Space LiDAR solves this by firing short laser pulses at the target and measuring the return signal. The time delay gives you range down to centimeter precision. The frequency shift (Doppler) gives you velocity. And it does this at ranges up to 10 km in a package smaller than a shoebox — making it practical for CubeSats, docking systems, and terminal pointing systems that can’t afford the size, weight, or power of traditional ranging sensors.
The LDR operates in two complementary modes. Pulsed Doppler mode fires short laser bursts and measures the round-trip time to determine range, while the frequency shift of the return signal reveals the target’s velocity — ideal for fast acquisition at longer distances. FMCW (Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave) mode sweeps a continuous laser beam across a frequency range, providing extremely precise range and velocity measurements at shorter distances — perfect for the final approach phase of docking or the fine-pointing stage of link acquisition.
Together, these modes cover the full engagement sequence: coarse search at range, fine track at close proximity, and continuous position updates for the pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) system. The LDR fuses its measurements with onboard INS and GPS data to deliver a complete target solution in real time.
Pulsed Doppler LiDAR / FMCW LaDAR Unit
NantNova Fiber Laser Systems
Intelligent Laser System with Integrated LaDar
Fiber Laser System Architecture
NantNova’s Space LiDAR delivers dual-mode range finding and target tracking in a compact form factor for orbital and defense applications.