Towards synchronous mode of multiple independently controlled MEMS mirrors

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) will be one of the key enablers of smart mobility. Smart mobility creates a fully connected urban environment with graceful benefits for the city such as quality of life, reduced costs and more efficient energy usage. Modern LiDAR systems that are constructed for the automotive industry are using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) mirrors. In general, these mirrors are operated independently as a single device from a control system called MEMS Driver. In future, a synchronous mode for independent controlled MEMS mirrors will be crucial for novel applications such as synchronously operating a scanning receiver and emitter. In this paper we present a feasibility study about controlling multiple independent MEMS mirrors synchronously. For this purpose we created a novel Master-Slave system architecture model that enables synchronization. This proof-of-concept design of the Master-Slave system architecture were implemented in two FPGAs to evaluate the feasibility of synchronizing multiple independent MEMS mirrors.