I am curious about the specs on this LIDAR unit.
It claims it is applicable for indoor and outdoor use, but not direct sunlight. Kind of limits outdoor use, in my book.
I want to use the unit on a multirotor for obstacle avoidance. I can envision a shade of some sort, but when the multirotor “bird” is cruising it has a nose down attitude, which makes a shade a little impractical.
Any ideas?
-Wolf
Hi @Lobo_FPV,
Welcome to the RobotShop community! 
Well, direct sunlight is typically rated as “at most” 100 kLux (or 100000 Lux). As you can see on the chart there, full daylight is not as high as direct sunlight in brightness.
In most cases, rotating LIDARs like the RPLidar A2M8 are used on rover-like platforms that are mostly on flat ground and therefore are rarely exposed to direct sunlight. The RPLidar A3 may fare a bit better but it is essentially the same technology.
If you need good quality measurements under direct sunlight you may want to use something like the UTM-30LX-EW [RB-Hok-16]. The manufacturer did some tests with this device at 1000, 5000 and 10000 mm with no light, 100 kLux on the target (Kent paper) and 100 kLux on the sensor. Here is a copy of the setup and results:
I hope that helps.
Sincerely,
If you stick to something like the A2M8, you could ignore data points from angles pointing upwards (towards the sun) and use your mobility to analyze the data points pointing towards the ground only.
Hello Scharette
Thanx for responding to my post, I have already pulled the trigger on the purchase of the A2M8. With the info you provided, I will prolly continue with the project. This is for an UAS vehicle, to aid in obstacle avoidance, I will see if it is feasible to mount the LIDAR on a gimbal, that will keep it horizontal and provide a shade cover to minimize direct sun light. If all else fails, I have a good friend that could use this unit for his ground based rover project.
Peace, Wolf
Hey Wolf,
Ah, sorry for the late reply. I only just got back now from the holidays!
This will probably help quite a bit.
Yeah, keeping the sensor horizontal sounds like a good plan in general for object avoidance. Otherwise, you may want to take into account the angle of the sensor (and UAS) to determine the actual distance of obstacles (especially important for large obstacles like walls). Basic trigonometry should be enough here.
You are a good friend to have, then! 
If you do, I recommend that you post about it here. I’m sure the RobotShop community would be happy to know more about your project and if you ever get stuck in the process you can source help more easily with a robot page for your project.
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Hey, that sounds like a good idea. This is a self funded, personal/educational/hobby related project, so my timeline/deadline is, shall we say loose. I will try to keep up with the updates on project status.
Peace, Wolf
