Hammerhead Development Kit

Develop autonomous applications for vehicles and machines using Hammerhead multi-camera 3D vision system

System Overview

NODAR’s Development Kit (DevKit) provides perception engineers access to Hammerhead's breakthrough untethered stereo 3D vision system.

Supporting ultra long-range 3D perception (>1,000m) as well as uses requiring cm-level depth precision, NODAR Hammerhead can be used in a wide range of applications ranging from automotive ADAS, to fully self-driving commercial vehicles, to UAVs, trains, construction cranes, indoor robotics, and more.

Designed to enable engineers to quickly and easily evaluate NODAR technology, the Hammerhead DevKit works produces high-resolution pointclouds out of the box and can be set up within minutes.

The DevKit ships with everything needed to evaluate the Hammerhead system, including visualization software, API access to capture realtime data, data logging capabilities, and all necessary hardware (cameras, lenses, mounting bar, compute module, cables).

Applications

Precise long-range object detection for L3 and above

Ultra long-range object detection between 150-300m gives time to stop or avoid

Resilience to dust and vibration for autonomous operation, and precision for spout alignment

Long-range detection in any direction improves safety

Robustness with moving horizon and ultra-fine precision at short distances for docking

Very-long range obstruction detection for collision avoidance and mapping

Low-cost, flexible camera mounting, low compute and fine precision perfect for mobile robots

Sensor fusion with lidar provides redundancy while enabling safe highway driving 

Resilience to high-vibration and best-in-class performance in low visibility

Hammerhead Benefits

Wide baseline (distance between cameras) allow for long-range operation (up to 1,000 meters)

Independent mounting

Robust against manufacturing tolerances, even at +/- 3 degrees

Robust stability

Patented auto-calibration technology actively compensates for camera perturbations due to wind, road shock, vibration and temperature

Patented technology

High accuracy and reliability by computing true depth rather than interpolating from known objects

Accurate and Reliable

Easy installation

Easy installation and integration using only inexpensive off-the-shelf hardware

Frequently Asked Questions

  • NODAR’s Hammerhead technology enables unparalleled detection of small objects at large distances by supporting large-baseline mounts (1.5-3m or larger) with high-resolution sensors. This is accomplished with patented algorithms which automatically calibrate in real-time to compensate for misalignments that arise from larger baselines.

  • The DevKit includes both hardware and software to evaluate and integrate with Hammerhead. The hardware is composed of an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), 2 cameras, an SSD for storing collected data, a network switch, and all necessary connection cables. The software includes applications for demoing Hammerhead, calibrating the initial camera setup, and a C++ integration API.

  • The DevKit is designed to work immediately out of the box. You would only need to connect a power source and a display to see Hammerhead technology in action. If you are moving the cameras to custom mounts, then a calibration sequence needs to be performed to ensure that the cameras are aligned properly.

  • Stereo cameras are known for losing alignment due to vehicle vibration, temperature fluctuations, and long-term small movement of components.

    Using unique patented technology, Hammerhead is able to automatically calibrate on every video frame in order to compensate for these variations in alignment.

  • Cameras can be mounted via suction cups or tripod mounting holes to any compatible location with baselines up to 3 meters or more. For ease of initial testing, the cameras are mounted to a 1m bar when shipped.

  • As shipped in the DevKit, resolutions of 1, 2, or 5 megapixels are supported. If desired, additional resolutions can also be supported with different camera hardware.

  • Hammerhead can detect objects at large distances. With the 16mm lens option, humans are clearly detectable at 500m. Even with the wider 6mm lens option, humans are clearly detectable at 300m.

  • With recent improvements in camera sensors, Hammerhead is effective at low light levels such as city streets or headlight-illuminated scenes at night. We have also tested well against sensors such as LiDAR in dusty conditions, and Hammerhead technology can also be adapted to work with infrared sensors.

  • The DevKit includes access to a support portal and a dedicated support email address. We aim to reply to critical issues within 24 hours.

    Can I input the stereo data that we’ve collected using other hardware?

    If you have previously-collected high-quality stereo data with well-defined specifications for sensors, lenses, baseline, and intrinsic and extrinsic parameters, Hammerhead can process that data as a custom engineering effort.

  • The DevKit includes an NVIDIA Orin processing unit. Hammerhead can also be ported to additional computing platforms as a custom effort.