[ DEVELOPERS ]

Hammerhead
Development Kit
HDK 2.0

Develop autonomous and 3D monitoring applications using Hammerhead Developers Kit (HDK).

System Overview

NODAR’s Hammerhead Development Kit (HDK) provides perception engineers access to Hammerhead's breakthrough ultra-wide baseline stereo 3D vision system.

Supporting long-range 3D perception (up to >1,000m) with millions of pixels as well as providing 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, agriculture, UAVs, rail, construction vehicles, indoor robotics, and more.

Designed to enable engineers to quickly and easily evaluate NODAR technology, the HDK produces high-resolution pointclouds out of the box and can be set up within minutes. In addition, the HDK comes with NODAR GridDetect, a feature that enables detection of objects and provides their size, position, and velocity.

The HDK 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, mount, compute module, cables).

Applications

Trucks

Ultra long-range, small object detection - detect a 25cm object at 305m to allow for time to stop or avoid.

Passenger Cars

Precise long-range object detection for L3 and above.

Air Mobility

Long-range detection in any direction improves safety.

Heavy Equipment

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

Ferry

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

Rail

1000m+ range obstruction detection for collision avoidance and mapping.

Last Mile Delivery

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

Robotaxi

Sensor fusion with lidar provides redundancy while enabling safe highway driving.

Agriculture

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

Hammerhead Benefits

NODAR Hammerhead delivers unparalleled accuracy and reliability, even in challenging environments like dust, low light, rain, and fog. Leveraging patented auto-calibration technology and off-the-shelf cameras, the system provides consistent, high-resolution depth data with minimal setup, ensuring rugged, cost-effective performance for variety of applications.

Accuracy and Range

High accuracy by computing the true depth of every pixel based on stereoscopic parallax rather than crudely interpolating from known objects.

Low Visibility Performance

High performance in difficult conditions such as high-dust, low-light, rain, fog, and direct sunlight.

Consistency of Results

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

Ruggedness and Reliability

High longer-term reliability due to no moving parts. Robust against manufacturing variations and wear-and-tear, tolerating angle changes up to +/- 3 degrees.

Easy Installation

Easy installation and integration, mounted via tripod mounting holes. Multiple compute and software integration options.

Value

Hammerhead leverages off-the-shelf cameras for minimal hardware cost requirements. Processing for stereo calibration can be performed either on a dedicated ECU or shared with an existing ECU.

HDK 2.0 Hardware Reference

Camera support

Ships with Sony IMX490 5MP (also supported: 8MP, 12MP, LWIR, Global Shutter)

Lenses

6mm/70° FOV or 16mm/30° FOV ¹, both f/1.6 and f/2

Processor

NVIDIA Orin Jetson ²

Specifications

Calibration

Continuous (every frame)

Baseline

Tested up to 3m

Frame rate

Up to 30 FPS

Max capacity

50 million pixels/second

depth precision

0.2-0.4% @ 100m

Maximum range

Tested to 1,000m

Precision

Able to detect 10cm object at 150m

Camera alignment tolerance

+/-3°

Stereo matching algorithm

Deterministic signal processing algorithm

Vibration tolerance

0.1° per frame

1. Other lenses and cameras can be supported

2. Software-only technology enables porting to Intel+GPU or other processors

Frequently Asked Questions

How is NODAR different?

NODAR’s Hammerhead technology enables unparalleled detection of small objects at large distances by supporting large-baseline mounts (0.5-3m or larger) with independently mounted (no connecting bar), high-resolution cameras. This is accomplished with patented algorithms that automatically calibrate in real-time to compensate for misalignments that arise from larger baselines.

What is included in Hammerhead’s HDK 2.0?

The HDK includes both hardware and software to evaluate and integrate with Hammerhead. The hardware comprises of an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), 2 cameras, and all necessary connection cables. The software includes applications for demoing Hammerhead, collecting data, calibrating the initial camera setup, and an integration API.

How long does the installation take?

The HDK 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.

How does calibration work?

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.

What mounting configurations are supported?

The entire HDK camera assembly can be mounted to a vehicle or structure via tripod mounting holes. Even though the cameras in the HDK are mounted at a fixed baseline, production versions of Hammerhead can be shipped with custom baselines and mounts depending on specific application requirements.

What is the camera resolution?

As shipped in the HDK, a resolution of 5 megapixels is supported. If desired, additional resolutions can also be supported with different camera hardware.

What is the maximum supported distance?

Hammerhead can detect objects at large distances. With the 16mm (30° field-of-view) lens option, humans are clearly detectable at 500m. Even with the wider 7mm (65° field-of-view) lens option, humans are clearly detectable at 200m.

Does the system work at low visibility?

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, rainy, and foggy conditions, and Hammerhead technology can also be adapted to work with infrared sensors.

How is software integration done?

The HDK is shipped with ROS2 and C++ APIs with thorough documentation at https://github.com/nodarhub. Other integration options can be provided as a custom effort.

What type of support is available?

The HDK 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.

Which computing platforms are supported?

The HDK includes an NVIDIA Orin processing unit. Hammerhead can also be ported to other processors as a custom project.

How is NODAR different?

NODAR’s Hammerhead technology enables unparalleled detection of small objects at large distances by supporting large-baseline mounts (0.5-3m or larger) with independently mounted (no connecting bar), high-resolution cameras. This is accomplished with patented algorithms that automatically calibrate in real-time to compensate for misalignments that arise from larger baselines.

What is included in Hammerhead’s HDK 2.0?

The HDK includes both hardware and software to evaluate and integrate with Hammerhead. The hardware comprises of an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), 2 cameras, and all necessary connection cables. The software includes applications for demoing Hammerhead, collecting data, calibrating the initial camera setup, and an integration API.

How long does the installation take?

The HDK 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.

How does calibration work?

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.

What mounting configurations are supported?

The entire HDK camera assembly can be mounted to a vehicle or structure via tripod mounting holes. Even though the cameras in the HDK are mounted at a fixed baseline, production versions of Hammerhead can be shipped with custom baselines and mounts depending on specific application requirements.

What is the camera resolution?

As shipped in the HDK, a resolution of 5 megapixels is supported. If desired, additional resolutions can also be supported with different camera hardware.

What is the maximum supported distance?

Hammerhead can detect objects at large distances. With the 16mm (30° field-of-view) lens option, humans are clearly detectable at 500m. Even with the wider 7mm (65° field-of-view) lens option, humans are clearly detectable at 200m.

Does the system work at low visibility?

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, rainy, and foggy conditions, and Hammerhead technology can also be adapted to work with infrared sensors.

How is software integration done?

The HDK is shipped with ROS2 and C++ APIs with thorough documentation at https://github.com/nodarhub. Other integration options can be provided as a custom effort.

What type of support is available?

The HDK 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.

Which computing platforms are supported?

The HDK includes an NVIDIA Orin processing unit. Hammerhead can also be ported to other processors as a custom project.

How is NODAR different?

NODAR’s Hammerhead technology enables unparalleled detection of small objects at large distances by supporting large-baseline mounts (0.5-3m or larger) with independently mounted (no connecting bar), high-resolution cameras. This is accomplished with patented algorithms that automatically calibrate in real-time to compensate for misalignments that arise from larger baselines.

What is included in Hammerhead’s HDK 2.0?

The HDK includes both hardware and software to evaluate and integrate with Hammerhead. The hardware comprises of an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), 2 cameras, and all necessary connection cables. The software includes applications for demoing Hammerhead, collecting data, calibrating the initial camera setup, and an integration API.

How long does the installation take?

The HDK 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.

How does calibration work?

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.

What mounting configurations are supported?

The entire HDK camera assembly can be mounted to a vehicle or structure via tripod mounting holes. Even though the cameras in the HDK are mounted at a fixed baseline, production versions of Hammerhead can be shipped with custom baselines and mounts depending on specific application requirements.

What is the camera resolution?

As shipped in the HDK, a resolution of 5 megapixels is supported. If desired, additional resolutions can also be supported with different camera hardware.

What is the maximum supported distance?

Hammerhead can detect objects at large distances. With the 16mm (30° field-of-view) lens option, humans are clearly detectable at 500m. Even with the wider 7mm (65° field-of-view) lens option, humans are clearly detectable at 200m.

Does the system work at low visibility?

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, rainy, and foggy conditions, and Hammerhead technology can also be adapted to work with infrared sensors.

How is software integration done?

The HDK is shipped with ROS2 and C++ APIs with thorough documentation at https://github.com/nodarhub. Other integration options can be provided as a custom effort.

What type of support is available?

The HDK 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.

Which computing platforms are supported?

The HDK includes an NVIDIA Orin processing unit. Hammerhead can also be ported to other processors as a custom project.

3D Vision Re-Envisioned

Boston

|

San Francisco

|

Berlin

Get in touch to explore our solutions for autonomy, industrial, and safety applications.

NODAR Inc.

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2025

3D Vision Re-Envisioned

Boston

|

San Francisco

|

Berlin

Get in touch to explore our solutions for autonomy, industrial, and safety applications.

NODAR Inc.

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2025

3D Vision Re-Envisioned

Boston

|

San Francisco

|

Berlin

Get in touch to explore our solutions for autonomy, industrial, and safety applications.

NODAR Inc.

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2025