2023 is shaping up to be an exciting year for RadarIQ. We have been busy over the last year working on many things, and we'd like to announce some of what we've been working on.
The first thing I'd like to promote is our new website. We have been working away over the last few months refreshing our branding and company look and feel. Our new website now more accurately reflects the company. We have moved from being a new startup taking their first product to market through Kickstarter, to now being a company with a solid product in the market and working towards our next range of products.
Pivots
Like all new startups trying to find their place in the market, one or more pivots are usually required. This is no different for us. Throughout the last year we have been looking at what has worked for us, and what has not. We've thought hard about the questions our customers and potential customers have been asking and how how product serves their needs. And as a consequence we've made some changes.
Pivot 1: Maker to Vision
Our original launch of the M1, being on Kickstarter was aimed at makers and engineers with a focus on robotics. As we've matured and considered the range of applications the M1 is suited to, we've realized that the better description for the M1 is as a "Radar Vision" sensor. The sensor is really optimized for making full use of the 110 degree field of view and object detection capabilities. Through the M1 we have to two "radar vision" modes, the point cloud application and the object tracking application. This has not really changed the product, but has changed the way we think about the product and where it would sit withing a portfolio of radar vision sensors.
Pivot 2: Distance
The number one thing our customers have been asking for is for robust distance sensors. While there are many different types of distances sensors on the market from laser to ultrasound, each of them have limitations that make them unsuitable for some, particularly outdoor, applications. The thing that radar has over other types of sensor is its incredible robustness and the ability to see through enclosures and dirt. It does not matter how dirty the sensor gets, radar sensors just continue to work!
But like most product development, what seems simple on the surface is complex underneath and always take longer than everyone hopes to get a solution working really well. Our development efforts are on the RadarIQ-D series (D for distance). Withing the D-series, we are focusing our efforts on three specific areas of development.
The first is lake and river level sensing. As the internet of things becomes more popular, the expectation of having data about our natural environment increases, and rightly so. Being able to make data-driven decisions is an incredibly important tool this day in age. Radar is an ideal technology for this application because it is very robust to outdoor conditions: Rain, Hail, Snow, Hot direct sun, fog, and humidity can all cause havoc for many types of sensors; radar is robust to all of them.
The second area is around silo monitoring. Silos can be tricky things to monitor. The key challenge for silos is that silos tend to contain materials with a lot of dust particles. Dust and sensors are generally not a great combination. Dust can either settle on the senor surface which obstructs the sensors view of the material. Constant cleaning is required to keep the sensors functioning. Radar, being impervious to dust, does not have this problem.
The third areas of research is around wave monitoring. We are looking at the ability of the RadarIQ sensors to measure the amplitude and frequency of water waves.
While these are three specific uses-cases for RadarIQ distance sensors, there are many more possible applications. The distance sensor we are developing will also be available to purchase as a generalist sensor for monitoring the distance to pretty much anything.
Pivot 3: Cloud connectivity
The ideal solution for many providers from a silo or river perspective is to have turn-key internet-connected monitoring system. The founders of RadarIQ have extensive experience in building IoT cloud systems. We are also working on IoT enabled versions of the sensor for the river and silo systems along with data capture and analysis platforms. These platforms are still in the development phase, so if you are interested in using radar to measure distance in silos, lakes or rivers, get in touch with us.2023 will be a busy year for RadarIQ with so much development underway. Building new products is always challenging but it is a challenge we have accepted.
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