Boulder, Colorado – Only a few months after entering the gimbal integrated laser rangefinder (LRF) market, LightWare’s added a powerful new GRF-500 model, offering customers more range and advanced capabilities.
Following the successful debut of GRF-250 last year, LightWare’s design team started working on the formidable all-new GRF-500. Creating a longer-range gimbal-integrated LRF solution to enhance EO/IR sensor payloads for commercial UAV operators.
The GRF-500 brings depth perception and distance measurement from 0.2- to 500 m (0.6- to 1640 ft) for UAV applications. It retains the compact form factor, power efficiency, and ultra-light weight for which LightWare’s sensors are renowned and valued. This makes the GRF-500 ideal for aerial missions in Search and Rescue (SAR), security, surveillance, crowd management, border monitoring and conservation.
Increased height for better stealth
The LightWare GRF-500 allows LRF functionality at higher hover altitudes, unlocking critical capabilities to first responders, SAR, security, and law enforcement teams.
GRF-500’s excellent range of depth perception and distance measurement unlocks valuable capabilities. Like the ability to fly higher, reducing UAV noise signature and the possibility of detection. This helps create real UAV stealth when monitoring skittish wildlife or stealthily confirming and tracking security issues.
Higher flight and hover altitudes, enabled by the GRF-500’s longer-range capabilities, also enhance mission efficiency. Flying higher increases field of view for the EO/IR sensor payload’s camera systems, allowing the UAV to scan more area with greater efficiency.
During missions where urgency is an issue, like SAR or security, these higher altitudes empower the UAV response team to cover more area of responsibility in less time. The GRF-500 supports longer-range camera focusing clarity in challenging lighting conditions and terrain areas with low contrast, providing accurate focus distance measurements to objects or areas of interest.
Like the other LightWare rangefinders, the GRF-500’s laser can be turned off when needed for tactical security and intelligence missions. This functionality makes the UAV invisible to night vision goggles, allowing a UAV surveillance team to retain their stealth advantage – observing without being observed.
Configured for ease of integration with EO/IR gimbals, the GRF-500’s plug-and-play adaptability makes it effortless to configure for your UAV and application. LightWare has a complete accessories suite for the GRF-500, including cables, Pixhawk adapters and a convenient breakout board.
LightWare’s CEO, Nadia Nilsen, is proud to bring the company’s evolving LRF offering to the market. “The GRF-250 proved our ability to create compact, lightweight, high-performance LRFs for gimbal manufacturers and UAV builders who need all the capability and integration for their EO/IR sensor payloads, without the weight or power draw. The GRF-500 builds on that, featuring the same ultracompact form factor, terrific efficiency, low weight and proven performance that LightWare sensors are known for, with a significant increase in range.”
Enhancing capabilities
LightWare’s GRF models enhance any sensor payload without creating integration or power issues. The GRF-500 was developed to integrate seamlessly with EO/IR gimbals, adding powerful ranging and depth perception capabilities, while assisting with localization.
The GRF-500 brings powerful ranging ability onboard any UAV, operating from 0.2- to 500m (0.6- to 1640ft). Its laser operates within 1M eye safety standards, ensuring that first responders using the GRF-500 onboard their UAV in a crowd monitoring or SAR mission can accurately identify people of interest without causing eye harm.
LightWare is renowned for its compact, high-performance sensors, delivering excellent performance at the lowest possible weight, within a form factor that’s easy to integrate. For first responder and law enforcement teams who need the greater reach of a 500 m (1640 ft) LRF but also know that every gram and watt saved with a payload sensor can enhance flight time, the GRF-500 is unbeatable. It delivers the performance of a gimbal-integrated longer-range LRF at only 10.7 g (0.377 oz) and an amazingly compact form factor measuring 32 mm x 34 mm x 21 mm (1.3 in x 1.4 in x 0.8 in).
Tremendous efficiency and extreme weather capability
Compact, powerful and amazingly efficient, the GRF-500’s power draw is optimized to ensure your UAV retains peak functionality and sensor fusion from its EO/IR gimbal payload, without suffering degraded performance due to battery limitations. The GRF-500 delivers performance at its maximum range of 500m / 1640ft while consuming a meagre 0.55W of power.
First responder teams operating UAVs in security, SAR, wildlife, or law enforcement roles must operate confidently in any weather conditions. Product resilience is non-negotiable, and that’s why LightWare’s GRF-500 is rated to operate in extreme temperatures – from -20°C (-4°F) to 60°C (140°F). Additionally, the IP67 water- and dust proof front face of the GRF-500 ensures reliable performance in harsh conditions. Like all LightWare sensors, each GRF-500 gimbal-integrated LRF is assembled by a specialist LightWare technician using a process benchmarked to ISO9001.
Expanding the GRF product family
Nilsen believes the GFR-500 is a valuable evolution of LightWare’s GRF product range, proving the company’s technical capabilities in the LRF space and meeting real-world customer and operator needs. “Commercial UAV operators need a longer-range gimbal-integrated LRF with the best size, weight, features, and cost balance. After launching GRF-250 in 2024, customers immediately inquired about a longer-range version. We’re thrilled to be able to fulfil that need with an all-new sensor design, the GRF-500.”
Available from LightWare’s global distributors and webstore, the GRF-500 is priced at $399. The GRF-500 is LightWare’s furthest ranging sensor and symbolic of the company’s technical capabilities, working to create advanced gimbal-integrated LRFs that exceed your UAV mission needs.
About LightWare
A pioneer in LIDAR technology, LightWare has four decades of experience creating advanced sensors for demanding and diverse applications. Our microLiDAR® technology and rangefinders create compact, ultralight, high-performance sensors that assist machines in perceiving their surroundings, enabling a new era of autonomy. LightWare creates high-performance, cost-effective sensors, allowing widespread industry adoption and technology transformation.
