Bob Lewis and Dennis Corey didn't like that distance measurement sensors were too expensive, and a high potential for eye damage existed. Their answer to these problems is the LIDAR-Lite, an optical distance measurement sensor that is small, cheap, uses low power and delivers high performance.
Lewis and Corey explain their sensor technology in the current Dragon Innovation funding video, discussing the process and giving some application ideas for the technology. Current sensors send out light and measure the time that the light takes to return as the distance measurement technique. The LIDAR-Lite sends a waveform and compares it to a stored sample to test and measure distances.
http://www.dragoninnovation.com/projects/32-lidar-lite-by-pulsedlight
The most compelling use for this software is in drones. Amazon's grand moonshot idea to deliver product via drones has a lot of hurdles to clear before realization, but the FAA may be more accepting of low powered LED lights on a drone as opposed to high powered lasers.
LIDAR has previously been used to generate topographic and bathymetric maps, and even though my brain says 'light + radar = LIDAR' the name stands for Light Detection And Ranging. This new distance measurement application of the process can potentially find use in the automotive, handheld construction tools, traffic flow, robotics and medical fields.
Backers of the Dragon Innovation campaign will be receiving the sensors - each customer can decide on their own microcontroller, interface and implementation. There's an open source feel to the practice of developing this cool new thing and then allowing the world to decide how to innovate with the contemporary tool.
http://www.dragoninnovation.com/projects/32-lidar-lite-by-pulsedlight