2025 Vision Sensor Lens Cleaning: Enabling Undefeatable Autonomous Vehicles with Essential Lens Maintenance
Contaminants like mud, dust, oil, frost, and snow pose a serious threat to the vision sensors on autonomous and remotely operated vehicles, instantly reducing their effectiveness. In environments with harsh conditions—like military and off-road settings—these contaminants can obscure lidar, cameras, and optic sensors, all crucial for navigation, targeting, and friend-or-foe detection. The necessity of reliable autonomous vehicle sensor cleaning systems has never been more critical.
Importance of Autonomous Vehicle Sensor Cleaning Systems
Military vehicles and autonomous cars rely on an array of sensors and cameras for real-time situational awareness. With numerous sensors mounted around and on top of vehicles, access for manual cleaning is often impossible, especially for remotely operated vehicles. This vulnerability impacts both autonomous and teleoperated platforms, making them susceptible to degraded performance due to compromised visibility. The uptime of these systems is vital, as clear visibility is required day and night, and even small obstacles can impede sensor function if left unaddressed.
Ascencioné®’s Legacy in Military Sensor Cleaning Solutions
With over 50 years of experience, ascencioné®, based in Reed City, Michigan, specializes in rugged military and automotive electronic solutions. Leveraging expertise in fluid dynamics, fluid power, and sensor cleaning systems, ascencioné® has developed solutions tailored to the unique demands of autonomous vehicle operations in extreme conditions. Through its Clear Vision Safety System for Highly Automated Vehicles (CVSS-HAV-MIL), ascencioné® addresses these challenges by providing a reliable, adaptable, and effective lens-cleaning system.
CVSS-HAV-MIL – A Robust Solution for Vision Sensor and Lidar Cleaning
The CVSS-HAV-MIL system is designed to clear contaminated lenses, enhancing sensor reliability and extending operational capability. This lidar cleaning system utilizes a targeted pressure wash that efficiently cleans vision sensors, including cameras and lidar, without requiring external support. The system’s on-demand, pressurized fluid and air are dispensed precisely at each sensor’s location to rapidly restore visibility. This cleaning method supports autonomous vehicle sensors, common remotely operated weapons systems (CROWS), and other military applications.
The system’s architecture is flexible, with minimal Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) requirements, making it suitable for various applications. It can integrate across autonomous leader-follower convoys, robotic squad-support platforms, and autonomous logistics vehicles. The CVSS-HAV-MIL also supports heat pumps, providing warmth for cleaning fluid in colder conditions, a significant advantage in environments with frost and snow.
Automotive Camera Cleaning Systems and Applications Beyond Military Use
Leader-follower convoys and other autonomous vehicle systems face challenges from airborne debris and environmental elements. Optics used for navigation and hazard detection are especially vulnerable, creating a demand in the automotive camera cleaning systems market for effective solutions. The CVSS-HAV-MIL provides self-contained cleaning capabilities that support both small robotic platforms, like PackBot and TALON, and larger autonomous military vehicles.
