Coffee Talk: Ben Hua
This week we sat down with AEye’s VP of Operations Ben Hua to talk about the company’s early decision to go with a 1550 nm laser wavelength, AEye’s cost-downs in its laser supplier ecosystem, and how Ben’s optics education and telecom industry experiences have contributed to business growth at AEye.
“AEye’s focus on cost reduction has enabled us to create a cost-effective lidar that enhances our competitive position in the automotive market. This enables Tier 1s to more confidently quote our solution for RFQs. Additionally, with a supply chain that has been vetted by a Tier 1 partner, the adoption of our lidar technology by new Tier 1s becomes much more cost effective for them, while reducing technical and manufacturing risk.”
Tell me about your role at AEye and your background.
I’m the VP of Operations, responsible for global supply chain and manufacturing management via partnerships with contractor manufacturing companies. That includes driving excellence in manufacturing for consistent product performance and quality, and driving supply chain activities for component supply, robustness and cost reduction.
I’ve worked in Silicon Valley for 30 years in various management positions leading R&D, product marketing and special task force programs at companies like E-TEK Dynamics, JDSU / Lumentum and O-Net Technologies. I was trained in optics, especially in fiber optic amplifiers and fiber optical lasers, with a Ph.D. in Optics, and did a post-doc in Fiber Optical Communications Systems and Optical Fiber Amplifier & Lasers. My education and my telecom industry experiences created a very good business and technical foundation for me to contribute my experiences to the business growth at AEye, especially the supply chain management of the optical components used in the 1550 nm lidar.
AEye made an early decision to use 1550 over 900 nm lasers. At a high level, why? And what’s the benefit?
AEye chose 1550 nm fiber lasers as the laser beam source of its lidar for several reasons: The laser wavelength of 1550 nm is much better for eye safety vs. 905 nm – a critical consideration for safety as well as performance, e.g., the power requirement for long distance detection. Also, the 1550 wavelength enables better brightness and beam collimation because the fiber laser can provide the best Gaussian shaped optical beam with M2 closer to 1 – which enables a better transmission system. Finally, the fiber laser has minimal electromagnetic interference or other unwanted RF effects.
You have a great deal of experience in the laser supplier ecosystem. AEye did a lot of work successfully achieving supplier cost-downs last year. How significant was this approach and the results?
During the product development and NPI phases, we have been focused on cost reduction by design, as well as driving manufacturing related cost reduction activities at component suppliers. The reductions we were able to achieve were substantial and involved a combination of approaches. For example, we optimized the choice of subcomponents in some of our modules to reduce BOM cost. Using multiple sources typically enables cost reduction and this is a key part of our supply chain strategy. For critical components, such as our small, silicon-based MEMS mirrors, migrating to larger wafer sizes has a huge cost benefit. And more automation in assembly at the module and lidar level also helps drive lower cost – and our modular lidar architecture makes this easier.
Beyond that, working with Tier 1 partners allows us to leverage their supply chain and procurement scale for additional cost reduction. Moreover, significant cost reductions kick in as the volume goes up.
Can you characterize the impact of this type of cost-down for an OEM volume deployment?
AEye’s focus on cost reduction has enabled us to create a cost-effective lidar that enhances our competitive position in the automotive market. This enables Tier 1s to more confidently quote our solution for RFQs. Additionally, with a supply chain that has been vetted by a Tier 1 partner, the adoption of our lidar technology by new Tier 1s becomes much more cost effective for them, while reducing technical and manufacturing risk.
What’s your favorite mode of transportation?
I enjoy driving my car on the freeway carpool lane while leveraging radar-based Adaptive Cruise Control and camera-based Highway Lane Following Assist (or Lane Keeping Assist), to have more freedom of personal movement. In the near future, I hope to drive a vehicle equipped with truly hands-free ADAS functions using AEye’s lidar!