Noncontact Motion Sensor Brings Precision to Manufacturing

Aeva Technologies, a developer of lidar systems based in Mountain View, Calif., has unveiled the Aeva Eve 1V, a high-precision, noncontact motion sensor built on its frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) sensing technology. The company says that the Eve 1V measures an object's motion with accuracy, repeatability, and reliability-all without ever making contact with the material. That last point is key for the Eve 1V's intended environment: Industrial manufacturing.

Today's manufacturing lines are under pressure to deliver faster production, tighter tolerances, and zero defects, often while working with a wide variety of delicate materials. Traditional tactile tools such as measuring wheels and encoders can slip, wear out, and cause costly downtime. Many noncontact alternatives, while promising, are either too expensive or fall short in accuracy and reliability under real-world conditions, says Mina Rezk, cofounder and chief technology officer at Aeva.

Eve 1V was built to solve that exact gap: A compact, eye-safe, noncontact motion sensor that delivers submillimeter-per-second velocity accuracy without touching the material, so manufacturers can eliminate slippage errors, avoid material damage, and reduce maintenance-related downtime, enabling higher yield and more predictable operations," Rezk says.

Unlike traditional lidar that sends bursts of light and waits for those bursts to return to make measurements, FMCW continuously emits a low-power laser while sweeping its frequency. By comparing outgoing and returning signals, it detects frequency shifts that reveal both distance and velocity in real time. The additional measurement of an object's velocity to its position in three-dimensional space makes FMCW a type of 4D lidar.

Eve 1V is the second member of its Eve 1 family, following the launch of the Eve 1D earlier this year. The Eve 1D is a compact displacement sensor capable of detecting movement at the micrometer scale, roughly 1/100 the thickness of a human hair. Together, Eve 1D and Eve 1V show how we can take the same FMCW perception platform and tailor it for different industrial needs: Eve 1D for distance measurement and vibration detection, and Eve 1V for precise velocity and length measurement," Rezk says.

Future applications could extend into robotics, logistics, and consumer health, where noncontact sensing may enable the detection of microvibrations on human skin for accurate pulse and blood-pressure readings.

FMCW Lidar for Precision Manufacturing

The company's core FMCW architecture, originally developed for long-range 4D lidar for automobiles, can be adjusted through software and optics for highly precise motion sensing at close range in manufacturing, according to Rezk. This flexibility means the system can track extremely slow movements, down to fractions of a millimeter per second, in a factory setting, or it can monitor faster motion over longer distances in other applications.

By avoiding physical contact, Eve 1V eliminates wear and tear, slippage, contamination, or the need for physical access to the part. That delivers three practical advantages in a factory: One, maintenance-free operation with no measuring wheels to replace or recalibrate; two, material friendliness-you can measure delicate, soft, or textured surfaces without risk of damage, and three, operational robustness-no slippage errors and fewer stoppages for service," Rezk says. Put together, that means more uptime, steady throughput, and less scrap, he adds.

When measuring velocity, engineers often rely on one of three tools: encoders, laser velocimeters, or camera-based systems. Each has its strengths and its drawbacks. Traditional encoders are low-cost but can wear down over time. Laser-based velocity-measurement systems, while precise, tend to be large and expensive, making them difficult to implement widely. And camera-based approaches can work for certain inspection tasks, but they usually require markers, controlled lighting, and complex processing to measure speed accurately.

Rezk says that the Eve 1V system offers a balance of these options. It provides precise and consistent velocity measurements without contacting material, making it compact, safe, and simple to install. Its outputs are comparable with existing encoder systems, and because it doesn't rely on physical contact, it requires minimal maintenance.

This approach helps cut down on wasted energy from slippage, eliminates the need for maintenance tied to parts that wear out, and ultimately lowers long-term operating costs-especially when compared with traditional contact-based systems or expensive laser options.

This method avoids stitching together frame-by-frame comparisons and resists interference from sunlight, reflections, or ambient light. Built on silicon photonics, it scales from micrometer-level sensing to millimeter-level precision over longer ranges. The result is clean, repeatable data with minimal noise-outperforming legacy lidar and camera-based systems.

Aeva is expecting to begin full production of the Eve 1V in early 2026. The Eve 1V reveal follows a recent partnership with LG Innotek, a components subsidiary of South Korea's LG Group, under which Aeva will supply its Atlas Ultra 4D lidar for automobiles, with plans to expand the technology into consumer electronics, robotics, and industrial automation.