Consider career opportunities within the red-hot Pittsburgh Tech environment.
Western Pennsylvania is on the move and emerging as a tech powerhouse!
Pittsburgh is now ranked #13, up from #23, in the world’s top 100 emerging ecosystems via tech startups. This jump in 2022 ratings is primarily the result of big exits (move from private to public) by local companies such as Duolingo, Aurora, Stronghold Digital Mining, and Cognition Therapeutics.
Pittsburgh is 2nd only to Detroit in terms of leading the autonomous driving industry. This breakout position was achieved in part because of area-leading universities such as Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh who participate strategically and collaboratively within a coordinated regional plan shepherded by the Regional Industrial Development Corporation. (RIDC)
“We’re the number three center in the country in terms of jobs, and we’re number one in technology. We have 6300 jobs in the autonomous vehicle sector and an additional 8.604 in indirect tech.” – Donald F Smith Jr., Pres. RIDC. Sep 2021
Note: In the 4th quarter of 2022 Pittsburgh-based ARGO which was backed by Ford and Volkswagen to the tune of $1 billion was notified operations would be closed and absorbed by Ford. Reportedly, a portion of the footprint will remain in Pittsburgh along with about 650 jobs, although this could be subject to change.
Developments in complex robotics and autonomous driving bring us to the subject of career opportunities connected to LiDAR.
Lidar is commonly used to make high-resolution maps, with applications in surveying, geodesy, geomatics, archaeology, geography, geology, geomorphology, seismology, forestry, atmospheric physics, laser guidance, airborne laser swath mapping (ALSM), and laser altimetry. Some of the evolving uses and applications of LiDAR include:
Drones
The use cases for LiDAR drones in inspection and other infrastructure fields are obvious. From military applications such as target identification to surveying a construction site, and from measuring the amount of vegetation growing around a power line, drones with a LiDAR payload can greatly reduce both the time and cost of a manual survey or inspection.
By deploying a drone equipped with a LiDAR sensor, companies can take more accurate aerial readings — creating 3D models with centimeter-level accuracy and detecting features that would be invisible to less sophisticated methods.
Self-driving cars
Fully autonomous cars are edging closer to reality, driven by advanced sensors that can avoid a crash before it happens. Leading the charge in this area is LIDAR, a light-sensing technology that creates a 3-D map of a car’s surroundings using a laser and receiver.
Note: It is clear that redundancies in a sensor network are necessary to ensure the safety of vehicles with automated driving functions. None of the available sensor technologies including LiDAR and special cameras will enable autonomous driving on their own.
Military
Mine sweeping, the process of clearing mines from harbors and the open ocean is extremely dangerous. The US Navy’s development of robots directed by LiDAR is just one of many military applications that have created engineering and software development opportunities with scores of military contractors. Similar projects are underway for ground force clearing applications.
Other
Autonomous Machinery
Scanning buildings for quality control,
Farming with precision agriculture,
Industrial inspection,
Monitoring construction projects,
Mining,
Exploring underwater bathymetry,
Uncovering lost cities,
Predicting flooding before it happens,
Remote project inspection,
Space and planetary exploration.
Popular software skillsets for a career in LiDAR.
Based on a review of the skill requirements listed by 50 Pittsburgh based companies currently hiring, C++ and Python appeared most frequently.
Popular LiDAR Job Titles
These are recent job opportunities in the Pittsburgh/Western PA Region:
Engineers:
Perception Software Engineer (Aerospace)
Robotics Software Engineer
Robotics Engineer (Perception)
Electrical Engineer (Robotics)
Embedded Systems Engineer
Software Engineer (Algorithms)
Software Engineer (Machine Learning)
System Software Engineer
Software Engineer (Computer Vision)
Firmware Engineer
Simulation Engineer
Modeling and Simulation Engineer (Autonomous Vehicle)
Electronics Engineer (Autonomous Heavy Machinery)
Technicians:
LiDAR Technician
Project Support Technician
Systems and Test Technician
Reality Capture LiDAR Technician
3D Capture Technician and Modler
Geospatial Technician – Topographic/Bathymetric LiDAR
Indoor Survey Technician LiDAR
UAV Land Development Survey Manager
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