In the update completed in September 2025, the official documentation of ArduPilot—the world's leading open-source drone flight control ecosystem—formally added three Benewake LiDAR products, the TFS20-L, TF-NOVA, and TF350, to its official rangefinder support page, and introduced a new CAN bus wiring section. Over the following year, the page received two further supplements (in August–September 2026, with the addition of I2C wiring instructions and TFS20-L-specific driver parameters).

ArduPilot is one of the world's most widely used open-source autopilot systems, providing an open-source control software and hardware ecosystem for unmanned platforms such as drones, unmanned ground vehicles, and unmanned surface vessels. Maintained by a global developer community, it is widely adopted by research institutions, universities, and enterprises.

For a piece of hardware, having its name written into the official support documentation means the product has been formally recognized by the ecosystem as a "supported device," allowing users to deploy it directly without additional development. For a long time, this has also served as an important yardstick for measuring a product's acceptance within the developer community. In fact, among the rangefinder driver enumerations in ArduPilot's mainline source code, Benewake currently occupies six model slots, making it one of the LiDAR rangefinder brands with the most natively supported models.

Unlike the common practice where vendors proactively apply for inclusion, this update was initiated by Randy Mackay, a core maintainer of ArduPilot. Within the open-source hardware ecosystem, the devices documented by official maintainers are typically those that community developers and industry users have actually installed and used in real-world deployments. The inclusion of these three products indicates that Benewake's relevant products have achieved a critical mass in installations and user inquiries within the overseas developer community, earning recognition from the ecosystem.

The TFS20-L, TF-NOVA, and TF350 are LiDAR products launched by Benewake for the market.

01 TFS20-L

A fully integrated single-channel dToF ranging mini-module designed for lightweight applications such as consumer drones, service robots, and the Internet of Things (IoT). It integrates a high-sensitivity, infrared-enhanced SPAD sensor with a ranging capability of up to 20 m. Adopting a fully integrated SPAD chip solution, histogram statistics algorithm, and fast TDC architecture, it delivers high-precision ranging while offering sunlight resistance of 15 m @ 100 KLux and featuring reflectivity calibration.

02 TF-NOVA

An innovative, Benewake-developed pure solid-state LiDAR featuring a line-spot beam. It innovatively replaces the traditional point light source with a line-spot infrared laser source, combined with a high-performance single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) receiver chip, providing a 14° wide-angle detection area and an indoor measurement range of over 7 meters. Through optimized transceiver optical design and ambient-light-rejection algorithms, the TF-NOVA can stably range black, highly reflective, and small targets even under strong outdoor lighting.

03 TF350

An industrial-grade ultra-long-range, high-frequency LiDAR with a maximum ranging distance of up to 350 m. It integrates strong-light and rain/fog compensation algorithms, supports multiple industrial-grade communication interfaces, and its IP67-rated enclosure enables deployment in both indoor and outdoor application scenarios. It also integrates multiple measurement modes and exposes various parameters for customers to freely configure according to their needs, meeting ranging requirements across different scenarios. The TF350 offers long detection range and easy installation, combining high cost-effectiveness with high integration, a more efficient optical system, and optimized circuit design.

Benewake will continue to invest in collaboration with the global open-source developer ecosystem, continuously improving driver and documentation support across platforms to help more overseas users more easily complete product selection and integration.