LiDAR Challenges Radar in High-Stakes Perimeter Security Deployments
- Sarah o'Neill
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
As critical infrastructure operators reassess perimeter defenses amid evolving threat models, long-range detection accuracy and false alarm reduction remain central operational challenges. Traditional radar systems have long dominated large-site protection, but questions persist around resolution limits, performance in cluttered environments, and reliability against sophisticated intrusion tactics.
The broader perimeter security market is now seeing increased interest in high-resolution sensing technologies, including LiDAR-based systems, which promise finer object discrimination and improved detection consistency. Vendors across the sector are competing to demonstrate measurable performance gains in real-world deployments, particularly where terrain variability and adversarial testing expose system weaknesses.
In comments provided to Security Guys News, Nir Goren, Chief Innovation Officer at Innoviz Technologies Ltd, outlined results from recent deployments of the company’s InnovizSMART LiDAR perimeter solution at multiple critical infrastructure sites in Israel. According to Goren, the systems underwent an extensive pilot phase that included three consecutive operational months of stability validation and full design verification.
The company said InnovizSMART was benchmarked side-by-side against what it described as a 500-meter-class radar PZT system. Both sensors were mounted on the same pole and tested across open desert, dense vegetation, and urban environments. Elite infiltration teams from various Israeli security branches were reportedly brought in to challenge both systems under identical conditions.
Innoviz claims that its system detected humans at distances of up to 350 meters and vehicles up to 450 meters across a 120-degree coverage sector. The company further stated that InnovizSMART achieved a 100 percent detection rate during evaluated intrusion attempts, while the reference radar system missed approximately 50 percent of the same scenarios. Detailed breakdowns of test scenarios and false alarm rates were not disclosed due to operational sensitivity.
The claims position LiDAR as a potential alternative or complement to radar in long-range perimeter deployments. LiDAR systems generate detailed 3D point clouds, enabling higher spatial resolution than many conventional radar platforms. In theory, that granularity can improve classification and reduce ambiguity in complex environments. However, radar systems have historically been favored for robustness and long-range detection, and leading vendors in that space continue to emphasize mature performance in harsh weather and wide-area coverage.
Beyond traditional perimeter defense, Innoviz highlighted virtual-fence applications as a growing use case. These include defining protected zones such as a safety line on train platforms or creating secure boundaries where physical fencing is impractical. Such deployments require reliable detection with low nuisance alerts, particularly in high-traffic environments where over-triggering can undermine operational confidence.
Israel, according to the company, serves as an early deployment and validation market, with international expansion targeted toward the United States, the European Union, and India. Innoviz said it is scaling sales and support teams and expects a ramp-up in 2026. The company did not provide deployment volumes, revenue impact, or comparative performance metrics beyond the stated detection rates.
From an operational standpoint, detection rate alone is not the sole determinant of system effectiveness. False positives, environmental resilience, maintenance requirements, and integration with command-and-control platforms are all critical to long-term viability. The absence of disclosed false alarm data leaves open questions about the balance between sensitivity and operational burden.
The competitive landscape in advanced perimeter sensing includes established radar providers as well as other LiDAR and multi-sensor fusion vendors seeking to combine complementary modalities. In high-risk infrastructure environments, multi-layered architectures remain common, with operators often deploying radar, thermal cameras, and analytics in tandem to reduce blind spots and compensate for individual sensor limitations.
Bottom line: As infrastructure operators evaluate next-generation perimeter technologies, the central issue is not whether LiDAR can detect intrusions at extended range, but whether it can consistently outperform or integrate with existing radar-based systems under sustained operational conditions, without introducing new complexity or cost.
