The Terahertz Frontier with Greg Charvat of Teradar

The Amp Hour · 22 Jul 2026 · 1h 20m · Episode 729

What this episode covers

Greg Charvat, CTO and co-founder of Teradar, explains how his company is developing terahertz-frequency radar chips to overcome the resolution limits of 77 GHz automotive radar and the weather sensitivity of LIDAR. He details the technical challenges of designing sensors on silicon, leveraging high-volume semiconductor fabs to create a competitive moat, and the importance of digital phased arrays for high-resolution imaging. Charvat also shares advice for hardware founders on avoiding the CEO trap and discusses Teradar's distributed engineering culture across San Jose, Boston, and Connecticut.

Mentioned

Companies
Teradar, Butterfly Network, Hyperfine Research, Humatics, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, TSMC
Products
LIDAR
Materials
Gallium Nitride

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Over the Air · 30m

    Cracking The Code Of Automotive Radar: An Inside Look With Arbe's Chief Radar Officer

    Gonen Barkan, Chief Radar Officer at Arbe, explains how his company’s high-resolution 4D imaging radar chipsets provide superior safety for autonomous driving compared to legacy systems. He details the technical shift from simple tracking to 5-dimensional point clouds, highlighting Arbe's partnerships with tier-one suppliers like Magna and Chinese manufacturers to integrate their silicon into vehicle radar units. Barkan also recounts his history developing early imaging radar at GM and Cruise, discussing the cultural and technical challenges of transitioning traditional automotive DNA to a software-defined, deep-tech mindset.

  • Moore's Lobby · 53m

    Ep. 48 | Argo AI's Hardware VP Talks Autonomous Vehicles and Single Photon Lidar

    Zach Little, Argo AI's VP of Firmware and Hardware, details the company's autonomous driving technology, focusing on their in-house single-photon LiDAR developed from the acquisition of Princeton Lightwave. He explains how this Geiger-mode technology enables long-range detection of low-reflectance objects, such as black cars, which is critical for highway safety. Little also contrasts the rigorous safety and environmental ruggedization required for automotive systems with his previous experience in consumer electronics at Motorola, Microsoft, and Apple. The discussion covers the integration of these sensors with Ford and Volkswagen platforms, addressing challenges in scaling production and ensuring reliability in harsh climates like Miami and Munich.

  • Hackaday Podcast · 58m

    Hackaday Podcast Ep 389: Spinning Lightfield Displays and Jenny Visits a Blast Furnace

    Jenny List and Elliot Williams discuss Henrik Forstén’s synthetic aperture radar drone, which achieves centimeter-level resolution using RTK GPS and post-processing kinematic positioning. They also cover Breaking Taps’ custom microprocessor designed via wafer.space, James’ spinning Nipkow lightfield display, and Peter A. Jansen’s open-source tricorder featuring a Pomelo radiation detector and Hamamatsu spectrometer. Finally, Jenny describes her visit to the Zeche Zollverein industrial site in Germany’s Ruhr Valley.

  • Moore's Lobby · 57m

    Pragmatic Semi is Breaking the Rules and Bending Silicon Electronics

    Scott White, founder and executive director of Pragmatic Semiconductor, explains how his company produces ultra-low-cost, flexible thin-film silicon integrated circuits using a rapid, low-temperature manufacturing process. He details the technology's ability to replace rigid silicon in applications like smart packaging and automotive sensors, offering a 48-hour fab cycle time compared to months for traditional silicon. White also discusses the company's recent $230 million Series D funding, its strategy to build modular fabs globally, and the need to democratize chip design tools to accelerate adoption.

  • Hackaday Podcast · 50m

    Ep 158: Phased Array Physics, CRTs Two Ways, A Micro Microcontroller, and a Surgically Implanted Red Herring

    Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Dan Maloney review community projects including a tiny BJ microcontroller, a CRT transplant from a fish finder, and a water-based phased array sonar demo. They discuss the engineering challenges of sealing soil moisture sensors against corrosion and analyze how synthetic aperture radar satellites can inadvertently expose military radar sites. The episode also covers a Hot Wheels PC case mod, exam cheating scandals, and crowdsourced soldering war stories.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Amp Hour. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.