Luxonis Teases OAK-D Pro, OAK-D Pro-PoE Smart Cameras with Gigabit Ethernet, Active Depth Sensing

Smart camera specialist Luxonis has teased the next generation of OAK-D devices, following the success of the crowdfunding campaign for the OAK-D Lite: The OAK-D Pro and Pro-PoE, which add weatherproofing, optional gigabit Power over Ethernet, and active depth sensing.

OpenCV, in partnership with Luxonis, unveiled the original OAK range a year ago as a family of open-hardware smart camera systems driven by Intel's Movidius Myriad X coprocessor. A month ago, the pair launched a crowdfunding campaign for a lighter, smaller, and cheaper follow-up: The OAK-D Lite. Now, they're back with a new design: the OAK-D Pro-PoE.

Compared to the standard OAK-D camera line-up, the key feature of the Pro is the inclusion of an infrared laser dot projection system — allowing the camera to actively measure depth, rather than passively infer it from the stereo camera modules at either side of the board. The projection system can also be set for flood mode, providing low- and no-light computer vision capabilities. Its design was unveiled in August this year, with a prototype landing last month - but the OAK-D Pro-PoE goes one step further.

As the name implies, the OAK-D Pro-PoE includes gigabit Ethernet connectivity with full Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support — enabling the device to use a single cable for both power and data. The chassis is sealed to IP67 standards, while the RJ45 connector has been replaced with a more robust M12 connector, making it suitable for outdoor use, and there's an on-board M8 connector for external hardware, triggering, or USB — and both the Pro and Pro-PoE support multi-camera synchronization.

Luxonis hasn't yet shared pricing for the OAK-D Pro nor the OAK-D Pro-PoE, but both are expected to come in considerably above its existing OAK-D devices.

More details, meanwhile, are available on the OAK-D Pro and OAK-D Pro PoE GitHub Issues pages.