- Kukko and Hyyppa are developing a laser scanning simulator at the Finnish Geodetic Institute.
- Their paper in the October 2009 PE & RS is a must read.
- This kind of research could lead to a much deeper understanding of laser system biases.
This article is a must read. It is in the October 2009 PE & RS. Small-footprint Laser Scanning Simulator for System Validation, Error Assessment, and Algorithm Development by Antero Kukko and Juha Hyyppa is a different perspective on “…how to determine the most reasonable set of flight parameters for any current mapping task, for analyzing change detection possibilities of repeated laser surveys, and for verifying future lidar systems and concepts. The authors are part of the Finnish Geodetic Institute. The abstract can be read here.
The authors developed a simulation software that includes the geometric properties of the scanner system, laser radiation and scattering on the target surface, and the signal waveform processing. They then verified the system with a simple tree extraction case and validated against true laser scanning data over an urban test area. Once the system is better tuned, it should then be capable of predicting optimal collection parameters, as well as a better understanding of system errors.
The article provides a detailed understanding of the components of a lidar system, and for this alone is worth reading. The authors point out that each laser scanner has unique properties for pulse transmission and echo detection, unlike a passive camera system. This leads to different views of the same object. Simulation provides important insight into waveform data performance and analysis, and the possibility of removing the system effects from the derived data.
Let me know what you think.
This post was written by Gene V. Roe
