Monitoring and Quantifying Particles Emissions around Industrial Sites with Scanning Doppler Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Thobois, L.; Royer, P.; Parmentier, R.; Brooks, M.; Knoepfle, A.; Alexander, J.; Stidwell, P.; Kumar, R.

2018-04-01

Scanning Coherent Doppler Lidars have been used over the last decade for measuring wind for applications in wind energy [1], meteorology [2] and aviation [3]. They allow for accurate measurements of wind speeds up to a distance of 10 km based on the Doppler shift effect of aerosols. The signal reflectivity (CNR or Carrier-to-Noise Ratio) profiles can also be retrieved from the strength of the Lidar signal. In this study, we will present the developments of algorithm for retrieving aerosol optical properties like the relative attenuated backscatter coefficient and the mass concentration of particles. The use of these algorithms during one operational trial in Point Samson, Western Australia to monitor fugitive emissions over a mine will be presented. This project has been initiated by the Australian Department of Environment Regulations to better determine the impact of the Port on the neighboring town. During the trial in Summer, the strong impact of turbulence refractive index on Lidar performances has been observed. Multiple methodologies have been applied to reduce this impact with more or less success. At the end, a dedicated setup and configuration have been established that allow to properly observe the plumes of the mine with the scanning Lidar. The Lidar data has also been coupled to beta attenuation in-situ sensors for retrieving mass concentration maps. A few case of dispersion of plumes will be presented showing the necessity to combine both the wind and aerosol data.

LOSA-M3: multi-wave polarization scanning lidar for research of the troposphere and cirrus clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Kokhanenko, G. P.; Balin, Yu. S.; Klemasheva, M. G.; Penner, I. E.; Nasonov, S. V.; Samoilova, S. V.

2017-11-01

Lidar is designed to study the aerosol fields of the troposphere and the polarization characteristics of crystal clouds. Two laser wavelengths are used - 1064 and 532 nm, elastic scattering signals and spontaneous Raman scattering of nitrogen (607 nm) are recorded. Lidar is made in a mobile version, allowing its transportation by road and working under expeditionary conditions. The lidar transceiver is placed on a scanning column, which allows to change the direction of sounding within the upper hemisphere at a speed of 1 degree per second. The polarization characteristics of the transmitter and receiver can be changed by rotating the phase plates synchronously with the the laser pulses. In combination with conical scanning of the lidar, this makes it possible to detect the anisotropy of scattering and the possible azimuthal orientation of the crystal particles.

Simulated full-waveform lidar compared to Riegl VZ-400 terrestrial laser scans

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Angela M.; Olsen, Richard C.; Béland, Martin

2016-05-01

A 3-D Monte Carlo ray-tracing simulation of LiDAR propagation models the reflection, transmission and ab- sorption interactions of laser energy with materials in a simulated scene. In this presentation, a model scene consisting of a single Victorian Boxwood (Pittosporum undulatum) tree is generated by the high-fidelity tree voxel model VoxLAD using high-spatial resolution point cloud data from a Riegl VZ-400 terrestrial laser scanner. The VoxLAD model uses terrestrial LiDAR scanner data to determine Leaf Area Density (LAD) measurements for small volume voxels (20 cm sides) of a single tree canopy. VoxLAD is also used in a non-traditional fashion in this case to generate a voxel model of wood density. Information from the VoxLAD model is used within the LiDAR simulation to determine the probability of LiDAR energy interacting with materials at a given voxel location. The LiDAR simulation is defined to replicate the scanning arrangement of the Riegl VZ-400; the resulting simulated full-waveform LiDAR signals compare favorably to those obtained with the Riegl VZ-400 terrestrial laser scanner.

Analysis of 3D Scan Measurement Distribution with Application to a Multi-Beam Lidar on a Rotating Platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, Jesús; Plaza-Leiva, Victoria; Mandow, Anthony; Gomez-Ruiz, Jose Antonio; Serón, Javier; García-Cerezo, Alfonso

2018-01-30

Multi-beam lidar (MBL) rangefinders are becoming increasingly compact, light, and accessible 3D sensors, but they offer limited vertical resolution and field of view. The addition of a degree-of-freedom to build a rotating multi-beam lidar (RMBL) has the potential to become a common solution for affordable rapid full-3D high resolution scans. However, the overlapping of multiple-beams caused by rotation yields scanning patterns that are more complex than in rotating single beam lidar (RSBL). In this paper, we propose a simulation-based methodology to analyze 3D scanning patterns which is applied to investigate the scan measurement distribution produced by the RMBL configuration. With this purpose, novel contributions include: (i) the adaption of a recent spherical reformulation of Ripley's K function to assess 3D sensor data distribution on a hollow sphere simulation; (ii) a comparison, both qualitative and quantitative, between scan patterns produced by an ideal RMBL based on a Velodyne VLP-16 (Puck) and those of other 3D scan alternatives (i.e., rotating 2D lidar and MBL); and (iii) a new RMBL implementation consisting of a portable tilting platform for VLP-16 scanners, which is presented as a case study for measurement distribution analysis as well as for the discussion of actual scans from representative environments. Results indicate that despite the particular sampling patterns given by a RMBL, its homogeneity even improves that of an equivalent RSBL.

Analysis of 3D Scan Measurement Distribution with Application to a Multi-Beam Lidar on a Rotating Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Plaza-Leiva, Victoria; Serón, Javier

2018-01-01

Multi-beam lidar (MBL) rangefinders are becoming increasingly compact, light, and accessible 3D sensors, but they offer limited vertical resolution and field of view. The addition of a degree-of-freedom to build a rotating multi-beam lidar (RMBL) has the potential to become a common solution for affordable rapid full-3D high resolution scans. However, the overlapping of multiple-beams caused by rotation yields scanning patterns that are more complex than in rotating single beam lidar (RSBL). In this paper, we propose a simulation-based methodology to analyze 3D scanning patterns which is applied to investigate the scan measurement distribution produced by the RMBL configuration. With this purpose, novel contributions include: (i) the adaption of a recent spherical reformulation of Ripley’s K function to assess 3D sensor data distribution on a hollow sphere simulation; (ii) a comparison, both qualitative and quantitative, between scan patterns produced by an ideal RMBL based on a Velodyne VLP-16 (Puck) and those of other 3D scan alternatives (i.e., rotating 2D lidar and MBL); and (iii) a new RMBL implementation consisting of a portable tilting platform for VLP-16 scanners, which is presented as a case study for measurement distribution analysis as well as for the discussion of actual scans from representative environments. Results indicate that despite the particular sampling patterns given by a RMBL, its homogeneity even improves that of an equivalent RSBL. PMID:29385705

An Aerosol Extinction-to-Backscatter Ratio Database Derived from the NASA Micro-Pulse Lidar Network: Applications for Space-based Lidar Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Welton, Ellsworth J.; Campbell, James R.; Spinhime, James D.; Berkoff, Timothy A.; Holben, Brent; Tsay, Si-Chee; Bucholtz, Anthony

2004-01-01

Backscatter lidar signals are a function of both backscatter and extinction. Hence, these lidar observations alone cannot separate the two quantities. The aerosol extinction-to-backscatter ratio, S, is the key parameter required to accurately retrieve extinction and optical depth from backscatter lidar observations of aerosol layers. S is commonly defined as 4*pi divided by the product of the single scatter albedo and the phase function at 180-degree scattering angle. Values of S for different aerosol types are not well known, and are even more difficult to determine when aerosols become mixed. Here we present a new lidar-sunphotometer S database derived from Observations of the NASA Micro-Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET). MPLNET is a growing worldwide network of eye-safe backscatter lidars co-located with sunphotometers in the NASA Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). Values of S for different aerosol species and geographic regions will be presented. A framework for constructing an S look-up table will be shown. Look-up tables of S are needed to calculate aerosol extinction and optical depth from space-based lidar observations in the absence of co-located AOD data. Applications for using the new S look-up table to reprocess aerosol products from NASA's Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) will be discussed.

Scanning Lidar Spatial Calibration and Alignment Method for Wind Turbine Wake Characterization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Herges, Thomas; Maniaci, David; Naughton, Brian

2017-01-01

Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory conducted a field campaign at the Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) Facility using a customized scanning lidar from the Technical University of Denmark. The results from this field campaign will support the validation...

Demonstration and uncertainty analysis of synchronised scanning lidar measurements of 2-D velocity fields in a boundary-layer wind tunnel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van Dooren, Marijn Floris; Campagnolo, Filippo; Sjöholm, Mikael

2017-01-01

to demonstrate the benefits of synchronised scanning lidars in such experimental surroundings for the first time. The duallidar system can provide fully synchronised trajectory scans with sampling timescales ranging from seconds to minutes. First, staring mode measurements were compared to hot-wire probe...... as wake area scans were executed to illustrate the applicability of lidar scanning to the measurement of small-scale wind flow effects. An extensive uncertainty analysis was executed to assess the accuracy of the method. The downsides of lidar with respect to the hotwire probes are the larger measurement...... probe volume, which compromises the ability to measure turbulence, and the possible loss of a small part of the measurements due to hard target beam reflection. In contrast, the benefits are the high flexibility in conducting both point measurements and area scanning and the fact that remote sensing...

Ground-based mobile scanning LIDAR for remote sensing of contrails

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Homburg

Full Text Available Air traffic is a source of trace gases in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Contrails readily form from water vapor exhausts under favorable meteorological conditions. Since contrails are ice crystal clouds like natural cirrus clouds, they bear a greenhouse potential which has to be investigated. The IFU has built a scanning lidar system employing a pulsed Nd:YAG laser as the emitter and a 52-cm diameter telescope as the receiver. Signals are processed in several channels to investigate depolarization and wavelength dependencies of the light backscattered from ice crystals. These investigations are aimed at the formation and life cycles of contrails, their optical properties, and their climatological consequences in areas of dense air traffic. The experimental lidar setup is described and a sample measurement is shown.

Ground-based mobile scanning LIDAR for remote sensing of contrails

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Freudenthaler

1994-08-01

Full Text Available Air traffic is a source of trace gases in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Contrails readily form from water vapor exhausts under favorable meteorological conditions. Since contrails are ice crystal clouds like natural cirrus clouds, they bear a greenhouse potential which has to be investigated. The IFU has built a scanning lidar system employing a pulsed Nd:YAG laser as the emitter and a 52-cm diameter telescope as the receiver. Signals are processed in several channels to investigate depolarization and wavelength dependencies of the light backscattered from ice crystals. These investigations are aimed at the formation and life cycles of contrails, their optical properties, and their climatological consequences in areas of dense air traffic. The experimental lidar setup is described and a sample measurement is shown.

Coastal wind study based on Sentinel-1 and ground-based scanning lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hasager, Charlotte Bay; Badger, Merete; Pena Diaz, Alfredo

Winds in the coastal zone have importance for near-shore wind farm planning. Recently the Danish Energy Agency gave new options for placing offshore wind farms much closer to the coastlines than previously. The new tender areas are located from 3 to 8 km from the coast. Ground-based scanning lidar...... located on land can partly cover this area out to around 15 km. In order to improve wind farm planning for near-shore coastal areas, the project‘Reducing the Uncertainty of Near-shore Energy estimates from meso- and micro-scale wind models’ (RUNE) is established. The measurement campaign starts October....... The various observation types have advantages and limitations; one advantage of both the Sentinel-1 and the scanning lidar is that they both observe wind fields covering a large area and so can be combined for studying the spatial variability of winds. Sentinel-1 are being processed near-real-time at DTU Wind...

A hybrid 3D LIDAR imager based on pixel-by-pixel scanning and DS-OCDMA

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Gunzung; Eom, Jeongsook; Park, Yongwan

2016-03-01

We propose a new hybrid 3D light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, which measures a scene with 1280 x 600 pixels at a refresh rate of 60fps. The emitted pulses of each pixel are modulated by direct sequence optical code division multiple access (DS-OCDMA) techniques. The modulated pulses include a unique device identification number, the pixel position in the line, and a checksum. The LIDAR emits the modulated pulses periodically without waiting to receive returning light at the detector. When all the pixels are completely through the process, the travel time, amplitude, width, and speed are used by the pixel-by-pixel scanning LIDAR imager to generate point cloud data as the measured results. We programmed the entire hybrid 3D LIDAR operation in a simulator to observe the functionality accomplished by our proposed model.

Cloud fraction and cloud base measurements from scanning Doppler lidar during WFIP-2

Science.gov (United States)

Bonin, T.; Long, C.; Lantz, K. O.; Choukulkar, A.; Pichugina, Y. L.; McCarty, B.; Banta, R. M.; Brewer, A.; Marquis, M.

2017-12-01

The second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP-2) consisted of an 18-month field deployment of a variety of instrumentation with the principle objective of validating and improving NWP forecasts for wind energy applications in complex terrain. As a part of the set of instrumentation, several scanning Doppler lidars were installed across the study domain to primarily measure profiles of the mean wind and turbulence at high-resolution within the planetary boundary layer. In addition to these measurements, Doppler lidar observations can be used to directly quantify the cloud fraction and cloud base, since clouds appear as a high backscatter return. These supplementary measurements of clouds can then be used to validate cloud cover and other properties in NWP output. Herein, statistics of the cloud fraction and cloud base height from the duration of WFIP-2 are presented. Additionally, these cloud fraction estimates from Doppler lidar are compared with similar measurements from a Total Sky Imager and Radiative Flux Analysis (RadFlux) retrievals at the Wasco site. During mostly cloudy to overcast conditions, estimates of the cloud radiating temperature from the RadFlux methodology are also compared with Doppler lidar measured cloud base height.

Industrial site particulate pollution monitoring with an eye-safe and scanning industrial fiber lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Belanger, Brigitte; Fougeres, Andre; Talbot, Mario

2001-02-01

12 Over the past few years, INO has developed an Industrial Fiber Lidar (IFL). It enables the particulate pollution monitoring on industrial sites. More particularly, it has been used to take measurements of particulate concentration at Port Facilities of an aluminum plant during boat unloading. It is an eye-safe and portable lidar. It uses a fiber laser also developed at INO emitting 1.7 microJoules at 1534 nm with a pulse repetition frequency of 5 kHz. Given the harsh environment of an industrial site, all the sensitive equipment like the laser source, detector, computer and acquisition electronics are located in a building and connected to the optical module, placed outside, via optical fibers up to 500 m long. The fiber link also offers all the flexibility for placing the optical module at a proper location. The optical module is mounted on a two axis scanning platform, able to perform an azimuth scan of 0 to 355 deg and an elevation scan of +/- 90 deg, which enables the scanning of zones defined by the user. On this industrial site, materials like bauxite, alumina, spathfluor and calcined coke having mass extinction coefficients ranging from 0.53 to 2.7 m2/g can be detected. Data for different measurement configurations have been obtained. Concentration values have been calculated for measurements in a hopper, along a wharf and over the urban area close to the port facilities. The lidar measurements have been compared to high volume samplers. Based on these comparisons, it has been established that the IFL is able to monitor the relative fluctuations of dust concentrations. It can be integrated to the process control of the industrial site for alarm generation when concentrations are above threshold.

Validation of long-range scanning lidars deployed around the Høvsøre Test Station

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lea, Guillaume; Courtney, Michael

This report describes validation tests performed on the long-range scanning lidars prior to deployment in the RUNE campaign. Position and speed accuracy tests have been performed at a range of 5km from the Høvsøre met mast. This range is typical of ranges for near-coastal resource measurements....... The accuracy of the beam positioning was checked by comparing the predicted position to the position found from hard-target returns from the mast. Radial speeds measured by the lidar were also found to be in close agreement with the mast measured wind speeds projected in the line of sight direction....

Stratospheric temperature measurement with scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer for wind retrieval from mobile Rayleigh Doppler lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Haiyun; Dou, Xiankang; Shangguan, Mingjia; Zhao, Ruocan; Sun, Dongsong; Wang, Chong; Qiu, Jiawei; Shu, Zhifeng; Xue, Xianghui; Han, Yuli; Han, Yan

2014-09-08

Temperature detection remains challenging in the low stratosphere, where the Rayleigh integration lidar is perturbed by aerosol contamination and ozone absorption while the rotational Raman lidar is suffered from its low scattering cross section. To correct the impacts of temperature on the Rayleigh Doppler lidar, a high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) based on cavity scanning Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI) is developed. By considering the effect of the laser spectral width, Doppler broadening of the molecular backscatter, divergence of the light beam and mirror defects of the FPI, a well-behaved transmission function is proved to show the principle of HSRL in detail. Analysis of the statistical error of the HSRL is carried out in the data processing. A temperature lidar using both HSRL and Rayleigh integration techniques is incorporated into the Rayleigh Doppler wind lidar. Simultaneous wind and temperature detection is carried out based on the combined system at Delhi (37.371°N, 97.374°E; 2850 m above the sea level) in Qinghai province, China. Lower Stratosphere temperature has been measured using HSRL between 18 and 50 km with temporal resolution of 2000 seconds. The statistical error of the derived temperatures is between 0.2 and 9.2 K. The temperature profile retrieved from the HSRL and wind profile from the Rayleigh Doppler lidar show good agreement with the radiosonde data. Specifically, the max temperature deviation between the HSRL and radiosonde is 4.7 K from 18 km to 36 km, and it is 2.7 K between the HSRL and Rayleigh integration lidar from 27 km to 34 km.

Design and implementation of 3D LIDAR based on pixel-by-pixel scanning and DS-OCDMA

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Gunzung; Eom, Jeongsook; Park, Yongwan

2017-02-01

We designed a prototype for testing feasibility of a proposed light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, which was designed to encode pixel location information in its laser pulses using the direct-sequence optical code division multiple access method in conjunction with a scanning-based microelectromechanical system (MEMS) mirror. The prototype was built using commercial o -the-shelf optical components and development kits. It comprised of an optical modulator, an amplified photodetector, an MEMS mirror development kit, an analog-to-digital converter evaluation module, a digital signal processor with ARM evaluation kit and a Windows personal computer. The prototype LIDAR system has capable of acquiring 120 x 32-pixel images at 5 frames/s. We measured a watering pot to demonstrate the imaging performance of the prototype LIDAR system.

LiDAR Scan Matching Aided Inertial Navigation System in GNSS-Denied Environments

OpenAIRE

Tang, Jian; Chen, Yuwei; Niu, Xiaoji; Wang, Li; Chen, Liang; Liu, Jingbin; Shi, Chuang; Hyyppä, Juha

2015-01-01

A new scan that matches an aided Inertial Navigation System (INS) with a low-cost LiDAR is proposed as an alternative to GNSS-based navigation systems in GNSS-degraded or -denied environments such as indoor areas, dense forests, or urban canyons. In these areas, INS-based Dead Reckoning (DR) and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technologies are normally used to estimate positions as separate tools. However, there are critical implementation problems with each standalone system. Th...

LARGE SCALE TEXTURED MESH RECONSTRUCTION FROM MOBILE MAPPING IMAGES AND LIDAR SCANS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Boussaha

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The representation of 3D geometric and photometric information of the real world is one of the most challenging and extensively studied research topics in the photogrammetry and robotics communities. In this paper, we present a fully automatic framework for 3D high quality large scale urban texture mapping using oriented images and LiDAR scans acquired by a terrestrial Mobile Mapping System (MMS. First, the acquired points and images are sliced into temporal chunks ensuring a reasonable size and time consistency between geometry (points and photometry (images. Then, a simple, fast and scalable 3D surface reconstruction relying on the sensor space topology is performed on each chunk after an isotropic sampling of the point cloud obtained from the raw LiDAR scans. Finally, the algorithm proposed in (Waechter et al., 2014 is adapted to texture the reconstructed surface with the images acquired simultaneously, ensuring a high quality texture with no seams and global color adjustment. We evaluate our full pipeline on a dataset of 17 km of acquisition in Rouen, France resulting in nearly 2 billion points and 40000 full HD images. We are able to reconstruct and texture the whole acquisition in less than 30 computing hours, the entire process being highly parallel as each chunk can be processed independently in a separate thread or computer.

Large Scale Textured Mesh Reconstruction from Mobile Mapping Images and LIDAR Scans

Science.gov (United States)

Boussaha, M.; Vallet, B.; Rives, P.

2018-05-01

The representation of 3D geometric and photometric information of the real world is one of the most challenging and extensively studied research topics in the photogrammetry and robotics communities. In this paper, we present a fully automatic framework for 3D high quality large scale urban texture mapping using oriented images and LiDAR scans acquired by a terrestrial Mobile Mapping System (MMS). First, the acquired points and images are sliced into temporal chunks ensuring a reasonable size and time consistency between geometry (points) and photometry (images). Then, a simple, fast and scalable 3D surface reconstruction relying on the sensor space topology is performed on each chunk after an isotropic sampling of the point cloud obtained from the raw LiDAR scans. Finally, the algorithm proposed in (Waechter et al., 2014) is adapted to texture the reconstructed surface with the images acquired simultaneously, ensuring a high quality texture with no seams and global color adjustment. We evaluate our full pipeline on a dataset of 17 km of acquisition in Rouen, France resulting in nearly 2 billion points and 40000 full HD images. We are able to reconstruct and texture the whole acquisition in less than 30 computing hours, the entire process being highly parallel as each chunk can be processed independently in a separate thread or computer.

Determination of the smoke-plume heights with scanning lidar using alternative functions for establishing the atmospheric heterogeneity locations

Science.gov (United States)

Vladimir A. Kovalev; Alexander Petkov; Cyle Wold; Wei Min Hao

2010-01-01

Data-processing techniques for the scanning lidar data are considered that allow determining the upper and lower boundaries of the smoke plume or smoke layering in the vicinity of wildfires. The task is fulfilled by utilizing the Atmospheric Heterogeneity Height Indicator (AHHI). The AHHI is a histogram, which shows a number of heterogeneity events defined by scanning...

Application of the Ultraviolet Scanning Elastic Backscatter LiDAR for the Investigation of Aerosol Variability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fei Gao

2015-05-01

Full Text Available In order to investigate the aerosol variability over the southwest region of Slovenia, an ultraviolet scanning elastic backscatter LiDAR was utilized to make the vertical scan for atmospheric probing. With the assumption of horizontal atmospheric homogeneity, aerosol optical variables were retrieved from the horizontal pixel data points of two-dimensional range-height-indicator (RHI diagrams by using a multiangle retrieval method, in which optical depth is defined as the slope of the resulting linear function when height is kept constant. To make the data retrieval feasible and precise, a series of key procedures complemented the data processing, including construction of the RHI diagram, correction of Rayleigh scattering, assessment of horizontal atmospheric homogeneity and retrieval of aerosol optical variables. The measurement example demonstrated the feasibility of the ultraviolet scanning elastic backscatter LiDAR in the applications of the retrieval of aerosol extinction and determination of the atmospheric boundary layer height. Three months’ data combined with the modeling of air flow trajectories using Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model were analyzed to investigate aerosol variability. The average value of aerosol extinction with the presence of land-based air masses from the European continent was found to be two-times larger than that influenced by marine aerosols from the Mediterranean or Adriatic Sea.

Rapid, high-resolution measurement of leaf area and leaf orientation using terrestrial LiDAR scanning data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bailey, Brian N; Mahaffee, Walter F

2017-01-01

The rapid evolution of high performance computing technology has allowed for the development of extremely detailed models of the urban and natural environment. Although models can now represent sub-meter-scale variability in environmental geometry, model users are often unable to specify the geometry of real domains at this scale given available measurements. An emerging technology in this field has been the use of terrestrial LiDAR scanning data to rapidly measure the three-dimensional geometry of trees, such as the distribution of leaf area. However, current LiDAR methods suffer from the limitation that they require detailed knowledge of leaf orientation in order to translate projected leaf area into actual leaf area. Common methods for measuring leaf orientation are often tedious or inaccurate, which places constraints on the LiDAR measurement technique. This work presents a new method to simultaneously measure leaf orientation and leaf area within an arbitrarily defined volume using terrestrial LiDAR data. The novelty of the method lies in the direct measurement of the fraction of projected leaf area G from the LiDAR data which is required to relate projected leaf area to total leaf area, and in the new way in which radiation transfer theory is used to calculate leaf area from the LiDAR data. The method was validated by comparing LiDAR-measured leaf area to (1) ‘synthetic’ or computer-generated LiDAR data where the exact area was known, and (2) direct measurements of leaf area in the field using destructive sampling. Overall, agreement between the LiDAR and reference measurements was very good, showing a normalized root-mean-squared-error of about 15% for the synthetic tests, and 13% in the field. (paper)

Wind field re-construction of 3D Wake measurements from a turbine-installed scanning lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkelsen, Torben Krogh; Herges, Tommy; Astrup, Poul

High-resolution wake flow measurements obtained from a turbine-mounted scanning lidar have been obtained from 1D to 5D behind a V27 test turbine. The measured line-of-sight projected wind speeds have, in connection with a fast CFD wind field reconstruction model, been used to generate 3D wind fie...

Canopy wake measurements using multiple scanning wind LiDARs

Science.gov (United States)

Markfort, C. D.; Carbajo Fuertes, F.; Iungo, V.; Stefan, H. G.; Porte-Agel, F.

2014-12-01

Canopy wakes have been shown, in controlled wind tunnel experiments, to significantly affect the fluxes of momentum, heat and other scalars at the land and water surface over distances of ˜O(1 km), see Markfort et al. (EFM, 2013). However, there are currently no measurements of the velocity field downwind of a full-scale forest canopy. Point-based anemometer measurements of wake turbulence provide limited insight into the extent and details of the wake structure, whereas scanning Doppler wind LiDARs can provide information on how the wake evolves in space and varies over time. For the first time, we present measurements of the velocity field in the wake of a tall patch of forest canopy. The patch consists of two uniform rows of 40-meter tall deciduous, plane trees, which border either side of the Allée de Dorigny, near the EPFL campus. The canopy is approximately 250 m long, and it is approximately 40 m wide, along the direction of the wind. A challenge faced while making field measurements is that the wind rarely intersects a canopy normal to the edge. The resulting wake flow may be deflected relative to the mean inflow. Using multiple LiDARs, we measure the evolution of the wake due to an oblique wind blowing over the canopy. One LiDAR is positioned directly downwind of the canopy to measure the flow along the mean wind direction and the other is positioned near the canopy to evaluate the transversal component of the wind and how it varies with downwind distance from the canopy. Preliminary results show that the open trunk space near the base of the canopy results in a surface jet that can be detected just downwind of the canopy and farther downwind dissipates as it mixes with the wake flow above. A time-varying recirculation zone can be detected by the periodic reversal of the velocity near the surface, downwind of the canopy. The implications of canopy wakes for measurement and modeling of surface fluxes will be discussed.

Using the Rapid-Scanning, Ultra-Portable, Canopy Biomass Lidar (CBL) Alone and In Tandem with the Full-Waveform Dual-Wavelength Echidna® Lidar (DWEL) to Establish Forest Structure and Biomass Estimates in a Variety of Ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Schaaf, C.; Paynter, I.; Saenz, E. J.; Li, Z.; Strahler, A. H.; Peri, F.; Erb, A.; Raumonen, P.; Muir, J.; Howe, G.; Hewawasam, K.; Martel, J.; Douglas, E. S.; Chakrabarti, S.; Cook, T.; Schaefer, M.; Newnham, G.; Jupp, D. L. B.; van Aardt, J. A.; Kelbe, D.; Romanczyk, P.; Faulring, J.

2014-12-01

Terrestrial lidars are increasingly being deployed in a variety of ecosystems to calibrate and validate large scale airborne and spaceborne estimates of forest structure and biomass. While these lidars provide a wealth of high resolution information on canopy structure and understory vegetation, they tend to be expensive, slow scanning and somewhat ponderous to deploy. Therefore, frequent deployments and characterization of larger areas of a hectare or more can still be challenging. This suggests a role for low cost, ultra-portable, rapid scanning (but lower resolution) instruments -- particularly in scanning extreme environments and as a way to augment and extend strategically placed scans from the more highly capable lidars. The Canopy Biomass Lidar (CBL) is an inexpensive, highly portable, fast-scanning (33 seconds), time-of-flight, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) instrument, built in collaboration with RIT, by U Mass Boston. The instrument uses a 905nm SICK time of flight laser with a 0.25o resolution and 30m range. The higher resolution, full-waveform Dual Wavelength Echidna® Lidar (DWEL), developed by Boston University, U Mass Lowell and U Mass Boston, builds on the Australian CSIRO single wavelength, full-waveform Echidna® Validation Instrument (EVI), but utilizes two simultaneous laser pulses at 1064 and 1548 nm to separate woody returns from those of foliage at a range of up to 100m range. The UMass Boston CBL has been deployed in rangelands (San Joaquin Experimental Range, CA), high altitude conifers (Sierra National Forest, CA), mixed forests (Harvard Forest LTER MA), tropical forests (La Selva and Sirena Biological Stations, Costa Rica), eucalypts (Karawatha, Brisbane TERN, Australia), and woodlands (Alice Holt Forest, UK), frequently along-side the DWEL, as well as in more challenging environments such as mangrove forests (Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica) and Massachusetts salt marshes and eroding bluffs (Plum Island LTER, and UMass Boston

Scanning, Multibeam, Single Photon Lidars for Rapid, Large Scale, High Resolution, Topographic and Bathymetric Mapping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John J. Degnan

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Several scanning, single photon sensitive, 3D imaging lidars are herein described that operate at aircraft above ground levels (AGLs between 1 and 11 km, and speeds in excess of 200 knots. With 100 beamlets and laser fire rates up to 60 kHz, we, at the Sigma Space Corporation (Lanham, MD, USA, have interrogated up to 6 million ground pixels per second, all of which can record multiple returns from volumetric scatterers such as tree canopies. High range resolution has been achieved through the use of subnanosecond laser pulsewidths, detectors and timing receivers. The systems are presently being deployed on a variety of aircraft to demonstrate their utility in multiple applications including large scale surveying, bathymetry, forestry, etc. Efficient noise filters, suitable for near realtime imaging, have been shown to effectively eliminate the solar background during daytime operations. Geolocation elevation errors measured to date are at the subdecimeter level. Key differences between our Single Photon Lidars, and competing Geiger Mode lidars are also discussed.

Exploring structures of the Rochefort Cave (Belgium) with 3D models from LIDAR scans and UAV photoscans.

Science.gov (United States)

Watlet, A.; Triantafyllou, A.; Kaufmann, O.; Le Mouelic, S.

2016-12-01

Amongst today's techniques that are able to produce 3D point clouds, LIDAR and UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) photogrammetry are probably the most commonly used. Both methods have their own advantages and limitations. LIDAR scans create high resolution and high precision 3D point clouds, but such methods are generally costly, especially for sporadic surveys. Compared to LIDAR, UAV (e.g. drones) are cheap and flexible to use in different types of environments. Moreover, the photogrammetric processing workflow of digital images taken with UAV becomes easier with the rise of many affordable software packages (e.g., Agisoft PhotoScan, MicMac, VisualSFM). In this canvas, we present a challenging study made at the Rochefort Cave Laboratory (South Belgium) comprising surface and underground surveys. The main chamber of the cave ( 10000 m³) was the principal target of the study. A LIDAR scan and an UAV photoscan were acquired underground, producing respective 3D models. An additional 3D photoscan was performed at the surface, in the sinkhole in direct connection with the main chamber. The main goal of the project is to combine this different datasets for quantifying the orientation of inaccessible geological structures (e.g. faults, tectonic and gravitational joints, and sediments bedding), and for comparing them to structural data surveyed on the field. To go through structural interpretations, we used a subsampling method merging neighboured model polygons that have similar orientations, allowing statistical analyses of polygons spatial distribution. The benefit of this method is to verify the spatial continuity of in-situ structural measurements to larger scale. Roughness and colorimetric/spectral analyses may also be of great interest for several geosciences purposes by discriminating different facies among the geological beddings. Amongst others, this study was helpful to precise the local petrophysical properties associated with particular geological layers, what

Comparison and validation of wake vortex characteristics collected at different airports by different scanning lidar sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Thobois, Ludovic; Cariou, Jean-Pierre; Cappellazzo, Valerio; Musson, Christian; Treve, Vincent

2018-04-01

traffic mix, the weather conditions and their impact on the wake vortex decay. After implementation, the risk monitoring might perform in-depth analysis of wake vortex encounter reported by pilots. For all the mentioned steps, the use of scanning Doppler LIDARs is the only experimental sensor capable of measuring the localization and the circulation of the wake vortices and to provide ground truth wake vortex measurements. Next generation operational LIDARs need to be developed to address in a cost effective way these operational needs. Furthermore, a specific configuration and methodology need to be developed to ensure the accuracy of the wake vortex data. Such a LIDAR based wake vortex solution has been tested at Paris Charles De Gaulle which implemented the RECAT-EU wake separation scheme. The wake vortex circulation, initial spacing and decay measured have been compared to the data collected in London Heathrow by a different LIDAR sensor. The results indicated that the initial circulation, the time to demise, the decay curve evolution and the vortex spacing are very coherent between the two databases.

Comparison and validation of wake vortex characteristics collected at different airports by different scanning lidar sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thobois Ludovic

2018-01-01

local ATM rules, the traffic mix, the weather conditions and their impact on the wake vortex decay. After implementation, the risk monitoring might perform in-depth analysis of wake vortex encounter reported by pilots. For all the mentioned steps, the use of scanning Doppler LIDARs is the only experimental sensor capable of measuring the localization and the circulation of the wake vortices and to provide ground truth wake vortex measurements. Next generation operational LIDARs need to be developed to address in a cost effective way these operational needs. Furthermore, a specific configuration and methodology need to be developed to ensure the accuracy of the wake vortex data. Such a LIDAR based wake vortex solution has been tested at Paris Charles De Gaulle which implemented the RECAT-EU wake separation scheme. The wake vortex circulation, initial spacing and decay measured have been compared to the data collected in London Heathrow by a different LIDAR sensor. The results indicated that the initial circulation, the time to demise, the decay curve evolution and the vortex spacing are very coherent between the two databases.

Characterization of wind velocities in the upstream induction zone of a wind turbine using scanning continuous-wave lidars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simley, Eric; Angelou, Nikolas; Mikkelsen, Torben Krogh

2016-01-01

As a wind turbine generates power, induced velocities, lower than the freestream velocity, will be present upstream of the turbine due to perturbation of the flow by the rotor. In this study, the upstream induction zone of a 225kW horizontal axis Vestas V27 wind turbine located at the Danish...... Technical University’s Risø campus is investigated using a scanning Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) system. Three short-range continuous-wave “WindScanner” lidars are positioned in the field around the V27 turbine allowing detection of all three components of the wind velocity vectors within...... the induction zone. The time-averaged mean wind speeds at different locations in the upstream induction zone are measured by scanning a horizontal plane at hub height and a vertical plane centered at the middle of the rotor extending roughly 1.5 rotor diameters (D) upstream of the rotor. Turbulence statistics...

Next Generation Scanning LIDAR Systems for Optimizing Wake Turbulence Separation Minima

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ludovic Thobois

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Numerous studies have been performed to better understand the behavior of wake vortices with regards to aircraft characteristics and weather conditionsover the pastten years. These studies have led to the development of the aircraft RECATegorization (RECAT programs in Europe and in USA. Its phase one focused on redefining distance separation matrix with six static aircraft wake turbulence categories instead of three with the current International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO regulations. In Europe, the RECAT-EU regulation is now entering under operational implementation atseveral key airports. As proven by several research projects in the past, LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR sensors are considered as the ground truth wake vortex measurements for assessing the safety impact of a new wake turbulence regulation at an airport in quantifying the risks given the local specificities. LIDAR’s can also be used to perform risk monitoring after the implementation. In this paper, the principle to measure wake vortices with scanning coherent Doppler LIDARs is described as well as its dedicated post-processing. Finally the use of WINDCUBELIDAR based solution for supporting the implementation of new wake turbulenceregulation is described along with satisfyingresults that have permitted the monitoring of the wake vortex encounter risk after the implementation of a new wake turbulence regulation.

Subtropical Cirrus Properties Derived from GSFC Scanning Raman Lidar Measurements during CAMEX 3

Science.gov (United States)

Whiteman, D. N.; Wang, Z.; Demoz, B.

2004-01-01

The NASA/GSFC Scanning Raman Lidar (SRL) was stationed on Andros Island, Bahamas for the third Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX 3) held in August - September, 1998 and acquired an extensive set of water vapor and cirrus cloud measurements (Whiteman et al., 2001). The cirrus data studied here have been segmented by generating mechanism. Distinct differences in the optical properties of the clouds are found when the cirrus are hurricane-induced versus thunderstom-induced. Relationships of cirrus cloud optical depth, mean cloud temperature, and layer mean extinction-to-backscatter ratio (S) are presented and compared with mid-latitude and tropical results. Hurricane-induced cirrus clouds are found to generally possess lower values of S than thunderstorm induced clouds. Comparison of these measurements of S are made with other studies revealing at times large differences in the measurements. Given that S is a required parameter for spacebased retrievals of cloud optical depth using backscatter lidar, these large diffaences in S measurements present difficulties for space-based retrievals of cirrus cloud extinction and optical depth.

Volumetric LiDAR scanning of a wind turbine wake and comparison with a 3D analytical wake model

Science.gov (United States)

Carbajo Fuertes, Fernando; Porté-Agel, Fernando

2016-04-01

A correct estimation of the future power production is of capital importance whenever the feasibility of a future wind farm is being studied. This power estimation relies mostly on three aspects: (1) a reliable measurement of the wind resource in the area, (2) a well-established power curve of the future wind turbines and, (3) an accurate characterization of the wake effects; the latter being arguably the most challenging one due to the complexity of the phenomenon and the lack of extensive full-scale data sets that could be used to validate analytical or numerical models. The current project addresses the problem of obtaining a volumetric description of a full-scale wake of a 2MW wind turbine in terms of velocity deficit and turbulence intensity using three scanning wind LiDARs and two sonic anemometers. The characterization of the upstream flow conditions is done by one scanning LiDAR and two sonic anemometers, which have been used to calculate incoming vertical profiles of horizontal wind speed, wind direction and an approximation to turbulence intensity, as well as the thermal stability of the atmospheric boundary layer. The characterization of the wake is done by two scanning LiDARs working simultaneously and pointing downstream from the base of the wind turbine. The direct LiDAR measurements in terms of radial wind speed can be corrected using the upstream conditions in order to provide good estimations of the horizontal wind speed at any point downstream of the wind turbine. All this data combined allow for the volumetric reconstruction of the wake in terms of velocity deficit as well as turbulence intensity. Finally, the predictions of a 3D analytical model [1] are compared to the 3D LiDAR measurements of the wind turbine. The model is derived by applying the laws of conservation of mass and momentum and assuming a Gaussian distribution for the velocity deficit in the wake. This model has already been validated using high resolution wind-tunnel measurements

Wind Ressources in Complex Terrain investigated with Synchronized Lidar Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Mann, J.; Menke, R.; Vasiljevic, N.

2017-12-01

The Perdigao experiment was performed by a number of European and American universities in Portugal 2017, and it is probably the largest field campaign focussing on wind energy ressources in complex terrain ever conducted. 186 sonic anemometers on 50 masts, 20 scanning wind lidars and a host of other instruments were deployed. The experiment is a part of an effort to make a new European wind atlas. In this presentation we investigate whether scanning the wind speed over ridges in this complex terrain with multiple Doppler lidars can lead to an efficient mapping of the wind resources at relevant positions. We do that by having pairs of Doppler lidars scanning 80 m above the ridges in Perdigao. We compare wind resources obtained from the lidars and from the mast-mounted sonic anemometers at 80 m on two 100 m masts, one on each of the two ridges. In addition, the scanning lidar measurements are also compared to profiling lidars on the ridges. We take into account the fact that the profiling lidars may be biased due to the curvature of the streamlines over the instrument, see Bingol et al, Meteorolog. Z. vol. 18, pp. 189-195 (2009). We also investigate the impact of interruptions of the lidar measurements on the estimated wind resource. We calculate the relative differences of wind along the ridge from the lidar measurements and compare those to the same obtained from various micro-scale models. A particular subject investigated is how stability affects the wind resources. We often observe internal gravity waves with the scanning lidars during the night and we quantify how these affect the relative wind speed on the ridges.

3D wake measurements from a scanning wind lidar in combination with a fast wind field reconstruction model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkelsen, Torben Krogh; Herges, T. G.; Astrup, Poul

2017-01-01

University of Denmark. The purpose of the SpinnerLidar measurements at SWIFT is to measure the response of a V27 turbine wake to varying inflow conditions and turbine operating states. Although our fast scanning SpinnerLidar is able to measure the line-of-sight projected wind speed at up to 400 points per......-Stokes CFD code “Lincom Cyclop-buster model,”3 the corresponding 3D wind vector field (u, v, w) can be reconstructed under constraints for conservation of mass and momentum. The resulting model calculated line-of-sight projections of the 3D wind velocity vectors will become consistent with the line...

CLOSE RANGE HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING INTEGRATED WITH TERRESTRIAL LIDAR SCANNING APPLIED TO ROCK CHARACTERISATION AT CENTIMETRE SCALE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. H. Kurz

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Compact and lightweight hyperspectral imagers allow the application of close range hyperspectral imaging with a ground based scanning setup for geological fieldwork. Using such a scanning setup, steep cliff sections and quarry walls can be scanned with a more appropriate viewing direction and a higher image resolution than from airborne and spaceborne platforms. Integration of the hyperspectral imagery with terrestrial lidar scanning provides the hyperspectral information in a georeferenced framework and enables measurement at centimetre scale. In this paper, three geological case studies are used to demonstrate the potential of this method for rock characterisation. Two case studies are applied to carbonate quarries where mapping of different limestone and dolomite types was required, as well as measurements of faults and layer thicknesses from inaccessible parts of the quarries. The third case study demonstrates the method using artificial lighting, applied in a subsurface scanning scenario where solar radiation cannot be utilised.

LiDAR Scan Matching Aided Inertial Navigation System in GNSS-Denied Environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Jian; Chen, Yuwei; Niu, Xiaoji; Wang, Li; Chen, Liang; Liu, Jingbin; Shi, Chuang; Hyyppä, Juha

2015-07-10

A new scan that matches an aided Inertial Navigation System (INS) with a low-cost LiDAR is proposed as an alternative to GNSS-based navigation systems in GNSS-degraded or -denied environments such as indoor areas, dense forests, or urban canyons. In these areas, INS-based Dead Reckoning (DR) and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technologies are normally used to estimate positions as separate tools. However, there are critical implementation problems with each standalone system. The drift errors of velocity, position, and heading angles in an INS will accumulate over time, and on-line calibration is a must for sustaining positioning accuracy. SLAM performance is poor in featureless environments where the matching errors can significantly increase. Each standalone positioning method cannot offer a sustainable navigation solution with acceptable accuracy. This paper integrates two complementary technologies-INS and LiDAR SLAM-into one navigation frame with a loosely coupled Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to use the advantages and overcome the drawbacks of each system to establish a stable long-term navigation process. Static and dynamic field tests were carried out with a self-developed Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) platform-NAVIS. The results prove that the proposed approach can provide positioning accuracy at the centimetre level for long-term operations, even in a featureless indoor environment.

An Improved Calibration Method for a Rotating 2D LIDAR System.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Yadan; Yu, Heng; Dai, Houde; Song, Shuang; Lin, Mingqiang; Sun, Bo; Jiang, Wei; Meng, Max Q-H

2018-02-07

This paper presents an improved calibration method of a rotating two-dimensional light detection and ranging (R2D-LIDAR) system, which can obtain the 3D scanning map of the surroundings. The proposed R2D-LIDAR system, composed of a 2D LIDAR and a rotating unit, is pervasively used in the field of robotics owing to its low cost and dense scanning data. Nevertheless, the R2D-LIDAR system must be calibrated before building the geometric model because there are assembled deviation and abrasion between the 2D LIDAR and the rotating unit. Hence, the calibration procedures should contain both the adjustment between the two devices and the bias of 2D LIDAR itself. The main purpose of this work is to resolve the 2D LIDAR bias issue with a flat plane based on the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm. Experimental results for the calibration of the R2D-LIDAR system prove the reliability of this strategy to accurately estimate sensor offsets with the error range from -15 mm to 15 mm for the performance of capturing scans.

Can Wind Lidars Measure Turbulence?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sathe, Ameya; Mann, Jakob; Gottschall, Julia

2011-01-01

Modeling of the systematic errors in the second-order moments of wind speeds measured by continuous-wave (ZephIR) and pulsed (WindCube) lidars is presented. These lidars use the conical scanning technique to measure the velocity field. The model captures the effect of volume illumination and coni...

An Online Solution of LiDAR Scan Matching Aided Inertial Navigation System for Indoor Mobile Mapping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoji Niu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Multisensors (LiDAR/IMU/CAMERA integrated Simultaneous Location and Mapping (SLAM technology for navigation and mobile mapping in a GNSS-denied environment, such as indoor areas, dense forests, or urban canyons, becomes a promising solution. An online (real-time version of such system can extremely extend its applications, especially for indoor mobile mapping. However, the real-time response issue of multisensors is a big challenge for an online SLAM system, due to the different sampling frequencies and processing time of different algorithms. In this paper, an online Extended Kalman Filter (EKF integrated algorithm of LiDAR scan matching and IMU mechanization for Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV indoor navigation system is introduced. Since LiDAR scan matching is considerably more time consuming than the IMU mechanism, the real-time synchronous issue is solved via a one-step-error-state-transition method in EKF. Stationary and dynamic field tests had been performed using a UGV platform along typical corridor of office building. Compared to the traditional sequential postprocessed EKF algorithm, the proposed method can significantly mitigate the time delay of navigation outputs under the premise of guaranteeing the positioning accuracy, which can be used as an online navigation solution for indoor mobile mapping.

Lidar Remote Sensing for Industry and Environment Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Upendra N. (Editor); Itabe, Toshikazu (Editor); Sugimoto, Nobuo (Editor)

2000-01-01

Contents include the following: 1. Keynote paper: Overview of lidar technology for industrial and environmental monitoring in Japan. 2. lidar technology I: NASA's future active remote sensing mission for earth science. Geometrical detector consideration s in laser sensing application (invited paper). 3. Lidar technology II: High-power femtosecond light strings as novel atmospheric probes (invited paper). Design of a compact high-sensitivity aerosol profiling lidar. 4. Lasers for lidars: High-energy 2 microns laser for multiple lidar applications. New submount requirement of conductively cooled laser diodes for lidar applications. 5. Tropospheric aerosols and clouds I: Lidar monitoring of clouds and aerosols at the facility for atmospheric remote sensing (invited paper). Measurement of asian dust by using multiwavelength lidar. Global monitoring of clouds and aerosols using a network of micropulse lidar systems. 6. Troposphere aerosols and clouds II: Scanning lidar measurements of marine aerosol fields at a coastal site in Hawaii. 7. Tropospheric aerosols and clouds III: Formation of ice cloud from asian dust particles in the upper troposphere. Atmospheric boundary layer observation by ground-based lidar at KMITL, Thailand (13 deg N, 100 deg. E). 8. Boundary layer, urban pollution: Studies of the spatial correlation between urban aerosols and local traffic congestion using a slant angle scanning on the research vessel Mirai. 9. Middle atmosphere: Lidar-observed arctic PSC's over Svalbard (invited paper). Sodium temperature lidar measurements of the mesopause region over Syowa Station. 10. Differential absorption lidar (dIAL) and DOAS: Airborne UV DIAL measurements of ozone and aerosols (invited paper). Measurement of water vapor, surface ozone, and ethylene using differential absorption lidar. 12. Space lidar I: Lightweight lidar telescopes for space applications (invited paper). Coherent lidar development for Doppler wind measurement from the International Space

Detection of Wind Evolution and Lidar Trajectory Optimization for Lidar-Assisted Wind Turbine Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Schlipf

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Recent developments in remote sensing are offering a promising opportunity to rethink conventional control strategies of wind turbines. With technologies such as lidar, the information about the incoming wind field - the main disturbance to the system - can be made available ahead of time. Initial field testing of collective pitch feedforward control shows, that lidar measurements are only beneficial if they are filtered properly to avoid harmful control action. However, commercial lidar systems developed for site assessment are usually unable to provide a usable signal for real time control. Recent research shows, that the correlation between the measurement of rotor effective wind speed and the turbine reaction can be modeled and that the model can be used to optimize a scan pattern. This correlation depends on several criteria such as turbine size, position of the measurements, measurement volume, and how the wind evolves on its way towards the rotor. In this work the longitudinal wind evolution is identified with the line-of-sight measurements of a pulsed lidar system installed on a large commercial wind turbine. This is done by staring directly into the inflowing wind during operation of the turbine and fitting the coherence between the wind at different measurement distances to an exponential model taking into account the yaw misalignment, limitation to line-of-sight measurements and the pulse volume. The identified wind evolution is then used to optimize the scan trajectory of a scanning lidar for lidar-assisted feedforward control in order to get the best correlation possible within the constraints of the system. Further, an adaptive filer is fitted to the modeled correlation to avoid negative impact of feedforward control because of uncorrelated frequencies of the wind measurement. The main results of the presented work are a first estimate of the wind evolution in front of operating wind turbines and an approach which manufacturers of

NOSQL FOR STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL OF LARGE LIDAR DATA COLLECTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Boehm

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Developments in LiDAR technology over the past decades have made LiDAR to become a mature and widely accepted source of geospatial information. This in turn has led to an enormous growth in data volume. The central idea for a file-centric storage of LiDAR point clouds is the observation that large collections of LiDAR data are typically delivered as large collections of files, rather than single files of terabyte size. This split of the dataset, commonly referred to as tiling, was usually done to accommodate a specific processing pipeline. It makes therefore sense to preserve this split. A document oriented NoSQL database can easily emulate this data partitioning, by representing each tile (file in a separate document. The document stores the metadata of the tile. The actual files are stored in a distributed file system emulated by the NoSQL database. We demonstrate the use of MongoDB a highly scalable document oriented NoSQL database for storing large LiDAR files. MongoDB like any NoSQL database allows for queries on the attributes of the document. As a specialty MongoDB also allows spatial queries. Hence we can perform spatial queries on the bounding boxes of the LiDAR tiles. Inserting and retrieving files on a cloud-based database is compared to native file system and cloud storage transfer speed.

Nosql for Storage and Retrieval of Large LIDAR Data Collections

Science.gov (United States)

Boehm, J.; Liu, K.

2015-08-01

Developments in LiDAR technology over the past decades have made LiDAR to become a mature and widely accepted source of geospatial information. This in turn has led to an enormous growth in data volume. The central idea for a file-centric storage of LiDAR point clouds is the observation that large collections of LiDAR data are typically delivered as large collections of files, rather than single files of terabyte size. This split of the dataset, commonly referred to as tiling, was usually done to accommodate a specific processing pipeline. It makes therefore sense to preserve this split. A document oriented NoSQL database can easily emulate this data partitioning, by representing each tile (file) in a separate document. The document stores the metadata of the tile. The actual files are stored in a distributed file system emulated by the NoSQL database. We demonstrate the use of MongoDB a highly scalable document oriented NoSQL database for storing large LiDAR files. MongoDB like any NoSQL database allows for queries on the attributes of the document. As a specialty MongoDB also allows spatial queries. Hence we can perform spatial queries on the bounding boxes of the LiDAR tiles. Inserting and retrieving files on a cloud-based database is compared to native file system and cloud storage transfer speed.

An Improved Calibration Method for a Rotating 2D LIDAR System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yadan Zeng

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an improved calibration method of a rotating two-dimensional light detection and ranging (R2D-LIDAR system, which can obtain the 3D scanning map of the surroundings. The proposed R2D-LIDAR system, composed of a 2D LIDAR and a rotating unit, is pervasively used in the field of robotics owing to its low cost and dense scanning data. Nevertheless, the R2D-LIDAR system must be calibrated before building the geometric model because there are assembled deviation and abrasion between the 2D LIDAR and the rotating unit. Hence, the calibration procedures should contain both the adjustment between the two devices and the bias of 2D LIDAR itself. The main purpose of this work is to resolve the 2D LIDAR bias issue with a flat plane based on the Levenberg–Marquardt (LM algorithm. Experimental results for the calibration of the R2D-LIDAR system prove the reliability of this strategy to accurately estimate sensor offsets with the error range from −15 mm to 15 mm for the performance of capturing scans.

LiDAR Scan Matching Aided Inertial Navigation System in GNSS-Denied Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Tang

2015-07-01

Full Text Available A new scan that matches an aided Inertial Navigation System (INS with a low-cost LiDAR is proposed as an alternative to GNSS-based navigation systems in GNSS-degraded or -denied environments such as indoor areas, dense forests, or urban canyons. In these areas, INS-based Dead Reckoning (DR and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM technologies are normally used to estimate positions as separate tools. However, there are critical implementation problems with each standalone system. The drift errors of velocity, position, and heading angles in an INS will accumulate over time, and on-line calibration is a must for sustaining positioning accuracy. SLAM performance is poor in featureless environments where the matching errors can significantly increase. Each standalone positioning method cannot offer a sustainable navigation solution with acceptable accuracy. This paper integrates two complementary technologies—INS and LiDAR SLAM—into one navigation frame with a loosely coupled Extended Kalman Filter (EKF to use the advantages and overcome the drawbacks of each system to establish a stable long-term navigation process. Static and dynamic field tests were carried out with a self-developed Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV platform—NAVIS. The results prove that the proposed approach can provide positioning accuracy at the centimetre level for long-term operations, even in a featureless indoor environment.

Development of teaching modules for geology and engineering coursework using terrestrial LiDAR scanning systems

Science.gov (United States)

Yarbrough, L. D.; Katzenstein, K.

2012-12-01

Exposing students to active and local examples of physical geologic processes is beneficial to the learning process. Students typically respond with interest to examples that use state-of-the-art technologies to investigate local or regional phenomena. For lower cognitive level of learning (e.g. knowledge, comprehension, and application), the use of "close-to-home" examples ensures that students better understand concepts. By providing these examples, the students may already have a familiarity or can easily visit the location. Furthermore, these local and regional examples help students to offer quickly other examples of similar phenomena. Investigation of these examples using normal photographic techniques, as well as a more sophisticated 3-D Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) (AKA Terrestrial Laser Scanning or TLS) system, allows students to gain a better understanding of the scale and the mechanics of the geologic processes and hazards. The systems are used for research, teaching and outreach efforts and depending on departmental policies can be accessible to students are various learning levels. TLS systems can yield scans at sub-centimeter resolution and contain surface reflectance of targets. These systems can serve a number of learning goals that are essential for training geoscientists and engineers. While querying the data to answer geotechnical or geomorphologic related questions, students will develop skills using large, spatial databases. The upper cognitive level of learning (e.g. analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) is also promoted by using a subset of the data and correlating the physical geologic process of stream bank erosion and rock slope failures with mathematical and computer models using the scanned data. Students use the examples and laboratory exercises to help build their engineering judgment skills with Earth materials. The students learn not only applications of math and engineering science but also the economic and social implication

The Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database Resource Initiative (IDRI): A Completed Reference Database of Lung Nodules on CT Scans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

Purpose: The development of computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) methods for lung nodule detection, classification, and quantitative assessment can be facilitated through a well-characterized repository of computed tomography (CT) scans. The Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database Resource Initiative (IDRI) completed such a database, establishing a publicly available reference for the medical imaging research community. Initiated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), further advanced by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), and accompanied by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through active participation, this public-private partnership demonstrates the success of a consortium founded on a consensus-based process. Methods: Seven academic centers and eight medical imaging companies collaborated to identify, address, and resolve challenging organizational, technical, and clinical issues to provide a solid foundation for a robust database. The LIDC/IDRI Database contains 1018 cases, each of which includes images from a clinical thoracic CT scan and an associated XML file that records the results of a two-phase image annotation process performed by four experienced thoracic radiologists. In the initial blinded-read phase, each radiologist independently reviewed each CT scan and marked lesions belonging to one of three categories (''nodule≥3 mm,''''nodule<3 mm,'' and ''non-nodule≥3 mm''). In the subsequent unblinded-read phase, each radiologist independently reviewed their own marks along with the anonymized marks of the three other radiologists to render a final opinion. The goal of this process was to identify as completely as possible all lung nodules in each CT scan without requiring forced consensus. Results: The Database contains 7371 lesions marked ''nodule'' by at least one radiologist. 2669 of these lesions were marked ''nodule≥3 mm'' by at least one radiologist, of which 928 (34.7%) received such marks from all

A portable scanning lidar for real-time detection of fugitive dust emissions from multisource facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Emmitt, G.D. [Simpson Weather Associates, Inc., Charlottesville, VA (United States)

1994-12-31

A 400 mj, incoherent, pulsed, scanning CO{sub 2} lidar referred to as the Portable Laser for Coal Emission Mapping (PLACEM) is combined with a real-time version of EPA`s Industrial Source Complex - Short Term (ISCST) model to map TSP concentrations and dry deposition of fugitive particulate emissions from multiple sources within a coal handling complex. A Simpson Weather Associates concept, funded by Pier IX (a subsidiary of Zeigler Coal Handling Company), PLACEM was developed in response to the need for an eye-safe laser technique for (1) assessing the relative contribution of intermittent dust generating activities and sources within a coal transshipment facility, (2) evaluating the efficiency of various dust control measures, and (3) developing a means to assess compliance with pending Clean Air Act (CAA, 1990) regulations requiring Continuous Emission Monitoring (CEM). Integration of the PLACEM observations with the ISCST2 provides a means of dynamically calibrating the model for use with conventional in situ particulate monitors. Both simulated and real observations are presented to demonstrate the viability and utility of this lidar/model approach to fugitive emission monitoring.

Laser scan of the Grimming Mts. (Austria) with the latest LiDAR VZ-4000 equipment: preliminary results

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Harald; Hatzenbichler, Georg; Amon, Philipp; Fallah, Mohammad; Tari, Gabor; Grasemann, Bernhard

2013-04-01

As part of a cooperation project between OMV, RIEGL and the University of Vienna the new LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) VZ-4000 laser scanner was tested at the Grimming Mts. of the Eastern Alps in Austria. The prominent Grimming Mts. lies in the eastern part of the Dachstein Massif at the southern margin of the Northern Calcareous Alps. The Grimming, with a peak of 2,351 m above sea level, is one of the highest isolated mountains in Europe. Because of its spectacular topography, the Grimming has been used as an important surface reference mark since 1822. From a structural geology standpoint, the Grimming forms a huge antiform made up of dominantly well-bedded Triassic Dachstein Limestone. Because of the relatively well exposed bedrock surfaces above the tree-line and the fairly complex internal structure, the Grimming Mts. provides an ideal target for testing new high resolution laser scan techniques and devices. The maximum distance from the scanning positions on the nearby valley floor to the mountain face was about 4,500 m and the generated point cloud has an average resolution of 25 points per square meter. The purpose of this work was to test the latest version of the high resolution LiDAR laser equipment in a setting which falls beyond the capabilities of most existing LiDAR devices. The results of the pilot study include high-resolution spatial data on bedding planes, fault planes and the thickness variations of individual beds within the Dachstein Limestone. For the first time, the data obtained can be directly used to generate the proper 3D geometry of folds and faults observed on the Grimming Mts. This leads to a modern understanding of this prominent Alpine anticline in terms of structural geology.

MULTISPECTRAL AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING - A NEW TREND IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIDAR TECHNOLOGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bakuła Krzysztof

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Airborne laser scanning (ALS is the one of the most accurate remote sensing techniques for data acquisition where the terrain and its coverage is concerned. Modern scanners have been able to scan in two or more channels (frequencies of the laser recently. This gives the rise to the possibility of obtaining diverse information about an area with the different spectral properties of objects. The paper presents an example of a multispectral ALS system - Titan by Optech - with the possibility of data including the analysis of digital elevation models accuracy and data density. As a result of the study, the high relative accuracy of LiDAR acquisition in three spectral bands was proven. The mean differences between digital terrain models (DTMs were less than 0.03 m. The data density analysis showed the influence of the laser wavelength. The points clouds that were tested had average densities of 25, 23 and 20 points per square metre respectively for green (G, near-infrared (NIR and shortwave-infrared (SWIR lasers. In this paper, the possibility of the generation of colour composites using orthoimages of laser intensity reflectance and its classification capabilities using data from airborne multispectral laser scanning for land cover mapping are also discussed and compared with conventional photogrammetric techniques.

The Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database Resource Initiative (IDRI): A Completed Reference Database of Lung Nodules on CT Scans

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-02-15

Purpose: The development of computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) methods for lung nodule detection, classification, and quantitative assessment can be facilitated through a well-characterized repository of computed tomography (CT) scans. The Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database Resource Initiative (IDRI) completed such a database, establishing a publicly available reference for the medical imaging research community. Initiated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), further advanced by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), and accompanied by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through active participation, this public-private partnership demonstrates the success of a consortium founded on a consensus-based process. Methods: Seven academic centers and eight medical imaging companies collaborated to identify, address, and resolve challenging organizational, technical, and clinical issues to provide a solid foundation for a robust database. The LIDC/IDRI Database contains 1018 cases, each of which includes images from a clinical thoracic CT scan and an associated XML file that records the results of a two-phase image annotation process performed by four experienced thoracic radiologists. In the initial blinded-read phase, each radiologist independently reviewed each CT scan and marked lesions belonging to one of three categories (''nodule{>=}3 mm,''''nodule<3 mm,'' and ''non-nodule{>=}3 mm''). In the subsequent unblinded-read phase, each radiologist independently reviewed their own marks along with the anonymized marks of the three other radiologists to render a final opinion. The goal of this process was to identify as completely as possible all lung nodules in each CT scan without requiring forced consensus. Results: The Database contains 7371 lesions marked ''nodule'' by at least one radiologist. 2669 of these lesions were marked &apos

Effect of target color and scanning geometry on terrestrial LiDAR point-cloud noise and plane fitting

Science.gov (United States)

Bolkas, Dimitrios; Martinez, Aaron

2018-01-01

Point-cloud coordinate information derived from terrestrial Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) is important for several applications in surveying and civil engineering. Plane fitting and segmentation of target-surfaces is an important step in several applications such as in the monitoring of structures. Reliable parametric modeling and segmentation relies on the underlying quality of the point-cloud. Therefore, understanding how point-cloud errors affect fitting of planes and segmentation is important. Point-cloud intensity, which accompanies the point-cloud data, often goes hand-in-hand with point-cloud noise. This study uses industrial particle boards painted with eight different colors (black, white, grey, red, green, blue, brown, and yellow) and two different sheens (flat and semi-gloss) to explore how noise and plane residuals vary with scanning geometry (i.e., distance and incidence angle) and target-color. Results show that darker colors, such as black and brown, can produce point clouds that are several times noisier than bright targets, such as white. In addition, semi-gloss targets manage to reduce noise in dark targets by about 2-3 times. The study of plane residuals with scanning geometry reveals that, in many of the cases tested, residuals decrease with increasing incidence angles, which can assist in understanding the distribution of plane residuals in a dataset. Finally, a scheme is developed to derive survey guidelines based on the data collected in this experiment. Three examples demonstrate that users should consider instrument specification, required precision of plane residuals, required point-spacing, target-color, and target-sheen, when selecting scanning locations. Outcomes of this study can aid users to select appropriate instrumentation and improve planning of terrestrial LiDAR data-acquisition.

Lidar-based Research and Innovation at DTU Wind Energy - a Review

Science.gov (United States)

Mikkelsen, T.

2014-06-01

As wind turbines during the past decade have increased in size so have the challenges met by the atmospheric boundary-layer meteorologists and the wind energy society to measure and characterize the huge-volume wind fields surpassing and driving them. At the DTU Wind Energy test site "Østerild" for huge wind turbines, the hub-height of a recently installed 8 MW Vestas V164 turbine soars 143 meters up above the ground, and its rotor of amazing 164 meters in diameter make the turbine tips flicker 225 meters into the sky. Following the revolution in photonics-based telecommunication at the turn of the Millennium new fibre-based wind lidar technologies emerged and DTU Wind Energy, at that time embedded within Rise National Laboratory, began in collaboration with researchers from wind lidar companies to measure remote sensed wind profiles and turbulence structures within the atmospheric boundary layer with the emerging, at that time new, all-fibre-based 1.55 μ coherent detection wind lidars. Today, ten years later, DTU Wind Energy routinely deploys ground-based vertical profilers instead of met masts for high-precision measurements of mean wind profiles and turbulence profiles. At the departments test site "Høvsøre" DTU Wind Energy also routinely calibrate and accredit wind lidar manufactures wind lidars. Meanwhile however, new methodologies for power curve assessment based on ground-based and nacelle based lidars have also emerged. For improving the turbines power curve assessments and for advancing their control with feed-forward wind measurements experience has also been gained with wind lidars installed on turbine nacelles and integrated into the turbines rotating spinners. A new mobile research infrastructure WindScanner.dk has also emerged at DTU Wind Energy. Wind and turbulence fields are today scanned from sets of three simultaneously in space and time synchronized scanning lidars. One set consists of three fast scanning continuous-wave based wind lidars

Lidar to lidar calibration of Ground-based Lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fernandez Garcia, Sergio; Courtney, Michael

This report presents the result of the lidar to lidar calibration performed for ground-based lidar. Calibration is here understood as the establishment of a relation between the reference lidar wind speed measurements with measurement uncertainties provided by measurement standard and corresponding...... lidar wind speed indications with associated measurement uncertainties. The lidar calibration concerns the 10 minute mean wind speed measurements. The comparison of the lidar measurements of the wind direction with that from the reference lidar measurements are given for information only....

Optimizing Lidars for Wind Turbine Control Applications—Results from the IEA Wind Task 32 Workshop

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric Simley

2018-06-01

Full Text Available IEA Wind Task 32 serves as an international platform for the research community and industry to identify and mitigate barriers to the use of lidars in wind energy applications. The workshop “Optimizing Lidar Design for Wind Energy Applications” was held in July 2016 to identify lidar system properties that are desirable for wind turbine control applications and help foster the widespread application of lidar-assisted control (LAC. One of the main barriers this workshop aimed to address is the multidisciplinary nature of LAC. Since lidar suppliers, wind turbine manufacturers, and researchers typically focus on their own areas of expertise, it is possible that current lidar systems are not optimal for control purposes. This paper summarizes the results of the workshop, addressing both practical and theoretical aspects, beginning with a review of the literature on lidar optimization for control applications. Next, barriers to the use of lidar for wind turbine control are identified, such as availability and reliability concerns, followed by practical suggestions for mitigating those barriers. From a theoretical perspective, the optimization of lidar scan patterns by minimizing the error between the measurements and the rotor effective wind speed of interest is discussed. Frequency domain methods for directly calculating measurement error using a stochastic wind field model are reviewed and applied to the optimization of several continuous wave and pulsed Doppler lidar scan patterns based on commercially-available systems. An overview of the design process for a lidar-assisted pitch controller for rotor speed regulation highlights design choices that can impact the usefulness of lidar measurements beyond scan pattern optimization. Finally, using measurements from an optimized scan pattern, it is shown that the rotor speed regulation achieved after optimizing the lidar-assisted control scenario via time domain simulations matches the performance

Augmented Reality Based Doppler Lidar Data Visualization: Promises and Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cherukuru N. W.

2016-01-01

As a proof of concept, we used the lidar data from a recent field campaign and developed a smartphone application to view the lidar scan in augmented reality. In this paper, we give a brief methodology of this feasibility study, present the challenges and promises of using AR technology in conjunction with Doppler wind lidars.

Lidar to lidar calibration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fernandez Garcia, Sergio; Villanueva, Héctor

This report presents the result of the lidar to lidar calibration performed for ground-based lidar. Calibration is here understood as the establishment of a relation between the reference lidar wind speed measurements with measurement uncertainties provided by measurement standard and corresponding...... lidar wind speed indications with associated measurement uncertainties. The lidar calibration concerns the 10 minute mean wind speed measurements. The comparison of the lidar measurements of the wind direction with that from the reference lidar measurements are given for information only....

Lidar-based Research and Innovation at DTU Wind Energy – a Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikkelsen, T

2014-01-01

As wind turbines during the past decade have increased in size so have the challenges met by the atmospheric boundary-layer meteorologists and the wind energy society to measure and characterize the huge-volume wind fields surpassing and driving them. At the DTU Wind Energy test site ''Østerild'' for huge wind turbines, the hub-height of a recently installed 8 MW Vestas V164 turbine soars 143 meters up above the ground, and its rotor of amazing 164 meters in diameter make the turbine tips flicker 225 meters into the sky. Following the revolution in photonics-based telecommunication at the turn of the Millennium new fibre-based wind lidar technologies emerged and DTU Wind Energy, at that time embedded within Rise National Laboratory, began in collaboration with researchers from wind lidar companies to measure remote sensed wind profiles and turbulence structures within the atmospheric boundary layer with the emerging, at that time new, all-fibre-based 1.55 μ coherent detection wind lidars. Today, ten years later, DTU Wind Energy routinely deploys ground-based vertical profilers instead of met masts for high-precision measurements of mean wind profiles and turbulence profiles. At the departments test site ''Høvsøre'' DTU Wind Energy also routinely calibrate and accredit wind lidar manufactures wind lidars. Meanwhile however, new methodologies for power curve assessment based on ground-based and nacelle based lidars have also emerged. For improving the turbines power curve assessments and for advancing their control with feed-forward wind measurements experience has also been gained with wind lidars installed on turbine nacelles and integrated into the turbines rotating spinners. A new mobile research infrastructure WindScanner.dk has also emerged at DTU Wind Energy. Wind and turbulence fields are today scanned from sets of three simultaneously in space and time synchronized scanning lidars. One set consists of three fast

Volumetric scans of wind turbine wakes performed with three simultaneous wind LiDARs under different atmospheric stability regimes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iungo, Giacomo Valerio; Porté-Agel, Fernando

2014-01-01

Aerodynamic optimization of wind farm layout is a crucial task to reduce wake effects on downstream wind turbines, thus to maximize wind power harvesting. However, downstream evolution and recovery of wind turbine wakes are strongly affected by the characteristics of the incoming atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow, such as wind shear and turbulence intensity, which are in turn affected by the ABL thermal stability. In order to characterize the downstream evolution of wakes produced by full-scale wind turbines under different atmospheric conditions, wind velocity measurements were performed with three wind LiDARs. The volumetric scans are performed by continuously sweeping azimuthal and elevation angles of the LiDARs in order to cover a 3D volume that includes the wind turbine wake. The minimum wake velocity deficit is then evaluated as a function of the downstream location for different atmospheric conditions. It is observed that the ABL thermal stability has a significant effect on the wake evolution, and the wake recovers faster under convective conditions

Eye-safe diode laser Doppler lidar with a MEMS beam-scanner

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Qi; Pedersen, Christian; Rodrigo, Peter John

2016-01-01

We present a novel Doppler lidar that employs a cw diode laser operating at 1.5 μm and a micro-electro-mechanical-system scanning mirror (MEMS-SM). In this work, two functionalities of the lidar system are demonstrated. Firstly, we describe the capability to effectively steer the lidar probe beam...

The marbll experiment: towards a martian wind lidar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Määttänen Anni

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Operating a lidar on Mars would fulfill the need of accessing wind and aerosol profiles in the atmospheric boundary layer. This is the purpose of the MARs Boundary Layer Lidar (MARBLL instrument. We report recent developments of this compact direct-detection wind lidar designed to operate from the surface of Mars. A new laser source has been developed and an azimuthal scanning capability has been added. Preliminary results of a field campaign are presented.

Windscanner: 3-D wind and turbulence measurements from three steerable doppler lidars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikkelsen, T; Mann, J; Courtney, M; Sjoeholm, M

2008-01-01

At RISOe DTU we has started to build a new-designed laser-based lidar scanning facility for detailed remote measurements of the wind fields engulfing the huge wind turbines of today. Our aim is to measure in real-time 3D wind vector data at several hundred points every second: 1) upstream of the turbine, 2) near the turbine, and 3) in the wakes of the turbine rotors. Our first proto-type Windscanner is now being built from three commercially available Continuous Wave (CW) wind lidars modified with fast adjustable focus length and equipped with 2-D prism-based scan heads, in conjunction with a commercially available pulsed wind lidar for extended vertical profiling range. Design, construction and initial testing of the new 3-D wind lidar scanning facility are described and the functionality of the Windscanner and its potential as a new research facility within the wind energy community is discussed

LIDAR AND INS FUSION IN PERIODS OF GPS OUTAGES FOR MOBILE LASER SCANNING MAPPING SYSTEMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Klein

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Mobile laser scanning systems are becoming an increasingly popular means to obtain 3D coverage on a large scale. To perform the mapping, the exact position of the vehicle must be known throughout the trajectory. Exact position is achieved via integration of Global Positioning Systems (GPS and Inertial Navigation Systems (INS. Yet, in urban environments, cases of complete or even partial GPS outages may occur leaving the navigation solution to rely only on the INS. The INS navigation solution degrades with time as the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU measurements contains noise, which permeates into the navigation equations. Degradation of the position determination leads to loss of data in such segments. To circumvent such drift and its effects, we propose fusing INS with lidar data by using building edges. This detection of edges is then translated into position data, which is used as an aiding to the INS. It thereby enables the determination of the vehicle position with a satisfactory level accuracy, sufficient to perform the laser-scanning based mapping in those outage periods.

PrionScan: an online database of predicted prion domains in complete proteomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Espinosa Angarica, Vladimir; Angulo, Alfonso; Giner, Arturo; Losilla, Guillermo; Ventura, Salvador; Sancho, Javier

2014-02-05

Prions are a particular type of amyloids related to a large variety of important processes in cells, but also responsible for serious diseases in mammals and humans. The number of experimentally characterized prions is still low and corresponds to a handful of examples in microorganisms and mammals. Prion aggregation is mediated by specific protein domains with a remarkable compositional bias towards glutamine/asparagine and against charged residues and prolines. These compositional features have been used to predict new prion proteins in the genomes of different organisms. Despite these efforts, there are only a few available data sources containing prion predictions at a genomic scale. Here we present PrionScan, a new database of predicted prion-like domains in complete proteomes. We have previously developed a predictive methodology to identify and score prionogenic stretches in protein sequences. In the present work, we exploit this approach to scan all the protein sequences in public databases and compile a repository containing relevant information of proteins bearing prion-like domains. The database is updated regularly alongside UniprotKB and in its present version contains approximately 28000 predictions in proteins from different functional categories in more than 3200 organisms from all the taxonomic subdivisions. PrionScan can be used in two different ways: database query and analysis of protein sequences submitted by the users. In the first mode, simple queries allow to retrieve a detailed description of the properties of a defined protein. Queries can also be combined to generate more complex and specific searching patterns. In the second mode, users can submit and analyze their own sequences. It is expected that this database would provide relevant insights on prion functions and regulation from a genome-wide perspective, allowing researches performing cross-species prion biology studies. Our database might also be useful for guiding experimentalists

Demystifying LiDAR technologies for temperate rainforest in the Pacific Northwest

Science.gov (United States)

Rhonda Mazza; Demetrios Gatziolis

2013-01-01

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR), also known as airborne laser scanning, is a rapidly emerging technology for remote sensing. Used to help map, monitor, and assess natural resources, LiDAR data were first embraced by forestry professionals in Scandinavia as a tool for conducting forest inventories in the mid to late 1990s. Thus early LiDAR theory and applications...

Optimization of eyesafe avalanche photodiode lidar for automobile safety and autonomous navigation systems

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, George M.

2017-03-01

Newly emerging accident-reducing, driver-assistance, and autonomous-navigation technology for automobiles is based on real-time three-dimensional mapping and object detection, tracking, and classification using lidar sensors. Yet, the lack of lidar sensors suitable for meeting application requirements appreciably limits practical widespread use of lidar in trucking, public livery, consumer cars, and fleet automobiles. To address this need, a system-engineering perspective to eyesafe lidar-system design for high-level advanced driver-assistance sensor systems and a design trade study including 1.5-μm spot-scanned, line-scanned, and flash-lidar systems are presented. A cost-effective lidar instrument design is then proposed based on high-repetition-rate diode-pumped solid-state lasers and high-gain, low-excess-noise InGaAs avalanche photodiode receivers and focal plane arrays. Using probabilistic receiver-operating-characteristic analysis, derived from measured component performance, a compact lidar system is proposed that is capable of 220 m ranging with 5-cm accuracy, which can be readily scaled to a 360-deg field of regard.

Field evaluation of remote wind sensing technologies: Shore-based and buoy mounted LIDAR systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Herrington, Thomas [Stevens Inst. of Technology, Hoboken, NJ (United States)

2017-11-03

will be transferred to the Garrad Hassan (a subcontractor to Fishermen’s Energy) for incorporation in to the validation database, which is accessible to other scientific team members. Data collection times and durations will be determined by the PI and Co-PIs in consultation with instrument engineers to ensure the capture of data representative of the expected range of mid-Atlantic atmospheric conditions (e.g., temperature, moisture, coastal low pressure systems, tropical systems, rain, snow, fog). The collection and processing of the data is a function of site specific measurement requirements (Kelley et.al. 2007; Hannon et.al. 2008). To determine the optimal profiles of wind speed and direction from the LIDAR radial velocities as a function of azimuth angle, rigorous estimates of the bias and random error of each radial velocity estimate are required. Lockheed Martin Coherent Technologies, Inc., under contract with Fishermen’s Energy, will provide analyses of raw and processed data using various scan patterns to determine optimal performance settings for the pulsed scanning LIDAR. Once optimized, appropriate processing and analyses techniques will be evaluated by Garrad Hassan for use in validating the accuracy of the LIDAR wind field measurements against the standard anemometer measurements from the meteorological masts. The most attractive capability of the scanning LIDAR is the ability to provide high spatial resolution observations in a three-dimensional volume which provides superior statistical accuracy due to the large number of samples obtained. Each radial scan provides measurements in 100 range gates over a distance of 10 to 12 km at an update rate of 5 to 10 Hz and rotation of 2.5° per second. Each rotation at a fixed azimuth requires 2.4 minutes. Depending on the number of azimuths desired a complete scan can take up to 10 minutes or longer to complete. Once collected the radial velocities are processed to produce vector wind velocity estimates based

2008 City of Baltimore Lidar

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In the spring of 2008, the City of Baltimore expressed an interest to upgrade the City GIS Database with mapping quality airborne LiDAR data. The City of Baltimore...

5 V Compatible Two-Axis PZT Driven MEMS Scanning Mirror with Mechanical Leverage Structure for Miniature LiDAR Application.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Liangchen; Zhang, Gaofei; You, Zheng

2017-03-05

The MEMS (Micro-Electronical Mechanical System) scanning mirror is an optical MEMS device that can scan laser beams across one or two dimensions. MEMS scanning mirrors can be applied in a variety of applications, such as laser display, bio-medical imaging and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). These commercial applications have recently created a great demand for low-driving-voltage and low-power MEMS mirrors. However, no reported two-axis MEMS scanning mirror is available for usage in a universal supplying voltage such as 5 V. In this paper, we present an ultra-low voltage driven two-axis MEMS scanning mirror which is 5 V compatible. In order to realize low voltage and low power, a two-axis MEMS scanning mirror with mechanical leverage driven by PZT (Lead zirconate titanate) ceramic is designed, modeled, fabricated and characterized. To further decrease the power of the MEMS scanning mirror, a new method of impedance matching for PZT ceramic driven by a two-frequency mixed signal is established. As experimental results show, this MEMS scanning mirror reaches a two-axis scanning angle of 41.9° × 40.3° at a total driving voltage of 4.2 Vpp and total power of 16 mW. The effective diameter of reflection of the mirror is 2 mm and the operating frequencies of two-axis scanning are 947.51 Hz and 1464.66 Hz, respectively.

Comparison of 3D turbulence measurements using three staring wind lidars and a sonic anemometer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mann, Jakob; Cariou, J.-P.; Courtney, Michael

2008-01-01

Three pulsed lidars were used in staring, non-scanning mode, placed so that their beams crossed close to a 3D sonic anemometer. The goal is to compare lidar volume averaged wind measurement with point measurement reference sensors and to demonstrate the feasibility of performing 3D turbulence mea...... measurements with lidars. The results show a very good correlation between the lidar and the sonic times series. The variance of the velocity measured by the Mar is attenuated due to spatial filtering, and the amount of attenuation can be predicted theoretically.......Three pulsed lidars were used in staring, non-scanning mode, placed so that their beams crossed close to a 3D sonic anemometer. The goal is to compare lidar volume averaged wind measurement with point measurement reference sensors and to demonstrate the feasibility of performing 3D turbulence...

Forest Stand Segmentation Using Airborne LIDAR Data and Very High Resolution Multispectral Imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Dechesne, Clément; Mallet, Clément; Le Bris, Arnaud; Gouet, Valérie; Hervieu, Alexandre

2016-06-01

Forest stands are the basic units for forest inventory and mapping. Stands are large forested areas (e.g., ≥ 2 ha) of homogeneous tree species composition. The accurate delineation of forest stands is usually performed by visual analysis of human operators on very high resolution (VHR) optical images. This work is highly time consuming and should be automated for scalability purposes. In this paper, a method based on the fusion of airborne laser scanning data (or lidar) and very high resolution multispectral imagery for automatic forest stand delineation and forest land-cover database update is proposed. The multispectral images give access to the tree species whereas 3D lidar point clouds provide geometric information on the trees. Therefore, multi-modal features are computed, both at pixel and object levels. The objects are individual trees extracted from lidar data. A supervised classification is performed at the object level on the computed features in order to coarsely discriminate the existing tree species in the area of interest. The analysis at tree level is particularly relevant since it significantly improves the tree species classification. A probability map is generated through the tree species classification and inserted with the pixel-based features map in an energetical framework. The proposed energy is then minimized using a standard graph-cut method (namely QPBO with α-expansion) in order to produce a segmentation map with a controlled level of details. Comparison with an existing forest land cover database shows that our method provides satisfactory results both in terms of stand labelling and delineation (matching ranges between 94% and 99%).

Improving three-tier environmental assessment model by using a 3D scanning FLS-AM series hyperspectral lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Samberg, Andre; Babichenko, Sergei; Poryvkina, Larisa

2005-05-01

Delay between the time when natural disaster, for example, oil accident in coastal water, occurred and the time when environmental protection actions, for example, water and shoreline clean-up, started is of significant importance. Mostly remote sensing techniques are considered as (near) real-time and suitable for multiple tasks. These techniques in combination with rapid environmental assessment methodologies would form multi-tier environmental assessment model, which allows creating (near) real-time datasets and optimizing sampling scenarios. This paper presents the idea of three-tier environmental assessment model. Here all three tiers are briefly described to show the linkages between them, with a particular focus on the first tier. Furthermore, it is described how large-scale environmental assessment can be improved by using an airborne 3-D scanning FLS-AM series hyperspectral lidar. This new aircraft-based sensor is typically applied for oil mapping on sea/ground surface and extracting optical features of subjects. In general, a sampling network, which is based on three-tier environmental assessment model, can include ship(s) and aircraft(s). The airborne 3-D scanning FLS-AM series hyperspectral lidar helps to speed up the whole process of assessing of area of natural disaster significantly, because this is a real-time remote sensing mean. For instance, it can deliver such information as georeferenced oil spill position in WGS-84, the estimated size of the whole oil spill, and the estimated amount of oil in seawater or on ground. All information is produced in digital form and, thus, can be directly transferred into a customer"s GIS (Geographical Information System) system.

Lidars as an operational tool for meteorology and advanced atmospheric research

Science.gov (United States)

Simeonov, Valentin; Dinoev, Todor; Serikov, Ilya; Froidevaux, Martin; Bartlome, Marcel; Calpini, Bertrand; Bobrovnikov, Sergei; Ristori, Pablo; van den Bergh, Hubert; Parlange, Marc; Archinov, Yury

2010-05-01

The talk will present the concept and observation results of three advanced lidar systems developed recently at the Swiss federal Institute of Technology- Lausanne (EPFL) Switzerland. Two of the systems are Raman lidars for simultaneous water vapor, temperature and aerosol observations and the third one is an ozone UV DIAL system. The Ranan lidars use vibrational water vapor and nitrogen signals to derive water vapor mixing ratio and temperature, aerosol extinction and backscatter are measured using pure-rotational Raman and elastic signals. The first Raman lidar (RALMO) is a fully automated, water vapor /temperature/aerosol lidar developed for operational use by the Swiss meteorological office (MeteoSiss). The lidar supplies water vapor mixing ratio and temperature plus aerosol extinction and backscatter coefficients at 355 nm. The operational range of the lidar is 100-7000 m (night time) and 100- 5000 m (daytime) with time resolution of 30 min. The spatial resolution varies with height from 25 to 300 m in order to maintain the maximum measurement error of 10%. The system is designed to provide long-term database with minimal instrument-induced variations in time of the measured parameters. The lidar has been in regular operation in the main aerological station of Meteoswiss- Payerne since September 2008. The second Raman lidar is a new generation, solar-blind system with an operational range 10-500 m and high spatial (1.5 m) and temporal (1 s) resolutions designed for simultaneous humidity, temperature, and aerosol measurements in the lower atmosphere. To maintain the measurement accuracy while operating with fixed spatial and temporal resolution, the receiver is designed to provide lower than ten dynamic range of the signals within the distance range of the lidar. The lidar has 360° azimuth and 240°elevation scanning ability. The lidar was used in two field campaigns aiming to study the structure of the lower atmosphere over complex terrains and, in particular

Cotton phenotyping with lidar from a track-mounted platform

Science.gov (United States)

French, Andrew N.; Gore, Michael A.; Thompson, Alison

2016-05-01

High-Throughput Phenotyping (HTP) is a discipline for rapidly identifying plant architectural and physiological responses to environmental factors such as heat and water stress. Experiments conducted since 2010 at Maricopa, Arizona with a three-fold sensor group, including thermal infrared radiometers, active visible/near infrared reflectance sensors, and acoustic plant height sensors, have shown the validity of HTP with a tractor-based system. However, results from these experiments also show that accuracy of plant phenotyping is limited by the system's inability to discriminate plant components and their local environmental conditions. This limitation may be overcome with plant imaging and laser scanning which can help map details in plant architecture and sunlit/shaded leaves. To test the capability for mapping cotton plants with a laser system, a track-mounted platform was deployed in 2015 over a full canopy and defoliated cotton crop consisting of a scanning LIDAR driven by Arduinocontrolled stepper motors. Using custom Python and Tkinter code, the platform moved autonomously along a pipe-track at 0.1 m/s while collecting LIDAR scans at 25 Hz (0.1667 deg. beam). These tests showed that an autonomous LIDAR platform can reduce HTP logistical problems and provide the capability to accurately map cotton plants and cotton bolls. A prototype track-mounted platform was developed to test the use of LIDAR scanning for High- Throughput Phenotyping (HTP). The platform was deployed in 2015 at Maricopa, Arizona over a senescent cotton crop. Using custom Python and Tkinter code, the platform moved autonomously along a pipe-track at cotton bolls.

Estimating forest structural characteristics using the airborne LiDAR scanning system and a near-real time profiling laser system

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Kaiguang

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) directly measures canopy vertical structures, and provides an effective remote sensing solution to accurate and spatially-explicit mapping of forest characteristics, such as canopy height and Leaf Area Index. However, many factors, such as large data volume and high costs for data acquisition, precludes the operational and practical use of most currently available LiDARs for frequent and large-scale mapping. At the same time, a growing need is arising for real-time remote sensing platforms, e.g., to provide timely information for urgent applications. This study aims to develop an airborne profiling LiDAR system, featured with on-the-fly data processing, for near real- or real-time forest inventory. The development of such a system involves implementing the on-board data processing and analysis as well as building useful regression-based models to relate LiDAR measurements with forest biophysical parameters. This work established a paradigm for an on-the-fly airborne profiling LiDAR system to inventory regional forest resources in real- or near real-time. The system was developed based on an existing portable airborne laser system (PALS) that has been previously assembled at NASA by Dr. Ross Nelson. Key issues in automating PALS as an on-the-fly system were addressed, including the design of an archetype for the system workflow, the development of efficient and robust algorithms for automatic data processing and analysis, the development of effective regression models to predict forest biophysical parameters from LiDAR measurements, and the implementation of an integrated software package to incorporate all the above development. This work exploited the untouched potential of airborne laser profilers for real-time forest inventory, and therefore, documented an initial step toward developing airborne-laser-based, on-the-fly, real-time, forest inventory systems. Results from this work demonstrated the utility and effectiveness of

Lidar detection of carbon dioxide in volcanic plumes

Science.gov (United States)

Fiorani, Luca; Santoro, Simone; Parracino, Stefano; Maio, Giovanni; Del Franco, Mario; Aiuppa, Alessandro

2015-06-01

Volcanic gases give information on magmatic processes. In particular, anomalous releases of carbon dioxide precede volcanic eruptions. Up to now, this gas has been measured in volcanic plumes with conventional measurements that imply the severe risks of local sampling and can last many hours. For these reasons and for the great advantages of laser sensing, the thorough development of volcanic lidar has been undertaken at the Diagnostics and Metrology Laboratory (UTAPRAD-DIM) of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA). In fact, lidar profiling allows one to scan remotely volcanic plumes in a fast and continuous way, and with high spatial and temporal resolution. Two differential absorption lidar instruments will be presented in this paper: BILLI (BrIdge voLcanic LIdar), based on injection seeded Nd:YAG laser, double grating dye laser, difference frequency mixing (DFM) and optical parametric amplifier (OPA), and VULLI (VULcamed Lidar), based on injection seeded Nd:YAG laser and optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The first one is funded by the ERC (European Research Council) project BRIDGE and the second one by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) project VULCAMED. While VULLI has not yet been tested in a volcanic site, BILLI scanned the gas emitted by Pozzuoli Solfatara (Campi Flegrei volcanic area, Naples, Italy) during a field campaign carried out from 13 to 17 October 2014. Carbon dioxide concentration maps were retrieved remotely in few minutes in the crater area. Lidar measurements were in good agreement with well-established techniques, based on different operating principles. To our knowledge, it is the first time that carbon dioxide in a volcanic plume is retrieved by lidar, representing the first direct measurement of this kind ever performed on an active volcano and showing the high potential of laser remote sensing in geophysical research.

Meteorology and lidar data from the URAHFREP field trials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ott, Søren; Ejsing Jørgensen, Hans

2002-01-01

to the HF release. The instrumentation included various types of HF sensors, thermocouple arrays, a fully instrumented release rig, a passive smokemachine, a meteorological mast and a lidar backscatter system. This report deals exclusively with the meteorological data and the lidar data. The trials cover...... a range meteorological conditions. These include neutral conditions with relatively highwindspeed and low humidity as well as unstable conditions with low windspeed and high humidity, the most favorable conditions for lift-off to occur. The lidar was used to scan vertical cross-plume slices 100 meter...

Advances and perspectives in bathymetry by airborne lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Guoqing; Wang, Chenxi; Li, Mingyan; Wang, Yuefeng; Ye, Siqi; Han, Caiyun

2015-12-01

In this paper, the history of the airborne lidar and the development stages of the technology are reviewed. The basic principle of airborne lidar and the method of processing point-cloud data were discussed. At present, single point laser scanning method is widely used in bathymetric survey. Although the method has high ranging accuracy, the data processing and hardware system is too much complicated and expensive. For this reason, this paper present a kind of improved dual-frequency method for bathymetric and sea surface survey, in this method 176 units of 1064nm wavelength laser has been used by push-broom scanning and due to the airborne power limits still use 532nm wavelength single point for bathymetric survey by zigzag scanning. We establish a spatial coordinates for obtaining the WGS-84 of point cloud by using airborne POS system.

Raster Vs. Point Cloud LiDAR Data Classification

Science.gov (United States)

El-Ashmawy, N.; Shaker, A.

2014-09-01

Airborne Laser Scanning systems with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology is one of the fast and accurate 3D point data acquisition techniques. Generating accurate digital terrain and/or surface models (DTM/DSM) is the main application of collecting LiDAR range data. Recently, LiDAR range and intensity data have been used for land cover classification applications. Data range and Intensity, (strength of the backscattered signals measured by the LiDAR systems), are affected by the flying height, the ground elevation, scanning angle and the physical characteristics of the objects surface. These effects may lead to uneven distribution of point cloud or some gaps that may affect the classification process. Researchers have investigated the conversion of LiDAR range point data to raster image for terrain modelling. Interpolation techniques have been used to achieve the best representation of surfaces, and to fill the gaps between the LiDAR footprints. Interpolation methods are also investigated to generate LiDAR range and intensity image data for land cover classification applications. In this paper, different approach has been followed to classifying the LiDAR data (range and intensity) for land cover mapping. The methodology relies on the classification of the point cloud data based on their range and intensity and then converted the classified points into raster image. The gaps in the data are filled based on the classes of the nearest neighbour. Land cover maps are produced using two approaches using: (a) the conventional raster image data based on point interpolation; and (b) the proposed point data classification. A study area covering an urban district in Burnaby, British Colombia, Canada, is selected to compare the results of the two approaches. Five different land cover classes can be distinguished in that area: buildings, roads and parking areas, trees, low vegetation (grass), and bare soil. The results show that an improvement of around 10 % in the

3D pulsed chaos lidar system.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Chih-Hao; Chen, Chih-Ying; Chen, Jun-Da; Pan, Da-Kung; Ting, Kai-Ting; Lin, Fan-Yi

2018-04-30

We develop an unprecedented 3D pulsed chaos lidar system for potential intelligent machinery applications. Benefited from the random nature of the chaos, conventional CW chaos lidars already possess excellent anti-jamming and anti-interference capabilities and have no range ambiguity. In our system, we further employ self-homodyning and time gating to generate a pulsed homodyned chaos to boost the energy-utilization efficiency. Compared to the original chaos, we show that the pulsed homodyned chaos improves the detection SNR by more than 20 dB. With a sampling rate of just 1.25 GS/s that has a native sampling spacing of 12 cm, we successfully achieve millimeter-level accuracy and precision in ranging. Compared with two commercial lidars tested side-by-side, namely the pulsed Spectroscan and the random-modulation continuous-wave Lidar-lite, the pulsed chaos lidar that is in compliance with the class-1 eye-safe regulation shows significantly better precision and a much longer detection range up to 100 m. Moreover, by employing a 2-axis MEMS mirror for active laser scanning, we also demonstrate real-time 3D imaging with errors of less than 4 mm in depth.

Statistical-uncertainty-based adaptive filtering of lidar signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fuehrer, P. L.; Friehe, C. A.; Hristov, T. S.; Cooper, D. I.; Eichinger, W. E.

2000-01-01

An adaptive filter signal processing technique is developed to overcome the problem of Raman lidar water-vapor mixing ratio (the ratio of the water-vapor density to the dry-air density) with a highly variable statistical uncertainty that increases with decreasing photomultiplier-tube signal strength and masks the true desired water-vapor structure. The technique, applied to horizontal scans, assumes only statistical horizontal homogeneity. The result is a variable spatial resolution water-vapor signal with a constant variance out to a range limit set by a specified signal-to-noise ratio. The technique was applied to Raman water-vapor lidar data obtained at a coastal pier site together with in situ instruments located 320 m from the lidar. The micrometerological humidity data were used to calibrate the ratio of the lidar gains of the H 2 O and the N 2 photomultiplier tubes and set the water-vapor mixing ratio variance for the adaptive filter. For the coastal experiment the effective limit of the lidar range was found to be approximately 200 m for a maximum noise-to-signal variance ratio of 0.1 with the implemented data-reduction procedure. The technique can be adapted to off-horizontal scans with a small reduction in the constraints and is also applicable to other remote-sensing devices that exhibit the same inherent range-dependent signal-to-noise ratio problem. (c) 2000 Optical Society of America

Wind Predictions Upstream Wind Turbines from a LiDAR Database

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soledad Le Clainche

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This article presents a new method to predict the wind velocity upstream a horizontal axis wind turbine from a set of light detection and ranging (LiDAR measurements. The method uses higher order dynamic mode decomposition (HODMD to construct a reduced order model (ROM that can be extrapolated in space. LiDAR measurements have been carried out upstream a wind turbine at six different planes perpendicular to the wind turbine axis. This new HODMD-based ROM predicts with high accuracy the wind velocity during a timespan of 24 h in a plane of measurements that is more than 225 m far away from the wind turbine. Moreover, the technique introduced is general and obtained with an almost negligible computational cost. This fact makes it possible to extend its application to both vertical axis wind turbines and real-time operation.

Essentials of LIDAR multiangle data processing methodology for smoke polluted atmospheres

Science.gov (United States)

V. A. Kovalev; A. Petkov; C. Wold; S. Urbanski; W. M. Hao

2009-01-01

Mobile scanning lidar is the most appropriate tool for monitoring wildfire smoke-plume dynamics and optical properties. Lidar is the only remote sensing instrument capable of obtaining detailed three-dimensional range-resolved information for smoke distributions and optical properties over ranges of 10+ km at different wavelengths simultaneously.

Strategies for lidar characterization of particulates from point and area sources

Science.gov (United States)

Wojcik, Michael D.; Moore, Kori D.; Martin, Randal S.; Hatfield, Jerry

2010-10-01

Use of ground based remote sensing technologies such as scanning lidar systems (light detection and ranging) has gained traction in characterizing ambient aerosols due to some key advantages such as wide area of regard (10 km2), fast response time, high spatial resolution (University, in conjunction with the USDA-ARS, has developed a three-wavelength scanning lidar system called Aglite that has been successfully deployed to characterize particle motion, concentration, and size distribution at both point and diffuse area sources in agricultural and industrial settings. A suite of massbased and size distribution point sensors are used to locally calibrate the lidar. Generating meaningful particle size distribution, mass concentration, and emission rate results based on lidar data is dependent on strategic onsite deployment of these point sensors with successful local meteorological measurements. Deployment strategies learned from field use of this entire measurement system over five years include the characterization of local meteorology and its predictability prior to deployment, the placement of point sensors to prevent contamination and overloading, the positioning of the lidar and beam plane to avoid hard target interferences, and the usefulness of photographic and written observational data.

Scanning Raman lidar for tropospheric water vapor profiling and GPS path delay correction

Science.gov (United States)

Tarniewicz, Jerome; Bock, Olivier; Pelon, Jacques R.; Thom, Christian

2002-01-01

The design of a ground based and transportable combined Raman elastic-backscatter lidar for the remote sensing of lower tropospheric water vapor and nitrogen concentration is described. This lidar is intended to be used for an external calibration of the wet path delay of GPS signals. A description of the method used to derive water vapor and nitrogen profiles in the lower troposphere is given. The instrument has been tested during the ESCOMPTE campaign in June 2001 and first measurements are presented.

Laser scanning of a recirculation zone on the Bolund escarpment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mann, Jakob; Angelou, Nikolas; Sjöholm, Mikael

2012-01-01

Rapid variations in the height of the recirculation zone are measured with a scanning wind lidar over a small escarpment on the Bolund Peninsula. The lidar is essentially a continuous-wave laser Doppler anemometer with the capability of rapidly changing the focus distance and the beam direction....... The instrument measures the line-ofsight velocity 390 times per second and scans ten wind profiles from the ground up to seven meters per second. The results will be used to test computational fluid dynamics models for flow over terrain, and has relevance for wind energy. The development of multiple lidar...

Lidar to lidar calibration phase 1

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yordanova, Ginka; Courtney, Michael

This report presents a feasibility study of a lidar to lidar (L2L) calibration procedure. Phase one of the project was conducted at Høvsøre, Denmark. Two windcubes were placed next to the 116m met mast and different methods were applied to obtain the sensing height error of the lidars. The purpose...... is to find the most consistent method and use it in a potential lidar to lidar calibration procedure....

Radiometric Calibration of a Dual-Wavelength, Full-Waveform Terrestrial Lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhan; Jupp, David L B; Strahler, Alan H; Schaaf, Crystal B; Howe, Glenn; Hewawasam, Kuravi; Douglas, Ewan S; Chakrabarti, Supriya; Cook, Timothy A; Paynter, Ian; Saenz, Edward J; Schaefer, Michael

2016-03-02

Radiometric calibration of the Dual-Wavelength Echidna(®) Lidar (DWEL), a full-waveform terrestrial laser scanner with two simultaneously-pulsing infrared lasers at 1064 nm and 1548 nm, provides accurate dual-wavelength apparent reflectance (ρ(app)), a physically-defined value that is related to the radiative and structural characteristics of scanned targets and independent of range and instrument optics and electronics. The errors of ρ(app) are 8.1% for 1064 nm and 6.4% for 1548 nm. A sensitivity analysis shows that ρ(app) error is dominated by range errors at near ranges, but by lidar intensity errors at far ranges. Our semi-empirical model for radiometric calibration combines a generalized logistic function to explicitly model telescopic effects due to defocusing of return signals at near range with a negative exponential function to model the fall-off of return intensity with range. Accurate values of ρ(app) from the radiometric calibration improve the quantification of vegetation structure, facilitate the comparison and coupling of lidar datasets from different instruments, campaigns or wavelengths and advance the utilization of bi- and multi-spectral information added to 3D scans by novel spectral lidars.

Lidar to lidar calibration phase 2

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yordanova, Ginka; Courtney, Michael

This report presents the results from phase 2 of a lidar to lidar (L2L) calibration procedure. Phase two of the project included two measurement campaigns conducted at given sites. The purpose was to find out if the lidar-to-lidar calibration procedure can be conducted with similar results...

The spatial concentration of dust emissions measured by using 3D scanning lidar in the open storage yards of steel-making company

Science.gov (United States)

Chiang, Chih-Wei; Chiang, Hong-Wei; Chou, Huann-Ming; Sun, Shu-Huang; Lee, Jiann-Shen

2017-06-01

The wind-blown dust emissions frequently occur in the open storage yards of steel-making companies. Tracking the dust source and monitoring their dispersion are rather difficult. This type of open-air storage yards poses many environmental hazards. The 3-D scanning lidar system is effective in environmental monitoring (e.g., dust) with high temporal and spatial resolution, which is lacking in traditional ground-based measurement. The objective of this paper is to make an attempt for the flux estimation of dust concentration by using lidar system. Further, we investigate the dynamical process of dust and their relationship with local air quality monitoring data. The results show that the material storage erosion by wind ( 3.6 m/s) could cause dust to elevate up to 20m height above the material storage, and produces the flux of dust around 674 mg/s. The flux of dust is proportional to the dust mass concentration (PM10) measured by commercial ambient particular monitors.

Three-beam aerosol backscatter correlation lidar for wind profiling

Science.gov (United States)

Prasad, Narasimha S.; Radhakrishnan Mylapore, Anand

2017-03-01

The development of a three-beam aerosol backscatter correlation (ABC) light detection and ranging (lidar) to measure wind characteristics for wake vortex and plume tracking applications is discussed. This is a direct detection elastic lidar that uses three laser transceivers, operating at 1030-nm wavelength with ˜10-kHz pulse repetition frequency and nanosec class pulse widths, to directly obtain three components of wind velocities. By tracking the motion of aerosol structures along and between three near-parallel laser beams, three-component wind speed profiles along the field-of-view of laser beams are obtained. With three 8-in. transceiver modules, placed in a near-parallel configuration on a two-axis pan-tilt scanner, the lidar measures wind speeds up to 2 km away. Optical flow algorithms have been adapted to obtain the movement of aerosol structures between the beams. Aerosol density fluctuations are cross-correlated between successive scans to obtain the displacements of the aerosol features along the three axes. Using the range resolved elastic backscatter data from each laser beam, which is scanned over the volume of interest, a three-dimensional map of aerosol density can be generated in a short time span. The performance of the ABC wind lidar prototype, validated using sonic anemometer measurements, is discussed.

Comparison of 3D turbulence measurements using three staring wind lidars and a sonic anemometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mann, J; Courtney, M S; Mikkelsen, T; Wagner, R; Lindeloew, P; Sjoeholm, M; Enevoldsen, K; Cariou, J-P; Parmentier, R

2008-01-01

Three pulsed lidars were used in staring, non-scanning mode, placed so that their beams crossed close to a 3D sonic anemometer. The goal is to compare lidar volume averaged wind measurement with point measurement reference sensors and to demonstrate the feasibility of performing 3D turbulence measurements with lidars. The results show a very good correlation between the lidar and the sonic times series. The variance of the velocity measured by the lidar is attenuated due to spatial filtering, and the amount of attenuation can be predicted theoretically

Lidar-based estimates of aboveground biomass in the continental US and Mexico using ground, airborne, and satellite observations

Science.gov (United States)

Ross Nelson; Hank Margolis; Paul Montesano; Guoqing Sun; Bruce Cook; Larry Corp; Hans-Erik Andersen; Ben deJong; Fernando Paz Pellat; Thaddeus Fickel; Jobriath Kauffman; Stephen Prisley

2017-01-01

Existing national forest inventory plots, an airborne lidar scanning (ALS) system, and a space profiling lidar system (ICESat-GLAS) are used to generate circa 2005 estimates of total aboveground dry biomass (AGB) in forest strata, by state, in the continental United States (CONUS) and Mexico. The airborne lidar is used to link ground observations of AGB to space lidar...

Statistical properties of mean stand biomass estimators in a LIDAR-based double sampling forest survey design.

Science.gov (United States)

H.E. Anderson; J. Breidenbach

2007-01-01

Airborne laser scanning (LIDAR) can be a valuable tool in double-sampling forest survey designs. LIDAR-derived forest structure metrics are often highly correlated with important forest inventory variables, such as mean stand biomass, and LIDAR-based synthetic regression estimators have the potential to be highly efficient compared to single-stage estimators, which...

A time-space synchronization of coherent Doppler scanning lidars for 3D measurements of wind fields

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vasiljevic, Nikola

initiates the laser pulse emission and acquisition of the backscattered light, while the two servo motors conduct the scanner head rotation that provides means to direct the laser pulses into the atmosphere. By controlling the rotation of the three motors from the motion controller the strict......-dimensional flow field by emitting the laser beams from the three spatially separated lidars, directing them to intersect, and moving the beam intersection over an area of interest. Each individual lidar was engineered to be powered by two real servo motors, and one virtual stepper motor. The stepper motor...... synchronization and time control of the emission, steering and acquisition were achieved, resulting that the complete lidar measurement process is controlled from the single hardware component. The system was formed using a novel approach, in which the master computer simultaneously coordinates the remote lidars...

Imaging doppler lidar for wind turbine wake profiling

Science.gov (United States)

Bossert, David J.

2015-11-19

An imaging Doppler lidar (IDL) enables the measurement of the velocity distribution of a large volume, in parallel, and at high spatial resolution in the wake of a wind turbine. Because the IDL is non-scanning, it can be orders of magnitude faster than conventional coherent lidar approaches. Scattering can be obtained from naturally occurring aerosol particles. Furthermore, the wind velocity can be measured directly from Doppler shifts of the laser light, so the measurement can be accomplished at large standoff and at wide fields-of-view.

3D Scan of Ornamental Column (huabiao Using Terrestrial LiDAR and Hand-held Imager

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Zhang

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In ancient China, Huabiao was a type of ornamental column used to decorate important buildings. We carried out 3D scan of a Huabiao located in Peking University, China. This Huabiao was built no later than 1742. It is carved by white marble, 8 meters in height. Clouds and various postures of dragons are carved on its body. Two instruments were used to acquire the point cloud of this Huabiao, a terrestrial LiDAR (Riegl VZ-1000 and a hand-held imager (Mantis Vision F5. In this paper, the details of the experiment were described, including the differences between these two instruments, such as working principle, spatial resolution, accuracy, instrument dimension and working flow. The point clouds obtained respectively by these two instruments were compared, and the registered point cloud of Huabiao was also presented. These should be of interest and helpful for the research communities of archaeology and heritage.

All-Fiber Airborne Coherent Doppler Lidar to Measure Wind Profiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Jiqiao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available An all-fiber airborne pulsed coherent Doppler lidar (CDL prototype at 1.54μm is developed to measure wind profiles in the lower troposphere layer. The all-fiber single frequency pulsed laser is operated with pulse energy of 300μJ, pulse width of 400ns and pulse repetition rate of 10kHz. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest pulse energy of all-fiber eye-safe single frequency laser that is used in airborne coherent wind lidar. The telescope optical diameter of monostatic lidar is 100 mm. Velocity-Azimuth-Display (VAD scanning is implemented with 20 degrees elevation angle in 8 different azimuths. Real-time signal processing board is developed to acquire and process the heterodyne mixing signal with 10000 pulses spectra accumulated every second. Wind profiles are obtained every 20 seconds. Several experiments are implemented to evaluate the performance of the lidar. We have carried out airborne wind lidar experiments successfully, and the wind profiles are compared with aerological theodolite and ground based wind lidar. Wind speed standard error of less than 0.4m/s is shown between airborne wind lidar and balloon aerological theodolite.

Gluing for Raman lidar systems using the lamp mapping technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Monique; Venable, Demetrius; Whiteman, David N

2014-12-20

In the context of combined analog and photon counting (PC) data acquisition in a Lidar system, glue coefficients are defined as constants used for converting an analog signal into a virtual PC signal. The coefficients are typically calculated using Lidar profile data taken under clear, nighttime conditions since, in the presence of clouds or high solar background, it is difficult to obtain accurate glue coefficients from Lidar backscattered data. Here we introduce a new method in which we use the lamp mapping technique (LMT) to determine glue coefficients in a manner that does not require atmospheric profiles to be acquired and permits accurate glue coefficients to be calculated when adequate Lidar profile data are not available. The LMT involves scanning a halogen lamp over the aperture of a Lidar receiver telescope such that the optical efficiency of the entire detection system is characterized. The studies shown here involve two Raman lidar systems; the first from Howard University and the second from NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. The glue coefficients determined using the LMT and the Lidar backscattered method agreed within 1.2% for the water vapor channel and within 2.5% for the nitrogen channel for both Lidar systems. We believe this to be the first instance of the use of laboratory techniques for determining the glue coefficients for Lidar data analysis.

Augmented Reality Based Doppler Lidar Data Visualization: Promises and Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Cherukuru, N. W.; Calhoun, R.

2016-06-01

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology in which the enables the user to view virtual content as if it existed in real world. We are exploring the possibility of using this technology to view radial velocities or processed wind vectors from a Doppler wind lidar, thus giving the user an ability to see the wind in a literal sense. This approach could find possible applications in aviation safety, atmospheric data visualization as well as in weather education and public outreach. As a proof of concept, we used the lidar data from a recent field campaign and developed a smartphone application to view the lidar scan in augmented reality. In this paper, we give a brief methodology of this feasibility study, present the challenges and promises of using AR technology in conjunction with Doppler wind lidars.

Coaxial direct-detection lidar-system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2014-01-01

The invention relates to a coaxial direct-detection LIDAR system for measuring velocity, temperature and/or particulate density. The system comprises a laser source for emitting a laser light beam having a lasing center frequency along an emission path. The system further comprises an optical....... Finally, the system comprises a detector system arranged to receive the return signal from the optical delivery system, the detector system comprising a narrowband optical filter and a detector, the narrowband optical filter having a filter center frequency of a pass-band, wherein the center lasing...... frequency and/or the center filter frequency may be scanned. The invention further relates to an aircraft airspeed measurement device, and a wind turbine airspeed measurement device comprising the LIDAR system....

Comparison of Two Independent LIDAR-Based Pitch Control Designs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunne, F.; Schlipf, D.; Pao, L. Y.

2012-08-01

Two different lidar-based feedforward controllers have previously been designed for the NREL 5 MW wind turbine model under separate studies. Feedforward controller A uses a finite-impulse-response design, with 5 seconds of preview, and three rotating lidar measurements. Feedforward controller B uses a static-gain design, with the preview time defined by the pitch actuator dynamics, a simulation of a real nacelle-based scanning lidar system, and a lowpass filter defined by the lidar configuration. These controllers are now directly compared under the same lidar configuration, in terms of fatigue load reduction, rotor speed regulation, and power capture. The various differences in design choices are discussed and compared. We also compare frequency plots of individual pitch feedforward and collective pitch feedforward load reductions, and we see that individual pitch feedforward is effective mainly at the once-per-revolution and twice-per-revolution frequencies. We also explain how to determine the required preview time by breaking it down into separate parts, and we then compare it to the expected preview time available.

Extraction of Features from High-resolution 3D LiDaR Point-cloud Data

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, P.; Kreylos, O.; Hamann, B.; Kellogg, L. H.; Cowgill, E. S.; Yikilmaz, M. B.; Hering-Bertram, M.; Hagen, H.

2008-12-01

Airborne and tripod-based LiDaR scans are capable of producing new insight into geologic features by providing high-quality 3D measurements of the landscape. High-resolution LiDaR is a promising method for studying slip on faults, erosion, and other landscape-altering processes. LiDaR scans can produce up to several billion individual point returns associated with the reflection of a laser from natural and engineered surfaces; these point clouds are typically used to derive a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM). Currently, there exist only few methods that can support the analysis of the data at full resolution and in the natural 3D perspective in which it was collected by working directly with the points. We are developing new algorithms for extracting features from LiDaR scans, and present method for determining the local curvature of a LiDaR data set, working directly with the individual point returns of a scan. Computing the curvature enables us to rapidly and automatically identify key features such as ridge-lines, stream beds, and edges of terraces. We fit polynomial surface patches via a moving least squares (MLS) approach to local point neighborhoods, determining curvature values for each point. The size of the local point neighborhood is defined by a user. Since both terrestrial and airborne LiDaR scans suffer from high noise, we apply additional pre- and post-processing smoothing steps to eliminate unwanted features. LiDaR data also captures objects like buildings and trees complicating greatly the task of extracting reliable curvature values. Hence, we use a stochastic approach to determine whether a point can be reliably used to estimate curvature or not. Additionally, we have developed a graph-based approach to establish connectivities among points that correspond to regions of high curvature. The result is an explicit description of ridge-lines, for example. We have applied our method to the raw point cloud data collected as part of the Geo

INS/GPS/LiDAR Integrated Navigation System for Urban and Indoor Environments Using Hybrid Scan Matching Algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Yanbin; Liu, Shifei; Atia, Mohamed M; Noureldin, Aboelmagd

2015-09-15

This paper takes advantage of the complementary characteristics of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to provide periodic corrections to Inertial Navigation System (INS) alternatively in different environmental conditions. In open sky, where GPS signals are available and LiDAR measurements are sparse, GPS is integrated with INS. Meanwhile, in confined outdoor environments and indoors, where GPS is unreliable or unavailable and LiDAR measurements are rich, LiDAR replaces GPS to integrate with INS. This paper also proposes an innovative hybrid scan matching algorithm that combines the feature-based scan matching method and Iterative Closest Point (ICP) based scan matching method. The algorithm can work and transit between two modes depending on the number of matched line features over two scans, thus achieving efficiency and robustness concurrently. Two integration schemes of INS and LiDAR with hybrid scan matching algorithm are implemented and compared. Real experiments are performed on an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) for both outdoor and indoor environments. Experimental results show that the multi-sensor integrated system can remain sub-meter navigation accuracy during the whole trajectory.

Measurement of the Flow Over Two Parallel Mountain Ridges in the Nighttime Stable Boundary Layer With Scanning Lidar Systems at the Perdigão 2017 Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Wildmann, N.; Kigle, S.; Gerz, T.; Bell, T.; Klein, P. M.

2017-12-01

For onshore wind energy production, the highest wind potential is often found on exposed spots like hilltops, mountain ridges or escarpments with heterogeneous land cover. The understanding of the flow field in such complex terrain in the relevant heights where wind power is generated is an ongoing field of research. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) contributed to the NEWA (New European Wind Atlas) experiment in the province of Perdigão (Portugal) with three long-range Doppler wind lidar of type Leosphere Windcube-200S from May to June 2017. In the experiment, a single wind energy converter (WEC) of type Enercon E82 is situated on a forested mountain ridge. In main wind direction, which is from South-West and almost perpendicular to the ridge, a valley and then a second mountain ridge in a distance of approximately 1.4 km follow. Two of the DLR lidar instruments are placed downstream and in line with the main wind direction and the WEC. One of these instruments is placed in the valley, and the other one on the distant mountain ridge. This line-up allows coplanar scanning of the flow in the valley and over the ridge tops and thus the determination of horizontal and vertical wind components. The third DLR system, placed on the WEC ridge, and an additional scanning lidar from the University of Oklahoma, placed in the valley, are used to determine the cross-wind component of the flow. Regular flow features that were observed with this lidar setup in the six weeks of the intensive operation period are jet-like layers of high wind speeds that occur during the night from a North-Easterly direction. These jets are found to have wind speeds up to 13 m s-1 and are very variable with regards to their maximum speed, height and broadness. Depending on the Froude number of the flow, waves are forming over the two mountain ridges with either a stable wavelength that equals the mountain ridge distance, or more dynamic higher frequency oscillations. All of these flow features are

Lidar and airborne investigation of smoke plume characteristics: Kootenai Creek Fire case study

Science.gov (United States)

S. Urbanski; V. Kovalev; W. M. Hao; C. Wold; A. Petkov

2010-01-01

A ground-based scanning lidar was utilized with a set of airborne instruments to acquire measurements of smoke plume dynamics, smoke aerosol distribution and chemical composition in the vicinity of active wildfires in the western U.S. A new retrieval technique was used for processing lidar multiangle measurements. The technique determines the location of...

Assessing LiDAR elevation data for KDOT applications.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-01

LiDAR-based elevation surveys are a cost-effective means for mapping topography over large areas. LiDAR : surveys use an airplane-mounted or ground-based laser radar unit to scan terrain. Post-processing techniques are : applied to remove vegetation ...

High Performance Protein Sequence Database Scanning on the Cell Broadband Engine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrianto Wirawan

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The enormous growth of biological sequence databases has caused bioinformatics to be rapidly moving towards a data-intensive, computational science. As a result, the computational power needed by bioinformatics applications is growing rapidly as well. The recent emergence of low cost parallel multicore accelerator technologies has made it possible to reduce execution times of many bioinformatics applications. In this paper, we demonstrate how the Cell Broadband Engine can be used as a computational platform to accelerate two approaches for protein sequence database scanning: exhaustive and heuristic. We present efficient parallelization techniques for two representative algorithms: the dynamic programming based Smith–Waterman algorithm and the popular BLASTP heuristic. Their implementation on a Playstation®3 leads to significant runtime savings compared to corresponding sequential implementations.

Typical Applications of Airborne LIDAR Technolagy in Geological Investigation

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, X.; Xiao, C.

2018-05-01

The technology of airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), also referred to as Airborne Laser Scanning, is widely used for high-resolution topographic data acquisition (even under forest cover) with sub-meter planimetric and vertical accuracy. This contribution constructs the real digital terrain model to provide the direct observation data for the landscape analysis in geological domains. Based on the advantage of LiDAR, the authors mainly deal with the applications of LiDAR data to such fields as surface land collapse, landslide and fault structure extraction. The review conclusion shows that airborne LiDAR technology is becoming an indispensable tool for above mentioned issues, especially in the local and large scale investigations of micro-topography. The technology not only can identify the surface collapse, landslide boundary and subtle faulted landform, but also be able to extract the filling parameters of collapsed surface, the geomorphic parameters of landslide stability evaluation and cracks. This technology has extensive prospect of applications in geological investigation.

TYPICAL APPLICATIONS OF AIRBORNE LIDAR TECHNOLAGY IN GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

X. Zheng

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The technology of airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR, also referred to as Airborne Laser Scanning, is widely used for high-resolution topographic data acquisition (even under forest cover with sub-meter planimetric and vertical accuracy. This contribution constructs the real digital terrain model to provide the direct observation data for the landscape analysis in geological domains. Based on the advantage of LiDAR, the authors mainly deal with the applications of LiDAR data to such fields as surface land collapse, landslide and fault structure extraction. The review conclusion shows that airborne LiDAR technology is becoming an indispensable tool for above mentioned issues, especially in the local and large scale investigations of micro-topography. The technology not only can identify the surface collapse, landslide boundary and subtle faulted landform, but also be able to extract the filling parameters of collapsed surface, the geomorphic parameters of landslide stability evaluation and cracks. This technology has extensive prospect of applications in geological investigation.

Mapping Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Pools in Boreal Forests: The Case for Airborne Lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Kristensen, Terje; Næsset, Erik; Ohlson, Mikael; Bolstad, Paul V; Kolka, Randall

2015-01-01

A large and growing body of evidence has demonstrated that airborne scanning light detection and ranging (lidar) systems can be an effective tool in measuring and monitoring above-ground forest tree biomass. However, the potential of lidar as an all-round tool for assisting in assessment of carbon (C) stocks in soil and non-tree vegetation components of the forest ecosystem has been given much less attention. Here we combine the use airborne small footprint scanning lidar with fine-scale spatial C data relating to vegetation and the soil surface to describe and contrast the size and spatial distribution of C pools within and among multilayered Norway spruce (Picea abies) stands. Predictor variables from lidar derived metrics delivered precise models of above- and below-ground tree C, which comprised the largest C pool in our study stands. We also found evidence that lidar canopy data correlated well with the variation in field layer C stock, consisting mainly of ericaceous dwarf shrubs and herbaceous plants. However, lidar metrics derived directly from understory echoes did not yield significant models. Furthermore, our results indicate that the variation in both the mosses and soil organic layer C stock plots appears less influenced by differences in stand structure properties than topographical gradients. By using topographical models from lidar ground returns we were able to establish a strong correlation between lidar data and the organic layer C stock at a stand level. Increasing the topographical resolution from plot averages (~2000 m2) towards individual grid cells (1 m2) did not yield consistent models. Our study demonstrates a connection between the size and distribution of different forest C pools and models derived from airborne lidar data, providing a foundation for future research concerning the use of lidar for assessing and monitoring boreal forest C.

Accuracy assessment of a mobile terrestrial lidar survey at Padre Island National Seashore

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Samsung; Thatcher, Cindy A.; Brock, John C.; Kimbrow, Dustin R.; Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Reynolds, B.J.

2013-01-01

The higher point density and mobility of terrestrial laser scanning (light detection and ranging (lidar)) is desired when extremely detailed elevation data are needed for mapping vertically orientated complex features such as levees, dunes, and cliffs, or when highly accurate data are needed for monitoring geomorphic changes. Mobile terrestrial lidar scanners have the capability for rapid data collection on a larger spatial scale compared with tripod-based terrestrial lidar, but few studies have examined the accuracy of this relatively new mapping technology. For this reason, we conducted a field test at Padre Island National Seashore of a mobile lidar scanner mounted on a sport utility vehicle and integrated with a position and orientation system. The purpose of the study was to assess the vertical and horizontal accuracy of data collected by the mobile terrestrial lidar system, which is georeferenced to the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system and the North American Vertical Datum of 1988. To accomplish the study objectives, independent elevation data were collected by conducting a high-accuracy global positioning system survey to establish the coordinates and elevations of 12 targets spaced throughout the 12 km transect. These independent ground control data were compared to the lidar scanner-derived elevations to quantify the accuracy of the mobile lidar system. The performance of the mobile lidar system was also tested at various vehicle speeds and scan density settings (e.g. field of view and linear point spacing) to estimate the optimal parameters for desired point density. After adjustment of the lever arm parameters, the final point cloud accuracy was 0.060 m (east), 0.095 m (north), and 0.053 m (height). The very high density of the resulting point cloud was sufficient to map fine-scale topographic features, such as the complex shape of the sand dunes.

UV Lidar Receiver Analysis for Tropospheric Sensing of Ozone

Science.gov (United States)

Pliutau, Denis; DeYoung, Russell J.

2013-01-01

A simulation of a ground based Ultra-Violet Differential Absorption Lidar (UV-DIAL) receiver system was performed under realistic daytime conditions to understand how range and lidar performance can be improved for a given UV pulse laser energy. Calculations were also performed for an aerosol channel transmitting at 3 W. The lidar receiver simulation studies were optimized for the purpose of tropospheric ozone measurements. The transmitted lidar UV measurements were from 285 to 295 nm and the aerosol channel was 527-nm. The calculations are based on atmospheric transmission given by the HITRAN database and the Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) meteorological data. The aerosol attenuation is estimated using both the BACKSCAT 4.0 code as well as data collected during the CALIPSO mission. The lidar performance is estimated for both diffuseirradiance free cases corresponding to nighttime operation as well as the daytime diffuse scattered radiation component based on previously reported experimental data. This analysis presets calculations of the UV-DIAL receiver ozone and aerosol measurement range as a function of sky irradiance, filter bandwidth and laser transmitted UV and 527-nm energy

Integrated remote sensing and visualization (IRSV) system for transportation infrastructure operations and management, phase two, volume 3 : advanced consideration in LiDAR technology for bridge evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-01

This report describes Phase Two enhancement of terrestrial LiDAR scanning for bridge damage : evaluation that was initially developed in Phase One. Considering the spatial and reflectivity : information contained in LiDAR scans, two detection algorit...

High-integrity databases for helicopter operations

Science.gov (United States)

Pschierer, Christian; Schiefele, Jens; Lüthy, Juerg

2009-05-01

Helicopter Emergency Medical Service missions (HEMS) impose a high workload on pilots due to short preparation time, operations in low level flight, and landings in unknown areas. The research project PILAS, a cooperation between Eurocopter, Diehl Avionics, DLR, EADS, Euro Telematik, ESG, Jeppesen, the Universities of Darmstadt and Munich, and funded by the German government, approached this problem by researching a pilot assistance system which supports the pilots during all phases of flight. The databases required for the specified helicopter missions include different types of topological and cultural data for graphical display on the SVS system, AMDB data for operations at airports and helipads, and navigation data for IFR segments. The most critical databases for the PILAS system however are highly accurate terrain and obstacle data. While RTCA DO-276 specifies high accuracies and integrities only for the areas around airports, HEMS helicopters typically operate outside of these controlled areas and thus require highly reliable terrain and obstacle data for their designated response areas. This data has been generated by a LIDAR scan of the specified test region. Obstacles have been extracted into a vector format. This paper includes a short overview of the complete PILAS system and then focus on the generation of the required high quality databases.

Complex terrain and wind lidars

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bingoel, F.

2009-08-15

This thesis includes the results of a PhD study about complex terrain and wind lidars. The study mostly focuses on hilly and forested areas. Lidars have been used in combination with cups, sonics and vanes, to reach the desired vertical measurement heights. Several experiments are performed in complex terrain sites and the measurements are compared with two different flow models; a linearised flow model LINCOM and specialised forest model SCADIS. In respect to the lidar performance in complex terrain, the results showed that horizontal wind speed errors measured by a conically scanning lidar can be of the order of 3-4% in moderately-complex terrain and up to 10% in complex terrain. The findings were based on experiments involving collocated lidars and meteorological masts, together with flow calculations over the same terrains. The lidar performance was also simulated with the commercial software WAsP Engineering 2.0 and was well predicted except for some sectors where the terrain is particularly steep. Subsequently, two experiments were performed in forested areas; where the measurements are recorded at a location deep-in forest and at the forest edge. Both sites were modelled with flow models and the comparison of the measurement data with the flow model outputs showed that the mean wind speed calculated by LINCOM model was only reliable between 1 and 2 tree height (h) above canopy. The SCADIS model reported better correlation with the measurements in forest up to approx6h. At the forest edge, LINCOM model was used by allocating a slope half-in half out of the forest based on the suggestions of previous studies. The optimum slope angle was reported as 17 deg.. Thus, a suggestion was made to use WAsP Engineering 2.0 for forest edge modelling with known limitations and the applied method. The SCADIS model worked better than the LINCOM model at the forest edge but the model reported closer results to the measurements at upwind than the downwind and this should be

Mitigating Uncertainty from Vegetation Spatial Complexity with Highly Portable Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Paynter, I.; Schaaf, C.; Peri, F.; Saenz, E. J.; Genest, D.; Strahler, A. H.; Li, Z.

2015-12-01

To fully utilize the excellent spatial coverage and temporal resolution offered by satellite resources for estimating ecological variables, fine-scale observations are required for comparison, calibration and validation. Lidar instruments have proved effective in estimating the properties of vegetation components of ecosystems, but they are often challenged by occlusion, especially in structurally complex and spatially fragmented ecosystems such as tropical forests. Increasing the range of view angles, both horizontally and vertically, by increasing the number of scans, can mitigate occlusion. However these scans must occur within the window of temporal stability for the ecosystem and vegetation property being measured. The Compact Biomass Lidar (CBL) is a TLS optimized for portability and scanning speed, developed and operated by University of Massachusetts Boston. This 905nm wavelength scanner achieves an angular resolution of 0.25 degrees at a rate of 33 seconds per scan. The ability to acquire many scans within narrow windows of temporal stability for ecological variables has facilitated the more complete investigation of ecosystem structural characteristics, and their expression as a function of view angle. The lightweight CBL has facilitated the use of alternative deployment platforms including towers, trams and masts, allowing analysis of the vertical structure of ecosystems, even in highly enclosed environments such as the sub-canopy of tropical forests where aerial vehicles cannot currently operate. We will present results from view angle analyses of lidar surveys of tropical rainforest in La Selva, Costa Rica where the CBL was deployed at heights up to 10m in Carbono long-term research plots utilizing a portable mast, and on a 25m stationary tower; and temperate forest at Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, USA, where the CBL has been deployed biannually at long-term research plots of hardwood and hemlock, as well as at heights of up to 25m utilizing a

In-Field High-Throughput Phenotyping of Cotton Plant Height Using LiDAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shangpeng Sun

2017-04-01

Full Text Available A LiDAR-based high-throughput phenotyping (HTP system was developed for cotton plant phenotyping in the field. The HTP system consists of a 2D LiDAR and an RTK-GPS mounted on a high clearance tractor. The LiDAR scanned three rows of cotton plots simultaneously from the top and the RTK-GPS was used to provide the spatial coordinates of the point cloud during data collection. Configuration parameters of the system were optimized to ensure the best data quality. A height profile for each plot was extracted from the dense three dimensional point clouds; then the maximum height and height distribution of each plot were derived. In lab tests, single plants were scanned by LiDAR using 0.5° angular resolution and results showed an R2 value of 1.00 (RMSE = 3.46 mm in comparison to manual measurements. In field tests using the same angular resolution; the LiDAR-based HTP system achieved average R2 values of 0.98 (RMSE = 65 mm for cotton plot height estimation; compared to manual measurements. This HTP system is particularly useful for large field application because it provides highly accurate measurements; and the efficiency is greatly improved compared to similar studies using the side view scan.

Application of short-range dual-Doppler lidars to evaluate the coherence of turbulence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cheynet, Etienne; Jakobsen, Jasna Bogunović; Snæbjörnsson, Jónas

2016-01-01

Two synchronized continuous wave scanning lidars are used to study the coherence of the along-wind and across-wind velocity components. The goal is to evaluate the potential of the lidar technology for application in wind engineering. The wind lidars were installed on the Lysefjord Bridge during...... four days in May 2014 to monitor the wind field in the horizontal plane upstream of the bridge deck. Wind records obtained by five sonic anemometers mounted on the West side of the bridge are used as reference data. Single- and two-point statistics of wind turbulence are studied, with special emphasis...

Comparing RIEGL RiCOPTER UAV LiDAR Derived Canopy Height and DBH with Terrestrial LiDAR.

Science.gov (United States)

Brede, Benjamin; Lau, Alvaro; Bartholomeus, Harm M; Kooistra, Lammert

2017-10-17

In recent years, LIght Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) and especially Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) systems have shown the potential to revolutionise forest structural characterisation by providing unprecedented 3D data. However, manned Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) requires costly campaigns and produces relatively low point density, while TLS is labour intense and time demanding. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-borne laser scanning can be the way in between. In this study, we present first results and experiences with the RIEGL RiCOPTER with VUX ® -1UAV ALS system and compare it with the well tested RIEGL VZ-400 TLS system. We scanned the same forest plots with both systems over the course of two days. We derived Digital Terrain Model (DTMs), Digital Surface Model (DSMs) and finally Canopy Height Model (CHMs) from the resulting point clouds. ALS CHMs were on average 11.5 c m higher in five plots with different canopy conditions. This showed that TLS could not always detect the top of canopy. Moreover, we extracted trunk segments of 58 trees for ALS and TLS simultaneously, of which 39 could be used to model Diameter at Breast Height (DBH). ALS DBH showed a high agreement with TLS DBH with a correlation coefficient of 0.98 and root mean square error of 4.24 c m . We conclude that RiCOPTER has the potential to perform comparable to TLS for estimating forest canopy height and DBH under the studied forest conditions. Further research should be directed to testing UAV-borne LiDAR for explicit 3D modelling of whole trees to estimate tree volume and subsequently Above-Ground Biomass (AGB).

Evaluation of turbulence measurement techniques from a single Doppler lidar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. A. Bonin

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Measurements of turbulence are essential to understand and quantify the transport and dispersal of heat, moisture, momentum, and trace gases within the planetary boundary layer (PBL. Through the years, various techniques to measure turbulence using Doppler lidar observations have been proposed. However, the accuracy of these measurements has rarely been validated against trusted in situ instrumentation. Herein, data from the eXperimental Planetary boundary layer Instrumentation Assessment (XPIA are used to verify Doppler lidar turbulence profiles through comparison with sonic anemometer measurements. For 17 days at the end of the experiment, a single scanning Doppler lidar continuously cycled through different turbulence measurement strategies: velocity–azimuth display (VAD, six-beam scans, and range–height indicators (RHIs with a vertical stare.Measurements of turbulence kinetic energy (TKE, turbulence intensity, and stress velocity from these techniques are compared with sonic anemometer measurements at six heights on a 300 m tower. The six-beam technique is found to generally measure turbulence kinetic energy and turbulence intensity the most accurately at all heights (r2  ≈  0.78, showing little bias in its observations (slope of  ≈  0. 95. Turbulence measurements from the velocity–azimuth display method tended to be biased low near the surface, as large eddies were not captured by the scan. None of the methods evaluated were able to consistently accurately measure the shear velocity (r2 =  0.15–0.17. Each of the scanning strategies assessed had its own strengths and limitations that need to be considered when selecting the method used in future experiments.

Hydrographic & Topographic LIDAR Acquisition, Northwest Coast, Washington State - Bathymetric Survey Data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — These data were collected by the SHOALS-1000T(Scanning Hydrographic Operational Airborne Lidar Survey)system which consists of an airborne laser transmitter/receiver...

Lidar system for air-pollution monitoring over urban areas

Science.gov (United States)

Moskalenko, Irina V.; Shcheglov, Djolinard A.; Molodtsov, Nikolai A.

1997-05-01

The atmospheric environmental situation over the urban area of a large city is determined by a complex combination of anthropogenic pollution and meteorological factors. The efficient way to provide three-dimensional mapping of gaseous pollutants over wide areas is utilization of lidar systems employing tunable narrowband transmitters. The paper presented describes activity of RRC 'Kurchatov Institute' in the field of lidar atmospheric monitoring. The project 'mobile remote sensing system based on tunable laser transmitter for environmental monitoring' is developed under financial support of International Scientific and Technology Center (Moscow). The objective of the project is design, construction and field testing of a DIAL-technique system. The lidar transmitter consists of an excimer laser pumping dye laser, BBO crystal frequency doubler, and scanning flat mirror. Sulfur dioxide and atomic mercury have been selected as pollutants for field tests of the lidar system under development. A recent large increase in Moscow traffic stimulated taking into consideration also the remote sensing of lower troposphere ozone because of the photochemical smog problem. The status of the project is briefly discussed. The current activity includes also collecting of environmental data relevant to lidar remote sensing. Main attention is paid to pollutant concentration levels over Moscow city and Moscow district areas.

LiDAR Vegetation Investigation and Signature Analysis System (LVISA)

Science.gov (United States)

Höfle, Bernhard; Koenig, Kristina; Griesbaum, Luisa; Kiefer, Andreas; Hämmerle, Martin; Eitel, Jan; Koma, Zsófia

2015-04-01

Our physical environment undergoes constant changes in space and time with strongly varying triggers, frequencies, and magnitudes. Monitoring these environmental changes is crucial to improve our scientific understanding of complex human-environmental interactions and helps us to respond to environmental change by adaptation or mitigation. The three-dimensional (3D) description of the Earth surface features and the detailed monitoring of surface processes using 3D spatial data have gained increasing attention within the last decades, such as in climate change research (e.g., glacier retreat), carbon sequestration (e.g., forest biomass monitoring), precision agriculture and natural hazard management. In all those areas, 3D data have helped to improve our process understanding by allowing quantifying the structural properties of earth surface features and their changes over time. This advancement has been fostered by technological developments and increased availability of 3D sensing systems. In particular, LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, also referred to as laser scanning, has made significant progress and has evolved into an operational tool in environmental research and geosciences. The main result of LiDAR measurements is a highly spatially resolved 3D point cloud. Each point within the LiDAR point cloud has a XYZ coordinate associated with it and often additional information such as the strength of the returned backscatter. The point cloud provided by LiDAR contains rich geospatial, structural, and potentially biochemical information about the surveyed objects. To deal with the inherently unorganized datasets and the large data volume (frequently millions of XYZ coordinates) of LiDAR datasets, a multitude of algorithms for automatic 3D object detection (e.g., of single trees) and physical surface description (e.g., biomass) have been developed. However, so far the exchange of datasets and approaches (i.e., extraction algorithms) among LiDAR users

Laser scanning of a recirculation zone on the Bolund escarpment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mann, Jakob; Angelou, Nikolas; Sjöholm, Mikael

2014-01-01

Rapid variations in the height of the recirculation zone are measured with a scanning wind lidar over a small escarpment on the Bolund Peninsula. The lidar is essentially a continuous-wave laser Doppler anemometer with the capability of rapidly changing the focus distance and the beam direction....... The instrument measures the line-of-sight velocity 390 times per second and scans ten wind profiles from the ground up to seven meters per second. We observe a sharp interface between slow and fast moving fluid after the escarpment, and the interface is moving rapidly up and down. This implies that the position...

Atmospheric aerosol and gas sensing using Scheimpflug lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Mei, Liang; Brydegaard, Mikkel

2015-04-01

This work presents a new lidar technique for atmospheric remote sensing based on Scheimpflug principle, which describes the relationship between nonparallel image- and object-planes[1]. When a laser beam is transmitted into the atmosphere, the implication is that the backscattering echo of the entire illuminated probe volume can be in focus simultaneously without diminishing the aperture. The range-resolved backscattering echo can be retrieved by using a tilted line scan or two-dimensional CCD/CMOS camera. Rather than employing nanosecond-pulsed lasers, cascade detectors, and MHz signal sampling, all of high cost and complexity, we have developed a robust and inexpensive atmospheric lidar system based on compact laser diodes and array detectors. We present initial applications of the Scheimpflug lidar for atmospheric aerosol monitoring in bright sunlight, with a 3 W, 808 nm CW laser diode. Kilohertz sampling rates are also achieved with applications for wind speed and entomology [2]. Further, a proof-of-principle demonstration of differential absorption lidar (DIAL) based on the Scheimpflug lidar technique is presented [3]. By utilizing a 30 mW narrow band CW laser diode emitting at around 760 nm, the detailed shape of an oxygen absorption line can be resolved remotely with an integration time of 6 s and measurement cycle of 1 minute during night time. The promising results demonstrated in this work show potential for the Scheimpflug lidar technique for remote atmospheric aerosol and gas sensing, and renews hope for robust and realistic instrumentation for atmospheric lidar sensing. [1] F. Blais, "Review of 20 years of range sensor development," Journal of Electronic Imaging, vol. 13, pp. 231-243, Jan 2004. [2] M. Brydegaard, A. Gebru, and S. Svanberg, "Super resolution laser radar with blinking atmospheric particles - application to interacting flying insects " Progress In Electromagnetics Research, vol. 147, pp. 141-151, 2014. [3] L. Mei and M. Brydegaard

4D Near Real-Time Environmental Monitoring Using Highly Temporal LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Höfle, Bernhard; Canli, Ekrem; Schmitz, Evelyn; Crommelinck, Sophie; Hoffmeister, Dirk; Glade, Thomas

2016-04-01

The last decade has witnessed extensive applications of 3D environmental monitoring with the LiDAR technology, also referred to as laser scanning. Although several automatic methods were developed to extract environmental parameters from LiDAR point clouds, only little research has focused on highly multitemporal near real-time LiDAR (4D-LiDAR) for environmental monitoring. Large potential of applying 4D-LiDAR is given for landscape objects with high and varying rates of change (e.g. plant growth) and also for phenomena with sudden unpredictable changes (e.g. geomorphological processes). In this presentation we will report on the most recent findings of the research projects 4DEMON (http://uni-heidelberg.de/4demon) and NoeSLIDE (https://geomorph.univie.ac.at/forschung/projekte/aktuell/noeslide/). The method development in both projects is based on two real-world use cases: i) Surface parameter derivation of agricultural crops (e.g. crop height) and ii) change detection of landslides. Both projects exploit the "full history" contained in the LiDAR point cloud time series. One crucial initial step of 4D-LiDAR analysis is the co-registration over time, 3D-georeferencing and time-dependent quality assessment of the LiDAR point cloud time series. Due to the high amount of datasets (e.g. one full LiDAR scan per day), the procedure needs to be performed fully automatically. Furthermore, the online near real-time 4D monitoring system requires to set triggers that can detect removal or moving of tie reflectors (used for co-registration) or the scanner itself. This guarantees long-term data acquisition with high quality. We will present results from a georeferencing experiment for 4D-LiDAR monitoring, which performs benchmarking of co-registration, 3D-georeferencing and also fully automatic detection of events (e.g. removal/moving of reflectors or scanner). Secondly, we will show our empirical findings of an ongoing permanent LiDAR observation of a landslide (Gresten

Novel Methods for Measuring LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Ayrey, E.; Hayes, D. J.; Fraver, S.; Weiskittel, A.; Cook, B.; Kershaw, J.

2017-12-01

The estimation of forest biometrics from airborne LiDAR data has become invaluable for quantifying forest carbon stocks, forest and wildlife ecology research, and sustainable forest management. The area-based approach is arguably the most common method for developing enhanced forest inventories from LiDAR. It involves taking a series of vertical height measurements of the point cloud, then using those measurements with field measured data to develop predictive models. Unfortunately, there is considerable variation in methodology for collecting point cloud data, which can vary in pulse density, seasonality, canopy penetrability, and instrument specifications. Today there exists a wealth of public LiDAR data, however the variation in acquisition parameters makes forest inventory prediction by traditional means unreliable across the different datasets. The goal of this project is to test a series of novel point cloud measurements developed along a conceptual spectrum of human interpretability, and then to use the best measurements to develop regional enhanced forest inventories on Northern New England's and Atlantic Canada's public LiDAR. Similarly to a field-based inventory, individual tree crowns are being segmented, and summary statistics are being used as covariates. Established competition and structural indices are being generated using each tree's relationship to one another, whilst existing allometric equations are being used to estimate diameter and biomass of each tree measured in the LiDAR. Novel metrics measuring light interception, clusteredness, and rugosity are also being measured as predictors. On the other end of the human interpretability spectrum, convolutional neural networks are being employed to directly measure both the canopy height model, and the point clouds by scanning each using two and three dimensional kernals trained to identify features useful for predicting biological attributes such as biomass. Predictive models will be trained and

Spatial and optical parameters of contrails in the vortex and dispersion regime determined by means of a ground-based scanning lidar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Freudenthaler, V; Homburg, F; Jaeger, H [Fraunhofer-Inst. fuer Atmosphaerische Umweltforschung (IFU), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany)

1998-12-31

The spatial growth of individual condensation trails (contrails) of commercial aircrafts in the time range from 15 s to 60 min behind the aircraft is investigated by means of a ground-based scanning backscatter lidar. The growth in width is mainly governed by wind shear and varies between 18 m/min and 140 m/min. The growth of the cross-section varies between 3500 m{sup 2}/min and 25000 m{sup 2}/min. These values are in agreement with results of model calculations and former field measurements. The vertical growth is often limited by boundaries of the humid layer at flight level, but values up to 18 m/min were observed. Optical parameters like depolarization, optical depth and lidar ratio, i.e. the extinction-to-backscatter ratio, have been retrieved from the measurements at a wavelength of 532 nm. The linear depolarization rises from values as low as 0.06 for a young contrail (10 s old) to values around 0.5, typical for aged contrails. The latter indicates the transition from non-crystalline to crystalline particles in persistent contrails within a few minutes. The scatter of depolarization values measured in individual contrails is narrow, independent of the contrails age, and suggests a rather uniform growth of the particles inside a contrail. (author) 18 refs.

Spatial and optical parameters of contrails in the vortex and dispersion regime determined by means of a ground-based scanning lidar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Freudenthaler, V.; Homburg, F.; Jaeger, H. [Fraunhofer-Inst. fuer Atmosphaerische Umweltforschung (IFU), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany)

1997-12-31

The spatial growth of individual condensation trails (contrails) of commercial aircrafts in the time range from 15 s to 60 min behind the aircraft is investigated by means of a ground-based scanning backscatter lidar. The growth in width is mainly governed by wind shear and varies between 18 m/min and 140 m/min. The growth of the cross-section varies between 3500 m{sup 2}/min and 25000 m{sup 2}/min. These values are in agreement with results of model calculations and former field measurements. The vertical growth is often limited by boundaries of the humid layer at flight level, but values up to 18 m/min were observed. Optical parameters like depolarization, optical depth and lidar ratio, i.e. the extinction-to-backscatter ratio, have been retrieved from the measurements at a wavelength of 532 nm. The linear depolarization rises from values as low as 0.06 for a young contrail (10 s old) to values around 0.5, typical for aged contrails. The latter indicates the transition from non-crystalline to crystalline particles in persistent contrails within a few minutes. The scatter of depolarization values measured in individual contrails is narrow, independent of the contrails age, and suggests a rather uniform growth of the particles inside a contrail. (author) 18 refs.

Measurement of Spray Drift with a Specifically Designed Lidar System.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregorio, Eduard; Torrent, Xavier; Planas de Martí, Santiago; Solanelles, Francesc; Sanz, Ricardo; Rocadenbosch, Francesc; Masip, Joan; Ribes-Dasi, Manel; Rosell-Polo, Joan R

2016-04-08

Field measurements of spray drift are usually carried out by passive collectors and tracers. However, these methods are labour- and time-intensive and only provide point- and time-integrated measurements. Unlike these methods, the light detection and ranging (lidar) technique allows real-time measurements, obtaining information with temporal and spatial resolution. Recently, the authors have developed the first eye-safe lidar system specifically designed for spray drift monitoring. This prototype is based on a 1534 nm erbium-doped glass laser and an 80 mm diameter telescope, has scanning capability, and is easily transportable. This paper presents the results of the first experimental campaign carried out with this instrument. High coefficients of determination (R² > 0.85) were observed by comparing lidar measurements of the spray drift with those obtained by horizontal collectors. Furthermore, the lidar system allowed an assessment of the drift reduction potential (DRP) when comparing low-drift nozzles with standard ones, resulting in a DRP of 57% (preliminary result) for the tested nozzles. The lidar system was also used for monitoring the evolution of the spray flux over the canopy and to generate 2-D images of these plumes. The developed instrument is an advantageous alternative to passive collectors and opens the possibility of new methods for field measurement of spray drift.

APPLICABILITY ANALYSIS OF CLOTH SIMULATION FILTERING ALGORITHM FOR MOBILE LIDAR POINT CLOUD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Cai

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Classifying the original point clouds into ground and non-ground points is a key step in LiDAR (light detection and ranging data post-processing. Cloth simulation filtering (CSF algorithm, which based on a physical process, has been validated to be an accurate, automatic and easy-to-use algorithm for airborne LiDAR point cloud. As a new technique of three-dimensional data collection, the mobile laser scanning (MLS has been gradually applied in various fields, such as reconstruction of digital terrain models (DTM, 3D building modeling and forest inventory and management. Compared with airborne LiDAR point cloud, there are some different features (such as point density feature, distribution feature and complexity feature for mobile LiDAR point cloud. Some filtering algorithms for airborne LiDAR data were directly used in mobile LiDAR point cloud, but it did not give satisfactory results. In this paper, we explore the ability of the CSF algorithm for mobile LiDAR point cloud. Three samples with different shape of the terrain are selected to test the performance of this algorithm, which respectively yields total errors of 0.44 %, 0.77 % and1.20 %. Additionally, large area dataset is also tested to further validate the effectiveness of this algorithm, and results show that it can quickly and accurately separate point clouds into ground and non-ground points. In summary, this algorithm is efficient and reliable for mobile LiDAR point cloud.

Application of a Terrestrial LIDAR System for Elevation Mapping in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyoungsig Cho

2015-09-01

Full Text Available A terrestrial Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR system has high productivity and accuracy for topographic mapping, but the harsh conditions of Antarctica make LIDAR operation difficult. Low temperatures cause malfunctioning of the LIDAR system, and unpredictable strong winds can deteriorate data quality by irregularly shaking co-registration targets. For stable and efficient LIDAR operation in Antarctica, this study proposes and demonstrates the following practical solutions: (1 a lagging cover with a heating pack to maintain the temperature of the terrestrial LIDAR system; (2 co-registration using square planar targets and two-step point-merging methods based on extracted feature points and the Iterative Closest Point (ICP algorithm; and (3 a georeferencing module consisting of an artificial target and a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS receiver. The solutions were used to produce a topographic map for construction of the Jang Bogo Research Station in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. Co-registration and georeferencing precision reached 5 and 45 mm, respectively, and the accuracy of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM generated from the LIDAR scanning data was ±27.7 cm.

Application of a Terrestrial LIDAR System for Elevation Mapping in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica.

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Hyoungsig; Hong, Seunghwan; Kim, Sangmin; Park, Hyokeun; Park, Ilsuk; Sohn, Hong-Gyoo

2015-09-16

A terrestrial Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system has high productivity and accuracy for topographic mapping, but the harsh conditions of Antarctica make LIDAR operation difficult. Low temperatures cause malfunctioning of the LIDAR system, and unpredictable strong winds can deteriorate data quality by irregularly shaking co-registration targets. For stable and efficient LIDAR operation in Antarctica, this study proposes and demonstrates the following practical solutions: (1) a lagging cover with a heating pack to maintain the temperature of the terrestrial LIDAR system; (2) co-registration using square planar targets and two-step point-merging methods based on extracted feature points and the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm; and (3) a georeferencing module consisting of an artificial target and a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver. The solutions were used to produce a topographic map for construction of the Jang Bogo Research Station in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. Co-registration and georeferencing precision reached 5 and 45 mm, respectively, and the accuracy of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generated from the LIDAR scanning data was ±27.7 cm.

Doppler Lidar Wind Value-Added Product

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Newsom, R. K. [DOE ARM Climate Research Facility, Washington, DC (United States); Sivaraman, C. [DOE ARM Climate Research Facility, Washington, DC (United States); Shippert, T. R. [DOE ARM Climate Research Facility, Washington, DC (United States); Riihimaki, L. D. [DOE ARM Climate Research Facility, Washington, DC (United States)

2015-07-01

Wind speed and direction, together with pressure, temperature, and relative humidity, are the most fundamental atmospheric state parameters. Accurate measurement of these parameters is crucial for numerical weather prediction. Vertically resolved wind measurements in the atmospheric boundary layer are particularly important for modeling pollutant and aerosol transport. Raw data from a scanning coherent Doppler lidar system can be processed to generate accurate height-resolved measurements of wind speed and direction in the atmospheric boundary layer.

Lidar signal-to-noise ratio improvements: Considerations and techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Hassebo, Yasser Y.

minimize detected sky background noise while maintaining maximum lidar signal throughput. Measurements, carried at 532 nm, show as much as a factor of 10 improvement in SNR and the attainable lidar range up to 34% over conventional un-polarized schemes. For vertically pointing lidars, the largest improvements are limited to the early morning and late afternoon hours, while for lidars scanning azimuthally and in elevation at angles other than vertical, significant improvements are achievable over more extended time periods. Observed changes in SNR improvements were also related to relative humidity and modification of underlying aerosol microphysics. A second, distinct objective of this research was to utilize multiwavelength lidar techniques to separate plume and cloud particles. Choice of the study location and time for this work was driven mainly by the availability of satellite data collected by NASA INTEX-NA and NOAA NEAQS experiment over New York City on July 21, 2004 in support of MODIS imagery. The lidar results identify smoke plumes over New York City and validate the plume source origin location using NOAA-HYSPLIT back trajectory analysis. Surface measurements, at the time, from in-situ particle counters are presented and show no enhanced PM2.5 loading. This result is supported by lidar measurements, which confirm that nearly all of the aerosol plumes are located above the normal aerosol boundary layer showing that satellite measurements are often incomplete and are not sufficient for assessing surface air quality.

Inelastic hyperspectral lidar for aquatic ecosystems monitoring and landscape plant scanning test

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Guangyu; Malmqvist, Elin; Rydhmer, Klas; Strand, Alfred; Bianco, Giuseppe; Hansson, Lars-Anders; Svanberg, Sune; Brydegaard, Mikkel

2018-04-01

We have developed an aquatic inelastic hyperspectral lidar with unrestricted focal-depth and enough sensitivity and spatio-temporal resolution to detect and resolve position and behavior of individual sub-millimeter aquatic organisms. We demonstrate ranging with monitoring of elastic echoes, water Raman signals and fluorescence from chlorophyllbearing phytoplankton and dye tagged organisms. The system is based on a blue CW diode laser and a Scheimpflug optical arrangement.

Comparisons of Simultaneously Acquired Airborne Sfm Photogrammetry and Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, C. F.

2014-12-01

Digital elevation models (DEMs) created using images from a consumer DSLR camera are compared against simultaneously acquired LiDAR on a number of airborne mapping projects across Alaska, California and Utah. The aircraft used is a Cessna 180, and is equipped with the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute (UAF-GI) scanning airborne LiDAR system. This LiDAR is the same as described in Johnson et al, 2013, and is the principal instrument used for NASA's Operation IceBridge flights in Alaska. The system has been in extensive use since 2009, and is particularly well characterized with dozens of calibration flights and a careful program of boresight angle determination and monitoring. The UAF-GI LiDAR has a precision of +/- 8 cm and accuracy of +/- 15 cm. The photogrammetry DEM simultaneously acquired with the LiDAR relies on precise shutter timing using an event marker input to the IMU associated with the LiDAR system. The photo positions are derived from the fully coupled GPS/IMU processing, which samples at 100 Hz and is able to directly calculate the antenna to image plane offset displacements from the full orientation data. This use of the GPS/IMU solution means that both the LiDAR and Cessna 180 photogrammetry DEM share trajectory input data, however no orientation data nor ground control is used for the photorammetry processing. The photogrammetry DEMs are overlaid on the LiDAR point cloud and analyzed for horizontal shifts or warps relative to the LiDAR. No warping or horizontal shifts have been detectable for a number of photogrammetry DEMs. Vertical offsets range from +/- 30 cm, with a typical standard deviation about that mean of 10 cm or better. LiDAR and photogrammetry function inherently differently over trees and brush, and direct comparisons between the two methods show much larger differences over vegetated areas. Finally, the differences in flight patterns associated with the two methods will be discussed, highlighting the photogrammetry

Challenges in miniaturized automotive long-range lidar system design

Science.gov (United States)

Fersch, Thomas; Weigel, Robert; Koelpin, Alexander

2017-05-01

This paper discusses the current technical limitations posed on endeavors to miniaturize lidar systems for use in automotive applications and how to possibly extend those limits. The focus is set on long-range scanning direct time of flight LiDAR systems using APD photodetectors. Miniaturization evokes severe problems in ensuring absolute laser safety while maintaining the systems' performance in terms of maximum range, signal-to-noise ratio, detection probability, pixel density, or frame rate. Based on hypothetical but realistic specifications for an exemplary system the complete lidar signal path is calculated. The maximum range of the system is used as a general performance indicator. It is determined with the minimum signal-to-noise ratio required to detect an object. Various system parameters are varied to find their impact on the system's range. The reduction of the laser's pulse width and the right choice for the transimpedance amplifier's amplification have shown to be practicable measures to double the system's range.

Enhancement of Stereo Imagery by Artificial Texture Projection Generated Using a LIDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Veitch-Michaelis, Joshua; Muller, Jan-Peter; Walton, David; Storey, Jonathan; Foster, Michael; Crutchley, Benjamin

2016-06-01

Passive stereo imaging is capable of producing dense 3D data, but image matching algorithms generally perform poorly on images with large regions of homogenous texture due to ambiguous match costs. Stereo systems can be augmented with an additional light source that can project some form of unique texture onto surfaces in the scene. Methods include structured light, laser projection through diffractive optical elements, data projectors and laser speckle. Pattern projection using lasers has the advantage of producing images with a high signal to noise ratio. We have investigated the use of a scanning visible-beam LIDAR to simultaneously provide enhanced texture within the scene and to provide additional opportunities for data fusion in unmatched regions. The use of a LIDAR rather than a laser alone allows us to generate highly accurate ground truth data sets by scanning the scene at high resolution. This is necessary for evaluating different pattern projection schemes. Results from LIDAR generated random dots are presented and compared to other texture projection techniques. Finally, we investigate the use of image texture analysis to intelligently project texture where it is required while exploiting the texture available in the ambient light image.

ENHANCEMENT OF STEREO IMAGERY BY ARTIFICIAL TEXTURE PROJECTION GENERATED USING A LIDAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Veitch-Michaelis

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Passive stereo imaging is capable of producing dense 3D data, but image matching algorithms generally perform poorly on images with large regions of homogenous texture due to ambiguous match costs. Stereo systems can be augmented with an additional light source that can project some form of unique texture onto surfaces in the scene. Methods include structured light, laser projection through diffractive optical elements, data projectors and laser speckle. Pattern projection using lasers has the advantage of producing images with a high signal to noise ratio. We have investigated the use of a scanning visible-beam LIDAR to simultaneously provide enhanced texture within the scene and to provide additional opportunities for data fusion in unmatched regions. The use of a LIDAR rather than a laser alone allows us to generate highly accurate ground truth data sets by scanning the scene at high resolution. This is necessary for evaluating different pattern projection schemes. Results from LIDAR generated random dots are presented and compared to other texture projection techniques. Finally, we investigate the use of image texture analysis to intelligently project texture where it is required while exploiting the texture available in the ambient light image.

The Lidar Cyclops Syndrome Bypassed: 3D Wind Field Measurements from a Turbine mounted Lidar in combination with a fast CFD solver

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkelsen, Torben Krogh; Astrup, Poul; van Dooren, Marijn Floris

as the “Lidar Cyclops syndrome” with reference to the one-eyed Cyclops in old Greek mythology. However, by feeding a single lidar’s line-of-sight (LOS) rotor plane scanned wind speeds to a fast CFD solver, it has been possible to determine the entire 3D velocity vectors at each measurement point consistent...

Hardware in the Loop Performance Assessment of LIDAR-Based Spacecraft Pose Determination.

Science.gov (United States)

Opromolla, Roberto; Fasano, Giancarmine; Rufino, Giancarlo; Grassi, Michele

2017-09-24

In this paper an original, easy to reproduce, semi-analytic calibration approach is developed for hardware-in-the-loop performance assessment of pose determination algorithms processing point cloud data, collected by imaging a non-cooperative target with LIDARs. The laboratory setup includes a scanning LIDAR, a monocular camera, a scaled-replica of a satellite-like target, and a set of calibration tools. The point clouds are processed by uncooperative model-based algorithms to estimate the target relative position and attitude with respect to the LIDAR. Target images, acquired by a monocular camera operated simultaneously with the LIDAR, are processed applying standard solutions to the Perspective- n -Points problem to get high-accuracy pose estimates which can be used as a benchmark to evaluate the accuracy attained by the LIDAR-based techniques. To this aim, a precise knowledge of the extrinsic relative calibration between the camera and the LIDAR is essential, and it is obtained by implementing an original calibration approach which does not need ad-hoc homologous targets (e.g., retro-reflectors) easily recognizable by the two sensors. The pose determination techniques investigated by this work are of interest to space applications involving close-proximity maneuvers between non-cooperative platforms, e.g., on-orbit servicing and active debris removal.

Assessing the Temperature Dependence of Narrow-Band Raman Water Vapor Lidar Measurements: A Practical Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Whiteman, David N.; Venable, Demetrius D.; Walker, Monique; Cardirola, Martin; Sakai, Tetsu; Veselovskii, Igor

2013-01-01

Narrow-band detection of the Raman water vapor spectrum using the lidar technique introduces a concern over the temperature dependence of the Raman spectrum. Various groups have addressed this issue either by trying to minimize the temperature dependence to the point where it can be ignored or by correcting for whatever degree of temperature dependence exists. The traditional technique for performing either of these entails accurately measuring both the laser output wavelength and the water vapor spectral passband with combined uncertainty of approximately 0.01 nm. However, uncertainty in interference filter center wavelengths and laser output wavelengths can be this large or larger. These combined uncertainties translate into uncertainties in the magnitude of the temperature dependence of the Raman lidar water vapor measurement of 3% or more. We present here an alternate approach for accurately determining the temperature dependence of the Raman lidar water vapor measurement. This alternate approach entails acquiring sequential atmospheric profiles using the lidar while scanning the channel passband across portions of the Raman water vapor Q-branch. This scanning is accomplished either by tilt-tuning an interference filter or by scanning the output of a spectrometer. Through this process a peak in the transmitted intensity can be discerned in a manner that defines the spectral location of the channel passband with respect to the laser output wavelength to much higher accuracy than that achieved with standard laboratory techniques. Given the peak of the water vapor signal intensity curve, determined using the techniques described here, and an approximate knowledge of atmospheric temperature, the temperature dependence of a given Raman lidar profile can be determined with accuracy of 0.5% or better. A Mathematica notebook that demonstrates the calculations used here is available from the lead author.

Magnitude-frequency and Spatial Distribution of Rockfalls in the White Canyon, British Columbia using Terrestrial LiDAR and Microseismic Monitoring Systems

Science.gov (United States)

van Veen, M.

2015-12-01

Transportation corridors built along natural slopes are subject to frequent rockfall hazards, which can disrupt service and cause damage to infrastructure. Many of these areas exist along the Fraser-Thompson corridor of the CN rail line in Southern British Columbia, particularly in the White Canyon area near Lytton. Here the rail track is situated between the 500 m high slopes and the river, for 2.4 km. The frequency-magnitude relationship between these events and the percentage of rockfalls making it to track level are important components of hazard assessment for these slopes. Traditional methods of collecting rockfall data in this area involve visual inspection by maintenance personnel, however this is an onerous task for such a large slope with frequent rockfall activity, and therefore the rockfall record for this area is often lacking data. Since 2012, high-resolution terrestrial LiDAR (Light detection and ranging) data has been collected for the White Canyon area and analysis of change from sequential LiDAR scans provides detailed data that can't be obtained from traditional rockfall databases, including the magnitude and spatial distribution of rockfall events. While the LiDAR change detection can be useful in identifying rockfall volumes and source zones, it can be difficult to determine the end location of each rockfall and the exact timing of events, as scan data is usually collected over a period of several months. Recently, a microseismic monitoring system has been deployed over a section of the railway track and data is available on time and location of impact at the track level, which permits assessment of the number of rockfalls traversing the whole slope down to track level. This, in combination with data on rockfall magnitudes and source zones obtained from the LiDAR change detection can provide useful information for management of tracks in these hazardous settings and also provides data for calibration of rockfall modelling.

Lidar calibration experiments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ejsing Jørgensen, Hans; Mikkelsen, T.; Streicher, J.

1997-01-01

detection to test the reproducibility and uncertainty of lidars. Lidar data were obtained from both single-ended and double-ended Lidar configurations. A backstop was introduced in one of the experiments and a new method was developed where information obtained from the backstop can be used in the inversion...... algorithm. Independent in-situ aerosol plume concentrations were obtained from a simultaneous tracer gas experiment with SF6, and comparisons with the two lidars were made. The study shows that the reproducibility of the lidars is within 15%, including measurements from both sides of a plume...

An error reduction algorithm to improve lidar turbulence estimates for wind energy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. F. Newman

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Remote-sensing devices such as lidars are currently being investigated as alternatives to cup anemometers on meteorological towers for the measurement of wind speed and direction. Although lidars can measure mean wind speeds at heights spanning an entire turbine rotor disk and can be easily moved from one location to another, they measure different values of turbulence than an instrument on a tower. Current methods for improving lidar turbulence estimates include the use of analytical turbulence models and expensive scanning lidars. While these methods provide accurate results in a research setting, they cannot be easily applied to smaller, vertically profiling lidars in locations where high-resolution sonic anemometer data are not available. Thus, there is clearly a need for a turbulence error reduction model that is simpler and more easily applicable to lidars that are used in the wind energy industry. In this work, a new turbulence error reduction algorithm for lidars is described. The Lidar Turbulence Error Reduction Algorithm, L-TERRA, can be applied using only data from a stand-alone vertically profiling lidar and requires minimal training with meteorological tower data. The basis of L-TERRA is a series of physics-based corrections that are applied to the lidar data to mitigate errors from instrument noise, volume averaging, and variance contamination. These corrections are applied in conjunction with a trained machine-learning model to improve turbulence estimates from a vertically profiling WINDCUBE v2 lidar. The lessons learned from creating the L-TERRA model for a WINDCUBE v2 lidar can also be applied to other lidar devices. L-TERRA was tested on data from two sites in the Southern Plains region of the United States. The physics-based corrections in L-TERRA brought regression line slopes much closer to 1 at both sites and significantly reduced the sensitivity of lidar turbulence errors to atmospheric stability. The accuracy of machine

Inelastic hyperspectral lidar for aquatic ecosystems monitoring and landscape plant scanning test

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhao Guangyu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We have developed an aquatic inelastic hyperspectral lidar with unrestricted focal-depth and enough sensitivity and spatio-temporal resolution to detect and resolve position and behavior of individual sub-millimeter aquatic organisms. We demonstrate ranging with monitoring of elastic echoes, water Raman signals and fluorescence from chlorophyllbearing phytoplankton and dye tagged organisms. The system is based on a blue CW diode laser and a Scheimpflug optical arrangement.

Using LiDAR to as a Potential Method for Detection Plastics in Water

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, G.; Neal, A.; Mielke, R.; Bookhagen, B.

2010-12-01

We conducted a series of experiments using Light Detection and Range (LiDAR) technology as an innovative way to detect the presence of plastics in water. The purpose of this study was to determine if LiDAR technology is a feasible, non-intrusive alternative to dredging in the ocean to determine the amount of plastics in the ocean. We used a tripod mounted RIEGL LMS-Z420i terrestrial LiDAR 3-D scanner and the associated operating software RiSCAN Pro. The terrestrial LiDAR is an optical remote sensing technology that measures the reflection of near infared light to find the range of a distant target that is most commonly used to create high precision digital elevation models of terrestrial surfaces. In theory, water should absorb the near infared light, while the plastics should reflect the light. The experiments consisted of different scale models of plastic pellets in water, ranging from a small plastic dish to a large tank to test the range of the LiDAR in different salt and fresh water mediums.

LIDAR wind speed measurements from a rotating spinner (SpinnerEx 2009)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Angelou, N.; Mikkelsen, Torben; Hansen, Kasper H.; Sjoeholm, M.; Harris, M.

2010-08-15

In the context of the increasing application of remote sensing techniques in wind energy, the feasibility of upwind observations via a spinner-mounted wind lidar was tested during the SpinnerEx 2009 experiment. The objective was to install a QinetiQ (Natural Power) ZephIR lidar in the rotating spinner of a MW-sized wind turbine, and investigate the approaching wind fields from this vantage point. Time series of wind speed measurements from the lidar with 50 Hz sampling rate were successfully obtained for approximately 60 days, during the measurement campaign lasting from April to August 2009. In this report, information is given regarding the experimental setup and the lidar's operation parameters. The geometrical model used for the reconstruction of the scanning pattern of the lidar is described. This model takes into account the lidar's pointing direction, the spinner axis's vertical tilt and the wind turbine's yaw relative to the mean wind speed direction. The data analysis processes are documented. A methodology for the calculation of the yaw misalignment of the wind turbine relative to the wind direction, as a function of various averaging times, is proposed, using the lidar's instantaneous line-of-sight radial wind speed measurements. Two different setups have been investigated in which the approaching wind field was measured at distances of 0.58 OE and 1.24 OE rotor diameters upwind, respectively. For both setups, the instantaneous yaw misalignment of the turbine has been estimated from the lidar measurements. Data from an adjacent meteorological mast as well as data logged within the wind turbine's control system were used to evaluate the results. (author)

In-Field High-Throughput Phenotyping of Cotton Plant Height Using LiDAR

OpenAIRE

Shangpeng Sun; Changying Li; Andrew H. Paterson

2017-01-01

A LiDAR-based high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) system was developed for cotton plant phenotyping in the field. The HTP system consists of a 2D LiDAR and an RTK-GPS mounted on a high clearance tractor. The LiDAR scanned three rows of cotton plots simultaneously from the top and the RTK-GPS was used to provide the spatial coordinates of the point cloud during data collection. Configuration parameters of the system were optimized to ensure the best data quality. A height profile for each plot w...

Water Mapping Using Multispectral Airborne LIDAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, W. Y.; Shaker, A.; LaRocque, P. E.

2018-04-01

This study investigates the use of the world's first multispectral airborne LiDAR sensor, Optech Titan, manufactured by Teledyne Optech to serve the purpose of automatic land-water classification with a particular focus on near shore region and river environment. Although there exist recent studies utilizing airborne LiDAR data for shoreline detection and water surface mapping, the majority of them only perform experimental testing on clipped data subset or rely on data fusion with aerial/satellite image. In addition, most of the existing approaches require manual intervention or existing tidal/datum data for sample collection of training data. To tackle the drawbacks of previous approaches, we propose and develop an automatic data processing workflow for land-water classification using multispectral airborne LiDAR data. Depending on the nature of the study scene, two methods are proposed for automatic training data selection. The first method utilizes the elevation/intensity histogram fitted with Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to preliminarily split the land and water bodies. The second method mainly relies on the use of a newly developed scan line elevation intensity ratio (SLIER) to estimate the water surface data points. Regardless of the training methods being used, feature spaces can be constructed using the multispectral LiDAR intensity, elevation and other features derived from these parameters. The comprehensive workflow was tested with two datasets collected for different near shore region and river environment, where the overall accuracy yielded better than 96 %.

A database for estimating organ dose for coronary angiography and brain perfusion CT scans for arbitrary spectra and angular tube current modulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rupcich, Franco; Badal, Andreu; Kyprianou, Iacovos; Schmidt, Taly Gilat

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a database for estimating organ dose in a voxelized patient model for coronary angiography and brain perfusion CT acquisitions with any spectra and angular tube current modulation setting. The database enables organ dose estimation for existing and novel acquisition techniques without requiring Monte Carlo simulations. Methods: The study simulated transport of monoenergetic photons between 5 and 150 keV for 1000 projections over 360° through anthropomorphic voxelized female chest and head (0° and 30° tilt) phantoms and standard head and body CTDI dosimetry cylinders. The simulations resulted in tables of normalized dose deposition for several radiosensitive organs quantifying the organ dose per emitted photon for each incident photon energy and projection angle for coronary angiography and brain perfusion acquisitions. The values in a table can be multiplied by an incident spectrum and number of photons at each projection angle and then summed across all energies and angles to estimate total organ dose. Scanner-specific organ dose may be approximated by normalizing the database-estimated organ dose by the database-estimated CTDI vol and multiplying by a physical CTDI vol measurement. Two examples are provided demonstrating how to use the tables to estimate relative organ dose. In the first, the change in breast and lung dose during coronary angiography CT scans is calculated for reduced kVp, angular tube current modulation, and partial angle scanning protocols relative to a reference protocol. In the second example, the change in dose to the eye lens is calculated for a brain perfusion CT acquisition in which the gantry is tilted 30° relative to a nontilted scan. Results: Our database provides tables of normalized dose deposition for several radiosensitive organs irradiated during coronary angiography and brain perfusion CT scans. Validation results indicate total organ doses calculated using our database are

LIDAR pulse coding for high resolution range imaging at improved refresh rate.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Gunzung; Park, Yongwan

2016-10-17

In this study, a light detection and ranging system (LIDAR) was designed that codes pixel location information in its laser pulses using the direct- sequence optical code division multiple access (DS-OCDMA) method in conjunction with a scanning-based microelectromechanical system (MEMS) mirror. This LIDAR can constantly measure the distance without idle listening time for the return of reflected waves because its laser pulses include pixel location information encoded by applying the DS-OCDMA. Therefore, this emits in each bearing direction without waiting for the reflected wave to return. The MEMS mirror is used to deflect and steer the coded laser pulses in the desired bearing direction. The receiver digitizes the received reflected pulses using a low-temperature-grown (LTG) indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) based photoconductive antenna (PCA) and the time-to-digital converter (TDC) and demodulates them using the DS-OCDMA. When all of the reflected waves corresponding to the pixels forming a range image are received, the proposed LIDAR generates a point cloud based on the time-of-flight (ToF) of each reflected wave. The results of simulations performed on the proposed LIDAR are compared with simulations of existing LIDARs.

Making lidar more photogenic: creating band combinations from lidar information

Science.gov (United States)

Stoker, Jason M.

2010-01-01

Over the past five to ten years the use and applicability of light detection and ranging (lidar) technology has increased dramatically. As a result, an almost exponential amount of lidar data is being collected across the country for a wide range of applications, and it is currently the technology of choice for high resolution terrain model creation, 3-dimensional city and infrastructure modeling, forestry and a wide range of scientific applications (Lin and Mills, 2010). The amount of data that is being delivered across the country is impressive. For example, the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Center for Lidar Information Coordination and Knowledge (CLICK), which is a National repository of USGS and partner lidar point cloud datasets (Stoker et al., 2006), currently has 3.5 percent of the United States covered by lidar, and has approximately another 5 percent in the processing queue. The majority of data being collected by the commercial sector are from discrete-return systems, which collect billions of lidar points in an average project. There are also a lot of discussions involving a potential National-scale Lidar effort (Stoker et al., 2008).

Remote sensing of Sonoran Desert vegetation structure and phenology with ground-based LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Sankey, Joel B.; Munson, Seth M.; Webb, Robert H.; Wallace, Cynthia S.A.; Duran, Cesar M.

2015-01-01

Long-term vegetation monitoring efforts have become increasingly important for understanding ecosystem response to global change. Many traditional methods for monitoring can be infrequent and limited in scope. Ground-based LiDAR is one remote sensing method that offers a clear advancement to monitor vegetation dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolution. We determined the effectiveness of LiDAR to detect intra-annual variability in vegetation structure at a long-term Sonoran Desert monitoring plot dominated by cacti, deciduous and evergreen shrubs. Monthly repeat LiDAR scans of perennial plant canopies over the course of one year had high precision. LiDAR measurements of canopy height and area were accurate with respect to total station survey measurements of individual plants. We found an increase in the number of LiDAR vegetation returns following the wet North American Monsoon season. This intra-annual variability in vegetation structure detected by LiDAR was attributable to a drought deciduous shrub Ambrosia deltoidea, whereas the evergreen shrub Larrea tridentata and cactus Opuntia engelmannii had low variability. Benefits of using LiDAR over traditional methods to census desert plants are more rapid, consistent, and cost-effective data acquisition in a high-resolution, 3-dimensional context. We conclude that repeat LiDAR measurements can be an effective method for documenting ecosystem response to desert climatology and drought over short time intervals and at detailed-local spatial scale.

Measuring Oscillating Walking Paths with a LIDAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jordi Palacín

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This work describes the analysis of different walking paths registered using a Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR laser range sensor in order to measure oscillating trajectories during unsupervised walking. The estimate of the gait and trajectory parameters were obtained with a terrestrial LIDAR placed 100 mm above the ground with the scanning plane parallel to the floor to measure the trajectory of the legs without attaching any markers or modifying the floor. Three different large walking experiments were performed to test the proposed measurement system with straight and oscillating trajectories. The main advantages of the proposed system are the possibility to measure several steps and obtain average gait parameters and the minimum infrastructure required. This measurement system enables the development of new ambulatory applications based on the analysis of the gait and the trajectory during a walk.

Topographic laser ranging and scanning principles and processing

CERN Document Server

Shan, Jie

2008-01-01

A systematic, in-depth introduction to theories and principles of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology is long overdue, as it is the most important geospatial data acquisition technology to be introduced in recent years. An advanced discussion, this text fills the void.Professionals in fields ranging from geology, geography and geoinformatics to physics, transportation, and law enforcement will benefit from this comprehensive discussion of topographic LiDAR principles, systems, data acquisition, and data processing techniques. The book covers ranging and scanning fundamentals, and broad, contemporary analysis of airborne LiDAR systems, as well as those situated on land and in space. The authors present data collection at the signal level in terms of waveforms and their properties; at the system level with regard to calibration and georeferencing; and at the data level to discuss error budget, quality control, and data organization. They devote the bulk of the book to LiDAR data processing and inform...

Fluorescence lidar measurements at the archaeological site House of Augustus at Palatino, Rome

Science.gov (United States)

Raimondi, Valentina; Alisi, Chiara; Barup, Kerstin; Bracciale, Maria Paola; Broggi, Alessandra; Conti, Cinzia; Hällström, Jenny; Lognoli, David; Palombi, Lorenzo; Santarelli, Maria Laura; Sprocati, Anna Rosa

2013-10-01

Early diagnostics and documentation fulfill an essential role for an effective planning of conservation and restoration of cultural heritage assets. In particular, remote sensing techniques that do not require the use of scaffolds or lifts, such as fluoresence lidar, can provide useful information to obtain an overall assessment of the status of the investigated surfaces and can be exploited to address analytical studies in selected areas. Here we present the results of a joint Italian-Swedish project focused on documenting and recording the status of some sections of the part closed to the public by using fluorescence hyperspectral imaging lidar. The lidar used a tripled-frequency Nd:YAG laser emitting at 355 nm as excitation source and an intensified, gated 512x512-pixel CCD as detector. The lidar had imaging capabilities thanks to a computer-controlled scanning mirror. The fluorescence characteristics of fresco wall paintings were compared to those of fresco fragments found at the same archaeological site and separately examined in the lab using FT-IR and Raman techniques for the identification of pigments. The fluorescence lidar was also used to remotely detect the growth of phototrophic biodeteriogens on the walls. The fluorescence lidar data were compared with results from biological sampling, cultivation and laboratory analysis by molecular techniques.

Korea-China Joint R and D on Doppler Lidar Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cha, Hyung Ki; Kim, D. H.; Kwon, S. O.; Yang, K. H.; Song, I. K.

2009-03-01

Doppler lidar technology is to monitor atmospheric wind velocity by measuring the light scattering signals between a laser and aerosol particles or molecules existing in the atmosphere. When the particles (or molecules) in the atmosphere are moving by wind force, the frequency of backscattering light is shifted by doppler effect, so that the wind velocity profile can be obtained by measurement of the shifted frequencies. When the laser radiation is scanned in four different direction, three dimensional wind profiles are obtained. The Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics under the China Academy of Sciences has developed and operated the doppler lidar system for long time. In this project we want to developed a new technologies adopted to the chinese doppler system and to test the updated In the process of collaboration between China and Korea research teams, we want to learn the state-of-art technology involved in the doppler lidar system

Investigation on wind turbine wakes: wind tunnel tests and field experiments with LIDARs

Science.gov (United States)

Iungo, Giacomo; Wu, Ting; Cöeffé, Juliette; Porté-Agel, Fernando; WIRE Team

2011-11-01

An investigation on the interaction between atmospheric boundary layer flow and wind turbines is carried out with wind tunnel and LIDAR measurements. The former were carried out using hot-wire anemometry and multi-hole pressure probes in the wake of a three-bladed miniature wind turbine. The wind turbine wake is characterized by a strong velocity defect in the proximity of the rotor, and its recovery is found to depend on the characteristics of the incoming atmospheric boundary layer (mean velocity and turbulence intensity profiles). Field experiments were performed using three wind LIDARs. Bi-dimensional scans are performed in order to analyse the wake wind field with different atmospheric boundary layer conditions. Furthermore, simultaneous measurements with two or three LIDARs allow the reconstruction of multi-component velocity fields. Both LIDAR and wind tunnel measurements highlight an increased turbulence level at the wake boundary for heights comparable to the top-tip of the blades; this flow feature can produce dangerous fatigue loads on following wind turbines.

Doppler Lidar Vector Retrievals and Atmospheric Data Visualization in Mixed/Augmented Reality

Science.gov (United States)

Cherukuru, Nihanth Wagmi

Environmental remote sensing has seen rapid growth in the recent years and Doppler wind lidars have gained popularity primarily due to their non-intrusive, high spatial and temporal measurement capabilities. While lidar applications early on, relied on the radial velocity measurements alone, most of the practical applications in wind farm control and short term wind prediction require knowledge of the vector wind field. Over the past couple of years, multiple works on lidars have explored three primary methods of retrieving wind vectors viz., using homogeneous windfield assumption, computationally extensive variational methods and the use of multiple Doppler lidars. Building on prior research, the current three-part study, first demonstrates the capabilities of single and dual Doppler lidar retrievals in capturing downslope windstorm-type flows occurring at Arizona's Barringer Meteor Crater as a part of the METCRAX II field experiment. Next, to address the need for a reliable and computationally efficient vector retrieval for adaptive wind farm control applications, a novel 2D vector retrieval based on a variational formulation was developed and applied on lidar scans from an offshore wind farm and validated with data from a cup and vane anemometer installed on a nearby research platform. Finally, a novel data visualization technique using Mixed Reality (MR)/ Augmented Reality (AR) technology is presented to visualize data from atmospheric sensors. MR is an environment in which the user's visual perception of the real world is enhanced with live, interactive, computer generated sensory input (in this case, data from atmospheric sensors like Doppler lidars). A methodology using modern game development platforms is presented and demonstrated with lidar retrieved wind fields. In the current study, the possibility of using this technology to visualize data from atmospheric sensors in mixed reality is explored and demonstrated with lidar retrieved wind fields as well as

Towards 4d Virtual City Reconstruction from LIDAR Point Cloud Sequences

Science.gov (United States)

Józsa, O.; Börcs, A.; Benedek, C.

2013-05-01

In this paper we propose a joint approach on virtual city reconstruction and dynamic scene analysis based on point cloud sequences of a single car-mounted Rotating Multi-Beam (RMB) Lidar sensor. The aim of the addressed work is to create 4D spatio-temporal models of large dynamic urban scenes containing various moving and static objects. Standalone RMB Lidar devices have been frequently applied in robot navigation tasks and proved to be efficient in moving object detection and recognition. However, they have not been widely exploited yet for geometric approximation of ground surfaces and building facades due to the sparseness and inhomogeneous density of the individual point cloud scans. In our approach we propose an automatic registration method of the consecutive scans without any additional sensor information such as IMU, and introduce a process for simultaneously extracting reconstructed surfaces, motion information and objects from the registered dense point cloud completed with point time stamp information.

Three-dimensional structure of wind turbine wakes as measured by scanning lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Bodini, Nicola; Zardi, Dino; Lundquist, Julie K.

2017-08-01

The lower wind speeds and increased turbulence that are characteristic of turbine wakes have considerable consequences on large wind farms: turbines located downwind generate less power and experience increased turbulent loads. The structures of wakes and their downwind impacts are sensitive to wind speed and atmospheric variability. Wake characterization can provide important insights for turbine layout optimization in view of decreasing the cost of wind energy. The CWEX-13 field campaign, which took place between June and September 2013 in a wind farm in Iowa, was designed to explore the interaction of multiple wakes in a range of atmospheric stability conditions. Based on lidar wind measurements, we extend, present, and apply a quantitative algorithm to assess wake parameters such as the velocity deficits, the size of the wake boundaries, and the location of the wake centerlines. We focus on wakes from a row of four turbines at the leading edge of the wind farm to explore variations between wakes from the edge of the row (outer wakes) and those from turbines in the center of the row (inner wakes). Using multiple horizontal scans at different elevations, a three-dimensional structure of wakes from the row of turbines can be created. Wakes erode very quickly during unstable conditions and can in fact be detected primarily in stable conditions in the conditions measured here. During stable conditions, important differences emerge between the wakes of inner turbines and the wakes of outer turbines. Further, the strong wind veer associated with stable conditions results in a stretching of the wake structures, and this stretching manifests differently for inner and outer wakes. These insights can be incorporated into low-order wake models for wind farm layout optimization or for wind power forecasting.

Analyzing Hydro-Geomorphic Responses in Post-Fire Stream Channels with Terrestrial LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Nourbakhshbeidokhti, S.; Kinoshita, A. M.; Chin, A.

2015-12-01

Wildfires have potential to significantly alter soil properties and vegetation within watersheds. These alterations often contribute to accelerated erosion, runoff, and sediment transport in stream channels and hillslopes. This research applies repeated Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to stream reaches within the Pike National Forest in Colorado following the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire. These scans allow investigation of the relationship between sediment delivery and environmental characteristics such as precipitation, soil burn severity, and vegetation. Post-fire LiDAR images provide high resolution information of stream channel changes in eight reaches for three years (2012-2014). All images are processed with RiSCAN PRO to remove vegetation and triangulated and smoothed to create a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with 0.1 m resolution. Study reaches with two or more successive DEM images are compared using a differencing method to estimate the volume of sediment erosion and deposition. Preliminary analysis of four channel reaches within Williams Canyon and Camp Creek yielded erosion estimates between 0.035 and 0.618 m3 per unit area. Deposition was estimated as 0.365 to 1.67 m3 per unit area. Reaches that experienced higher soil burn severity or larger rainfall events produced the greatest geomorphic changes. Results from LiDAR analyses can be incorporated into post-fire hydrologic models to improve estimates of runoff and sediment yield. These models will, in turn, provide guidance for water resources management and downstream hazards mitigation.

Pointing Knowledge for SPARCLE and Space-Based Doppler Wind Lidars in General

Science.gov (United States)

Emmitt, G. D.; Miller, T.; Spiers, G.

1999-01-01

The SPAce Readiness Coherent Lidar Experiment (SPARCLE) will fly on a space shuttle to demonstrate the use of a coherent Doppler wind lidar to accurately measure global tropospheric winds. To achieve the LOS (Line of Sight) accuracy goal of approx. m/s, the lidar system must be able to account for the orbiter's velocity (approx. 7750 m/s) and the rotational component of the earth's surface motion (approx. 450 m/s). For SPARCLE this requires knowledge of the attitude (roll, pitch and yaw) of the laser beam axis within an accuracy of 80 microradians. (approx. 15 arcsec). Since SPARCLE can not use a dedicated star tracker from its earth-viewing orbiter bay location, a dedicated GPS/INS (Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System) will be attached to the lidar instrument rack. Since even the GPS/INS has unacceptable drifts in attitude information, the SPARCLE team has developed a way to periodically scan the instrument itself to obtain less than 10 microradian (2 arcsec) attitude knowledge accuracy that can then be used to correct the GPS/INS output on a 30 minute basis.

A new air quality modelling approach at the regional scale using lidar data assimilation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Y.

2013-01-01

Assimilation of lidar observations for air quality modelling is investigated via the development of a new model, which assimilates ground-based lidar network measurements using optimal interpolation (OI) in a chemistry transport model. First, a tool for assimilating PM 10 (particulate matter with a diameter lower than 10 μm) concentration measurements on the vertical is developed in the air quality modelling platform POLYPHEMUS. It is applied to western Europe for one month from 15 July to 15 August 2001 to investigate the potential impact of future ground-based lidar networks on analysis and short-term forecasts (the description of the future) of PM 10 . The efficiency of assimilating lidar network measurements is compared to the efficiency of assimilating concentration measurements from the AirBase ground network, which includes about 500 stations in western Europe. A sensitivity study on the number and location of required lidars is also performed to help define an optimal lidar network for PM 10 forecasts. Secondly, a new model for simulating normalised lidar signals (PR 2 ) is developed and integrated in POLYPHEMUS. Simulated lidar signals are compared to hourly ground-based mobile and in-situ lidar observations performed during the MEGAPOLI (Mega-cities: Emissions, urban, regional and Global Atmospheric Pollution and climate effects, and Integrated tools for assessment and mitigation) summer experiment in July 2009. It is found that the model correctly reproduces the vertical distribution of aerosol optical properties and their temporal variability. Additionally, two new algorithms for assimilating lidar signals are presented and evaluated during MEGAPOLI. The aerosol simulations without and with lidar data assimilation are evaluated using the AIRPARIF (a regional operational network in charge of air quality survey around the Paris area) database to demonstrate the feasibility and the usefulness of assimilating lidar profiles for aerosol forecasts. Finally

Lidar-based reconstruction of wind fields and application for wind turbine control

OpenAIRE

Kapp, Stefan

2017-01-01

In this thesis horizontal, upwind scanning lidar systems of the focused continuous-wave type are regarded for wind turbines. The theory of wind field reconstruction is extended to a five parameter model describing the inflow in non-uniform conditions more accurately. Sensor requirements are derived. A new approach to spherically scan the inflow area is studied experimentally. Expected inaccuracies of the averaged wind direction signal in a wind farm environment are quantified and spatial inho...

Monitoring selective logging in western Amazonia with repeat lidar flights

Science.gov (United States)

H.E. Andersen; S.E. Reutebuch; R.J. McGaughey; M.V.N. d' Oliveira; M. Keller

2014-01-01

The objective of this study was to test the use of repeat flight, airborne laser scanning data (lidar) for estimating changes associated with low-impact selective logging (approx. 10-15 m3 ha−1 = 5-7% of total standing volume harvested) in natural tropical forests in the Western Brazilian Amazon. Specifically, we investigated change in area...

Helios: a Multi-Purpose LIDAR Simulation Framework for Research, Planning and Training of Laser Scanning Operations with Airborne, Ground-Based Mobile and Stationary Platforms

Science.gov (United States)

Bechtold, S.; Höfle, B.

2016-06-01

In many technical domains of modern society, there is a growing demand for fast, precise and automatic acquisition of digital 3D models of a wide variety of physical objects and environments. Laser scanning is a popular and widely used technology to cover this demand, but it is also expensive and complex to use to its full potential. However, there might exist scenarios where the operation of a real laser scanner could be replaced by a computer simulation, in order to save time and costs. This includes scenarios like teaching and training of laser scanning, development of new scanner hardware and scanning methods, or generation of artificial scan data sets to support the development of point cloud processing and analysis algorithms. To test the feasibility of this idea, we have developed a highly flexible laser scanning simulation framework named Heidelberg LiDAR Operations Simulator (HELIOS). HELIOS is implemented as a Java library and split up into a core component and multiple extension modules. Extensible Markup Language (XML) is used to define scanner, platform and scene models and to configure the behaviour of modules. Modules were developed and implemented for (1) loading of simulation assets and configuration (i.e. 3D scene models, scanner definitions, survey descriptions etc.), (2) playback of XML survey descriptions, (3) TLS survey planning (i.e. automatic computation of recommended scanning positions) and (4) interactive real-time 3D visualization of simulated surveys. As a proof of concept, we show the results of two experiments: First, a survey planning test in a scene that was specifically created to evaluate the quality of the survey planning algorithm. Second, a simulated TLS scan of a crop field in a precision farming scenario. The results show that HELIOS fulfills its design goals.

Determination of the smoke-plume heights and their dynamics with ground-based scanning LIDAR

Science.gov (United States)

V. Kovalev; A. Petkov; C. Wold; S. Urbanski; W. M. Hao

2015-01-01

Lidar-data processing techniques are analyzed, which allow determining smoke-plume heights and their dynamics and can be helpful for the improvement of smoke dispersion and air quality models. The data processing algorithms considered in the paper are based on the analysis of two alternative characteristics related to the smoke dispersion process: the regularized...

Measurements of CO2 Concentration and Wind Profiles with A Scanning 1.6μm DIAL

Science.gov (United States)

Abo, M.; Shibata, Y.; Nagasawa, C.; Nagai, T.; Sakai, T.; Tsukamoto, M.

2012-12-01

Horizontal carbon dioxide (CO2) distribution and wind profiles are important information for understanding of the regional sink and source of CO2. The differential absorption lidar (DIAL) and the Doppler lidar with the range resolution is expected to bring several advantages over passive measurements. We have developed a new scanning 1.6μm DIAL and incoherent Doppler lidar system to perform simultaniously measurements of CO2 concentration and wind speed profiles in the atmosphere. The 1.6μm DIAL and Doppler lidar system consists of the Optical Parametric Generator (OPG) transmitter that excited by the LD pumped Nd:YAG laser with high repetition rate (500 Hz). The receiving optics include the near-infrared photomultiplier tube with high quantum efficiency operating at the photon counting mode, a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) filter to detct Doppler shift, and a 25 cm telescope[1][2]. Laser beam is transmitted coaxially and motorized scanning mirror system can scan the laser beam and field of view 0-360deg horizontally and 0-52deg vertically. We report the results of vertical CO2 scanning measurenents and vertical wind profiles. The scanning elevation angles were from 12deg to 24deg with angular step of 4deg and CO2 concentration profiles were obtained up to 1 km altitude with 200 m altitude resolution. We also obtained vertical wind vector profiles by measuring line-of-sight wind profiles at two azimuth angles with a fixed elevation angle 52deg. Vertical wind vector profiles were obtained up to 5 km altitude with 1 km altitude rasolution. This work was financially supported by the System Development Program for Advanced Measurement and Analysis of the Japan Science and Technology Agency. References [1] L. B. Vann, et al., "Narrowband fiber-optic phase-shifted Fabry-Perot Bragg grating filters for atmospheric water vapor lidar measurements", Appl. Opt., 44, pp. 7371-7377 (2005). [2] Y. Shibata, et al., "1.5μm incoherent Doppler lidar using a FBG filter", Proceedings

3D turbulence measurements in inhomogeneous boundary layers with three wind LiDARs

Science.gov (United States)

Carbajo Fuertes, Fernando; Valerio Iungo, Giacomo; Porté-Agel, Fernando

2014-05-01

One of the most challenging tasks in atmospheric anemometry is obtaining reliable turbulence measurements of inhomogeneous boundary layers at heights or in locations where is not possible or convenient to install tower-based measurement systems, e.g. mountainous terrain, cities, wind farms, etc. Wind LiDARs are being extensively used for the measurement of averaged vertical wind profiles, but they can only successfully accomplish this task under the limiting conditions of flat terrain and horizontally homogeneous flow. Moreover, it has been shown that common scanning strategies introduce large systematic errors in turbulence measurements, regardless of the characteristics of the flow addressed. From the point of view of research, there exist a variety of techniques and scanning strategies to estimate different turbulence quantities but most of them rely in the combination of raw measurements with atmospheric models. Most of those models are only valid under the assumption of horizontal homogeneity. The limitations stated above can be overcome by a new triple LiDAR technique which uses simultaneous measurements from three intersecting Doppler wind LiDARs. It allows for the reconstruction of the three-dimensional velocity vector in time as well as local velocity gradients without the need of any turbulence model and with minimal assumptions [EGU2013-9670]. The triple LiDAR technique has been applied to the study of the flow over the campus of EPFL in Lausanne (Switzerland). The results show the potential of the technique for the measurement of turbulence in highly complex boundary layer flows. The technique is particularly useful for micrometeorology and wind engineering studies.

Field Testing of Feedforward Collective Pitch Control on the CART2 Using a Nacelle-Based Lidar Scanner

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schlipf, David; Haizmann, Florian; Hofsäß, Martin; Cheng, Po Wen; Fleming, Paul; Scholbrock, Andrew; Wright, Alan

2014-01-01

This work presents the results from a field test of LIDAR assisted collective pitch control using a scanning LIDAR device installed on the nacelle of a mid-scale research turbine. A nonlinear feedforward controller is extended by an adaptive filter to remove all uncorrelated frequencies of the wind speed measurement to avoid unnecessary control action. Positive effects on the rotor speed regulation as well as on tower, blade and shaft loads have been observed in the case that the previous measured correlation and timing between the wind preview and the turbine reaction are accomplish. The feedforward controller had negative impact, when the LIDAR measurement was disturbed by obstacles in front of the turbine. This work proves, that LIDAR is valuable tool for wind turbine control not only in simulations but also under real conditions. Furthermore, the paper shows that further understanding of the relationship between the wind measurement and the turbine reaction is crucial to improve LIDAR assisted control of wind turbines

Remote detection and recognition of bio-aerosols by laser-induced fluorescense lidar: practical implementation and field tests

Science.gov (United States)

Boreysho, Anatoly; Savin, Andrey; Morozov, Alexey; Konyaev, Maxim; Konovalov, Konstantin

2007-06-01

Recognition of aerosol clouds material at some significant distance is now a key requirement for the wide range of applications. The elastic backscatter lidar have demonstrated high capabilities in aerosol remote detection, cloud real-time mapping at very long distances for low-concentration natural aerosols as well as artificial ones [1]. However, recognition ability is required to make them more relevant. Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) looks very promising with respect to the recognition problem. New approach based on mobile lidar complex [2] equipped by spectrally-and range-resolved LIF-sensor is described as well as some results of field tests. The LIF-sensor consists of four-harmonics Nd:YAG laser equipped by an output expander to provide final beam divergence camera collimated with the lidar scanning direction. The LIF-lidar is mounted on a truck-based platform (20-feet container) as a part of multi-purpose mobile lidar complex and adjusted for field conditions.

Field Testing of Feedforward Collective Pitch Control on the CART2 Using a Nacelle-Based Lidar Scanner

Science.gov (United States)

Schlipf, David; Fleming, Paul; Haizmann, Florian; Scholbrock, Andrew; Hofsäß, Martin; Wright, Alan; Cheng, Po Wen

2014-12-01

This work presents the results from a field test of LIDAR assisted collective pitch control using a scanning LIDAR device installed on the nacelle of a mid-scale research turbine. A nonlinear feedforward controller is extended by an adaptive filter to remove all uncorrelated frequencies of the wind speed measurement to avoid unnecessary control action. Positive effects on the rotor speed regulation as well as on tower, blade and shaft loads have been observed in the case that the previous measured correlation and timing between the wind preview and the turbine reaction are accomplish. The feedforward controller had negative impact, when the LIDAR measurement was disturbed by obstacles in front of the turbine. This work proves, that LIDAR is valuable tool for wind turbine control not only in simulations but also under real conditions. Furthermore, the paper shows that further understanding of the relationship between the wind measurement and the turbine reaction is crucial to improve LIDAR assisted control of wind turbines.

Remote Sensing of Sonoran Desert Vegetation Structure and Phenology with Ground-Based LiDAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joel B. Sankey

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Long-term vegetation monitoring efforts have become increasingly important for understanding ecosystem response to global change. Many traditional methods for monitoring can be infrequent and limited in scope. Ground-based LiDAR is one remote sensing method that offers a clear advancement to monitor vegetation dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolution. We determined the effectiveness of LiDAR to detect intra-annual variability in vegetation structure at a long-term Sonoran Desert monitoring plot dominated by cacti, deciduous and evergreen shrubs. Monthly repeat LiDAR scans of perennial plant canopies over the course of one year had high precision. LiDAR measurements of canopy height and area were accurate with respect to total station survey measurements of individual plants. We found an increase in the number of LiDAR vegetation returns following the wet North American Monsoon season. This intra-annual variability in vegetation structure detected by LiDAR was attributable to a drought deciduous shrub Ambrosia deltoidea, whereas the evergreen shrub Larrea tridentata and cactus Opuntia engelmannii had low variability. Benefits of using LiDAR over traditional methods to census desert plants are more rapid, consistent, and cost-effective data acquisition in a high-resolution, 3-dimensional context. We conclude that repeat LiDAR measurements can be an effective method for documenting ecosystem response to desert climatology and drought over short time intervals and at detailed-local spatial scale.

Demonstration of synchronised scanning Lidar measurements of 2D velocity fields in a boundary-layer wind tunnel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van Dooren, M F; Kühn, M.; Petrovic, V.

2016-01-01

This paper combines the currently relevant research methodologies of scaled wind turbine model experiments in wind tunnels with remote-sensing short-range WindScanner Lidar measurement technology. The wind tunnel of the Politecnico di Milano was equipped with three wind turbine models and two short...... compared to hot wire probe measurements commonly used in wind tunnels. This yielded goodness of fit coefficients of 0.969 and 0.902 for the 1 Hz averaged u- and v-components of the wind speed, respectively, validating the 2D measurement capability of the Lidar scanners. Subsequently, the measurement...... for accurately measuring small scale flow structures in a wind tunnel....

Measurement and Study of Lidar Ratio by Using a Raman Lidar in Central China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Wang

2016-05-01

Full Text Available We comprehensively evaluated particle lidar ratios (i.e., particle extinction to backscatter ratio at 532 nm over Wuhan in Central China by using a Raman lidar from July 2013 to May 2015. We utilized the Raman lidar data to obtain homogeneous aerosol lidar ratios near the surface through the Raman method during no-rain nights. The lidar ratios were approximately 57 ± 7 sr, 50 ± 5 sr, and 22 ± 4 sr under the three cases with obviously different pollution levels. The haze layer below 1.8 km has a large particle extinction coefficient (from 5.4e-4 m−1 to 1.6e-4 m−1 and particle backscatter coefficient (between 1.1e-05 m−1sr−1 and 1.7e-06 m−1sr−1 in the heavily polluted case. Furthermore, the particle lidar ratios varied according to season, especially between winter (57 ± 13 sr and summer (33 ± 10 sr. The seasonal variation in lidar ratios at Wuhan suggests that the East Asian monsoon significantly affects the primary aerosol types and aerosol optical properties in this region. The relationships between particle lidar ratios and wind indicate that large lidar ratio values correspond well with weak winds and strong northerly winds, whereas significantly low lidar ratio values are associated with prevailing southwesterly and southerly wind.

Measurement and Study of Lidar Ratio by Using a Raman Lidar in Central China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wei; Gong, Wei; Mao, Feiyue; Pan, Zengxin; Liu, Boming

2016-05-18

We comprehensively evaluated particle lidar ratios (i.e., particle extinction to backscatter ratio) at 532 nm over Wuhan in Central China by using a Raman lidar from July 2013 to May 2015. We utilized the Raman lidar data to obtain homogeneous aerosol lidar ratios near the surface through the Raman method during no-rain nights. The lidar ratios were approximately 57 ± 7 sr, 50 ± 5 sr, and 22 ± 4 sr under the three cases with obviously different pollution levels. The haze layer below 1.8 km has a large particle extinction coefficient (from 5.4e-4 m(-1) to 1.6e-4 m(-1)) and particle backscatter coefficient (between 1.1e-05 m(-1)sr(-1) and 1.7e-06 m(-1)sr(-1)) in the heavily polluted case. Furthermore, the particle lidar ratios varied according to season, especially between winter (57 ± 13 sr) and summer (33 ± 10 sr). The seasonal variation in lidar ratios at Wuhan suggests that the East Asian monsoon significantly affects the primary aerosol types and aerosol optical properties in this region. The relationships between particle lidar ratios and wind indicate that large lidar ratio values correspond well with weak winds and strong northerly winds, whereas significantly low lidar ratio values are associated with prevailing southwesterly and southerly wind.

The design, development, and test of balloonborne and groundbased lidar systems. Volume 3: Groundbased lidar systems

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, O.; Aurilio, G.; Bucknam, R. D.; Hurd, A. G.; Robertie, N. F.

1991-06-01

This is Volume 3 of a three volume final report on the design, development and test of balloonborne and groundbased lidar systems. Volume 1 describes the design and fabrication of a balloonborne CO2 coherent payload to measure the 10.6 micrometers backscatter from atmospheric aerosols as a function of altitude. Volume 2 describes the August 1987 flight test of Atmospheric Balloonborne Lidar Experiment, ABLE 2. In this volume we describe groundbased lidar development and measurements. A design was developed for installation of the ABLE lidar in the GL rooftop dome. A transportable shed was designed to house the ABLE lidar at the various remote measurement sites. Refurbishment and modification of the ABLE lidar were completed to permit groundbased lidar measurements of clouds and aerosols. Lidar field measurements were made at Ascension Island during SABLE 89. Lidar field measurements were made at Terciera, Azores during GABLE 90. These tasks have been successfully completed, and recommendations for further lidar measurements and data analysis have been made.

Research on the space-borne coherent wind lidar technique and the prototype experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Long; Tao, Yuliang; An, Chao; Yang, Jukui; Du, Guojun; Zheng, Yongchao

2016-10-01

Space-borne coherent wind lidar technique is considered as one of the most promising and appropriate remote Sensing methods for successfully measuring the whole global vector wind profile between the lower atmosphere and the middle atmosphere. Compared with other traditional methods, the space-borne coherent wind lidar has some advantages, such as, the all-day operation; many lidar systems can be integrated into the same satellite because of the light-weight and the small size, eye-safe wavelength, and being insensitive to the background light. Therefore, this coherent lidar could be widely applied into the earth climate research, disaster monitoring, numerical weather forecast, environment protection. In this paper, the 2μm space-borne coherent wind lidar system for measuring the vector wind profile is proposed. And the technical parameters about the sub-system of the coherent wind lidar are simulated and the all sub-system schemes are proposed. For sake of validating the technical parameters of the space-borne coherent wind lidar system and the optical off-axis telescope, the weak laser signal detection technique, etc. The proto-type coherent wind lidar is produced and the experiments for checking the performance of this proto-type coherent wind lidar are finished with the hard-target and the soft target, and the horizontal wind and the vertical wind profile are measured and calibrated, respectively. For this proto-type coherent wind lidar, the wavelength is 1.54μm, the pulse energy 80μJ, the pulse width 300ns, the diameter of the off-axis telescope 120mm, the single wedge for cone scanning with the 40°angle, and the two dualbalanced InGaAs detector modules are used. The experiment results are well consisted with the simulation process, and these results show that the wind profile between the vertical altitude 4km can be measured, the accuracy of the wind velocity and the wind direction are better than 1m/s and +/-10°, respectively.

Landslide stability analysis on basis of LIDAR data extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Hui; Fernandez-Steeger, Tomas M.; Dong, Mei; Azzam, Rafig

2010-05-01

Currently, existing contradictory between remediation and acquisition from natural resource induces a series of divergences. With regard to open pit mining, legal regulation requires human to fill back the open pit area with water or recreate new landscape by other materials; on the other hand, human can not help excavating the mining area due to the shortage of power resource. However, to engineering geologists, one coincident problem which takes place not only in filling but also in mining operation should be paid more attention to, i.e. the slope stability analysis within these areas. There are a number of construction activities during remediation or mining process which can directly or indirectly cause slope failure. Lives can be endangered since local failure either while or after remediation; for mining process, slope failure in a bench, which carries a main haul road or is adjacent to human activity area, would be significant catastrophe to the whole mining program. The stability of an individual bench or slope is controlled by several factors, which are geological condition, morphology, climate, excavation techniques and transportation approach. The task which takes the longest time is to collect the morphological data. Consequently, it is one of the most dangerous tasks due to the time consuming in mining field. LIDAR scanning for morphological data collecting can help to skip this obstacle since advantages of LIDAR techniques as follows: • Dynamic range available on the market: from 3 m to beyond 1 km, • Ruggedly designed for demanding field applications, • Compact, easily hand-carried and deployed by a single operator. In 2009, scanning campaigns for 2 open pit quarry have been carried out. The aim for these LIDAR detections is to construct a detailed 3D quarry model and analyze the bench stability to support the filling planning. The 3D quarry surface was built up by using PolyWorks 10.1 on basis of LIDAR data. LIDAR data refining takes an

Linear LIDAR versus Geiger-mode LIDAR: impact on data properties and data quality

Science.gov (United States)

Ullrich, A.; Pfennigbauer, M.

2016-05-01

LIDAR has become the inevitable technology to provide accurate 3D data fast and reliably even in adverse measurement situations and harsh environments. It provides highly accurate point clouds with a significant number of additional valuable attributes per point. LIDAR systems based on Geiger-mode avalanche photo diode arrays, also called single photon avalanche photo diode arrays, earlier employed for military applications, now seek to enter the commercial market of 3D data acquisition, advertising higher point acquisition speeds from longer ranges compared to conventional techniques. Publications pointing out the advantages of these new systems refer to the other category of LIDAR as "linear LIDAR", as the prime receiver element for detecting the laser echo pulses - avalanche photo diodes - are used in a linear mode of operation. We analyze the differences between the two LIDAR technologies and the fundamental differences in the data they provide. The limitations imposed by physics on both approaches to LIDAR are also addressed and advantages of linear LIDAR over the photon counting approach are discussed.

Coherent Doppler lidar for automated space vehicle rendezvous, stationkeeping and capture

Science.gov (United States)

Bilbro, James A.

1991-01-01

The inherent spatial resolution of laser radar makes ladar or lidar an attractive candidate for Automated Rendezvous and Capture application. Previous applications were based on incoherent lidar techniques, requiring retro-reflectors on the target vehicle. Technology improvements (reduced size, no cryogenic cooling requirement) have greatly enhanced the construction of coherent lidar systems. Coherent lidar permits the acquisition of non-cooperative targets at ranges that are limited by the detection capability rather than by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) requirements. The sensor can provide translational state information (range, velocity, and angle) by direct measurement and, when used with any array detector, also can provide attitude information by Doppler imaging techniques. Identification of the target is accomplished by scanning with a high pulse repetition frequency (dependent on the SNR). The system performance is independent of range and should not be constrained by sun angle. An initial effort to characterize a multi-element detection system has resulted in a system that is expected to work to a minimum range of 1 meter. The system size, weight and power requirements are dependent on the operating range; 10 km range requires a diameter of 3 centimeters with overall size at 3 x 3 x 15 to 30 cm, while 100 km range requires a 30 cm diameter.

Prediction of Canopy Heights over a Large Region Using Heterogeneous Lidar Datasets: Efficacy and Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ranjith Gopalakrishnan

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Generating accurate and unbiased wall-to-wall canopy height maps from airborne lidar data for large regions is useful to forest scientists and natural resource managers. However, mapping large areas often involves using lidar data from different projects, with varying acquisition parameters. In this work, we address the important question of whether one can accurately model canopy heights over large areas of the Southeastern US using a very heterogeneous dataset of small-footprint, discrete-return airborne lidar data (with 76 separate lidar projects. A unique aspect of this effort is the use of nationally uniform and extensive field data (~1800 forested plots from the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA program of the US Forest Service. Preliminary results are quite promising: Over all lidar projects, we observe a good correlation between the 85th percentile of lidar heights and field-measured height (r = 0.85. We construct a linear regression model to predict subplot-level dominant tree heights from distributional lidar metrics (R2 = 0.74, RMSE = 3.0 m, n = 1755. We also identify and quantify the importance of several factors (like heterogeneity of vegetation, point density, the predominance of hardwoods or softwoods, the average height of the forest stand, slope of the plot, and average scan angle of lidar acquisition that influence the efficacy of predicting canopy heights from lidar data. For example, a subset of plots (coefficient of variation of vegetation heights <0.2 significantly reduces the RMSE of our model from 3.0–2.4 m (~20% reduction. We conclude that when all these elements are factored into consideration, combining data from disparate lidar projects does not preclude robust estimation of canopy heights.

Analysis of the SNR and sensing ability of different sensor types in a LIDAR system

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Gyudong; Han, Munhyun; Seo, Hongseok; Mheen, Bongki

2017-10-01

LIDAR (light distance and ranging) systems use sensors to detect reflected signals. The performance of the sensors significantly affects the specification of the LIDAR system. Especially, the number and size of the sensors determine the FOV (field of view) and resolution of the system, regardless of which sensors are used. The resolution of an array-type sensor normally depends on the number of pixels in the array. In this type of sensor, there are several limitations to increase the number of pixels in an array for higher resolution, specifically complexity, cost, and size limitations. Another type of sensors uses multiple pairs of transmitter and receiver channels. Each channel detects different points with the corresponding directions indicated by the laser points of each channel. In this case, in order to increase the resolution, it is required to increase the number of channels, resulting in bigger sensor head size and deteriorated reliability due to heavy rotating head module containing all the pairs. In this paper, we present a method to overcome these limitations and improve the performance of the LIDAR system. ETRI developed a type of scanning LIDAR system called a STUD (static unitary detector) LIDAR system. It was developed to solve the problems associated with the aforementioned sensors. The STUD LIDAR system can use a variety of sensors without any limitations on the size or number of sensors, unlike other LIDAR systems. Since it provides optimal performance in terms of range and resolution, the detailed analysis was conducted in the STUD LIDAR system by applying different sensor type to have improved sensing performance.

Consistency of the single calculus chain for climatological studies using long-term measurements from thessaloniki lidar station

Science.gov (United States)

Siomos, Nikolaos; Voudouri, Kalliopi A.; Filioglou, Maria; Giannakaki, Eleni; Amiridis, Vasilis; D'Amico, Giuseppe; Balis, Dimitris S.

2018-04-01

The long term analysis of 15 years of lidar data derived from a Raman lidar at Thessaloniki is presented here. All measurements have been processed with the latest version 4 of the EARLINET Single Calculus Chain algorithm and are compared with the results from the current operational retrieval algorithm. In this paper we investigate the consistency between the EARLINET database and SCC for the case of Thessaloniki and we identify the issues to be considered when switching from current operations to SCC.

LIDAR optical rugosity of coral reefs in Biscayne National Park, Florida

Science.gov (United States)

Brock, J.C.; Wright, C.W.; Clayton, T.D.; Nayegandhi, A.

2004-01-01

The NASA Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), a temporal waveform-resolving, airborne, green wavelength LIDAR (light detection and ranging), is designed to measure the submeter-scale topography of shallow reef substrates. Topographic variability is a prime component of habitat complexity, an ecological factor that both expresses and controls the abundance and distribution of many reef organisms. Following the acquisition of EAARL coverage over both mid-platform patch reefs and shelf-margin bank reefs within Biscayne National Park in August 2002, EAARL-based optical indices of topographic variability were evaluated at 15 patch reef and bank reef sites. Several sites were selected to match reefs previously evaluated in situ along underwater video and belt transects. The analysis used large populations of submarine topographic transects derived from the examination of closely spaced laser spot reflections along LIDAR raster scans. At all 15 sites, each LIDAR transect was evaluated separately to determine optical rugosity (Rotran), and the average elevation difference between adjacent points (Av(??E ap)). Further, the whole-site mean and maximum values of Ro tran and Av(??Eap) for the entire population of transects at each analysis site, along with their standard deviations, were calculated. This study revealed that the greater habitat complexity of inshore patch reefs versus outer bank reefs results in relative differences in topographic complexity that can be discerned in the laser returns. Accordingly, LIDAR sensing of optical rugosity is proposed as a complementary new technique for the rapid assessment of shallow coral reefs. ?? Springer-Verlag 2004.

Uncovering archaeological landscapes at Angkor using lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Damian H; Fletcher, Roland J; Pottier, Christophe; Chevance, Jean-Baptiste; Soutif, Dominique; Tan, Boun Suy; Im, Sokrithy; Ea, Darith; Tin, Tina; Kim, Samnang; Cromarty, Christopher; De Greef, Stéphane; Hanus, Kasper; Bâty, Pierre; Kuszinger, Robert; Shimoda, Ichita; Boornazian, Glenn

2013-07-30

Previous archaeological mapping work on the successive medieval capitals of the Khmer Empire located at Angkor, in northwest Cambodia (∼9th to 15th centuries in the Common Era, C.E.), has identified it as the largest settlement complex of the preindustrial world, and yet crucial areas have remained unmapped, in particular the ceremonial centers and their surroundings, where dense forest obscures the traces of the civilization that typically remain in evidence in surface topography. Here we describe the use of airborne laser scanning (lidar) technology to create high-precision digital elevation models of the ground surface beneath the vegetation cover. We identify an entire, previously undocumented, formally planned urban landscape into which the major temples such as Angkor Wat were integrated. Beyond these newly identified urban landscapes, the lidar data reveal anthropogenic changes to the landscape on a vast scale and lend further weight to an emerging consensus that infrastructural complexity, unsustainable modes of subsistence, and climate variation were crucial factors in the decline of the classical Khmer civilization.

An All-Fiber, Modular, Compact Wind Lidar for Wind Sensing and Wake Vortex Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Prasad, Narasimha S.; Sibell, Russ; Vetorino, Steve; Higgins, Richard; Tracy, Allen

2015-01-01

This paper discusses an innovative, compact and eyesafe coherent lidar system developed for wind and wake vortex sensing applications. With an innovative all-fiber and modular transceiver architecture, the wind lidar system has reduced size, weight and power requirements, and provides enhanced performance along with operational elegance. This all-fiber architecture is developed around fiber seed laser coupled to uniquely configured fiber amplifier modules. The innovative features of this lidar system, besides its all fiber architecture, include pulsewidth agility and user programmable 3D hemispherical scanner unit. Operating at a wavelength of 1.5457 microns and with a PRF of up to 20 KHz, the lidar transmitter system is designed as a Class 1 system with dimensions of 30"(W) x 46"(L) x 60"(H). With an operational range exceeding 10 km, the wind lidar is configured to measure wind velocities of greater than 120 m/s with an accuracy of +/- 0.2 m/s and allow range resolution of less than 15 m. The dynamical configuration capability of transmitted pulsewidths from 50 ns to 400 ns allows high resolution wake vortex measurements. The scanner uses innovative liquid metal slip ring and is built using 3D printer technology with light weight nylon. As such, it provides continuous 360 degree azimuth and 180 degree elevation scan angles with an incremental motion of 0.001 degree. The lidar system is air cooled and requires 110 V for its operation. This compact and modular lidar system is anticipated to provide mobility, reliability, and ease of field deployment for wind and wake vortex measurements. Currently, this wind lidar is undergoing validation tests under various atmospheric conditions. Preliminary results of these field measurements of wind characteristics that were recently carried out in Colorado are discussed.

A Survey of LIDAR Technology and Its Use in Spacecraft Relative Navigation

Science.gov (United States)

Christian, John A.; Cryan, Scott P.

2013-01-01

This paper provides a survey of modern LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) sensors from a perspective of how they can be used for spacecraft relative navigation. In addition to LIDAR technology commonly used in space applications today (e.g. scanning, flash), this paper reviews emerging LIDAR technologies gaining traction in other non-aerospace fields. The discussion will include an overview of sensor operating principles and specific pros/cons for each type of LIDAR. This paper provides a comprehensive review of LIDAR technology as applied specifically to spacecraft relative navigation. HE problem of orbital rendezvous and docking has been a consistent challenge for complex space missions since before the Gemini 8 spacecraft performed the first successful on-orbit docking of two spacecraft in 1966. Over the years, a great deal of effort has been devoted to advancing technology associated with all aspects of the rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking (RPOD) flight phase. After years of perfecting the art of crewed rendezvous with the Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs, NASA began investigating the problem of autonomous rendezvous and docking (AR&D) to support a host of different mission applications. Some of these applications include autonomous resupply of the International Space Station (ISS), robotic servicing/refueling of existing orbital assets, and on-orbit assembly.1 The push towards a robust AR&D capability has led to an intensified interest in a number of different sensors capable of providing insight into the relative state of two spacecraft. The present work focuses on exploring the state-of-the-art in one of these sensors - LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) sensors. It should be noted that the military community frequently uses the acronym LADAR (LAser Detection And Ranging) to refer to what this paper calls LIDARs. A LIDAR is an active remote sensing device that is typically used in space applications to obtain the range to one or more

Geotechnical applications of LiDAR pertaining to geomechanical evaluation and hazard identification

Science.gov (United States)

Lato, Matthew J.

Natural hazards related to ground movement that directly affect the safety of motorists and highway infrastructure include, but are not limited to, rockfalls, rockslides, debris flows, and landslides. This thesis specifically deals with the evaluation of rockfall hazards through the evaluation of LiDAR data. Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) is an imaging technology that can be used to delineate and evaluate geomechanically-controlled hazards. LiDAR has been adopted to conduct hazard evaluations pertaining to rockfall, rock-avalanches, debris flows, and landslides. Characteristics of LiDAR surveying, such as rapid data acquisition rates, mobile data collection, and high data densities, pose problems to traditional CAD or GIS-based mapping methods. New analyses methods, including tools specifically oriented to geomechanical analyses, are needed. The research completed in this thesis supports development of new methods, including improved survey techniques, innovative software workflows, and processing algorithms to aid in the detection and evaluation of geomechanically controlled rockfall hazards. The scientific research conducted between the years of 2006-2010, as presented in this thesis, are divided into five chapters, each of which has been published by or is under review by an international journal. The five research foci are: (i) geomechanical feature extraction and analysis using LiDAR data in active mining environments; (ii) engineered monitoring of rockfall hazards along transportation corridors: using mobile terrestrial LiDAR; (iii) optimization of LiDAR scanning and processing for automated structural evaluation of discontinuities in rockmasses; (iv) location orientation bias when using static LiDAR data for geomechanical analysis; and (v) evaluating roadside rockmasses for rockfall hazards from LiDAR data: optimizing data collection and processing protocols. The research conducted pertaining to this thesis has direct and significant implications with

Implications of sensor configuration and topography on vertical plant profiles derived from terrestrial LiDAR

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Calders, K.; Armston, J.; Newnham, G.; Herold, M.; Goodwin, N.

2014-01-01

The vertical distribution of plant constituents is a key parameter to describe vegetation structure and influences several processes, such as radiation interception, growth and habitat. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), also referred to as terrestrial LiDAR, has the potential to measure the canopy

Unveiling topographical changes using LiDAR mapping capability: case study of Belaga in Sarawak, East-Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Ganendra, T. R.; Khan, N. M.; Razak, W. J.; Kouame, Y.; Mobarakeh, E. T.

2016-06-01

The use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing technology to scan and map landscapes has proven to be one of the most popular techniques to accurately map topography. Thus, LiDAR technology is the ultimate method of unveiling the surface feature under dense vegetation, and, this paper intends to emphasize the diverse techniques that can be utilized to elucidate topographical changes over the study area, using multi-temporal airborne full waveform LiDAR datasets collected in 2012 and 2014. Full waveform LiDAR data offers access to an almost unlimited number of returns per shot, which enables the user to explore in detail topographical changes, such as vegetation growth measurement. The study also found out topography changes at the study area due to earthwork activities contributing to soil consolidation, soil erosion and runoff, requiring cautious monitoring. The implications of this study not only concurs with numerous investigations undertaken by prominent researchers to improve decision making, but also corroborates once again that investigations employing multi-temporal LiDAR data to unveil topography changes in vegetated terrains, produce more detailed and accurate results than most other remote sensing data.

2015 Lowndes County (GA) Lidar

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — TASK NAME: NOAA OCM Lidar for Lowndes County, GA with the option to Collect Lidar in Cook and Tift Counties, GA Lidar Data Acquisition and Processing Production Task...

2015 OLC Lidar: Wasco, WA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — WSI collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the Oregon LiDAR Consortium (OLC) Wasco County, WA, study area. The Oregon LiDAR Consortium's Wasco County...

IMLS-SLAM: scan-to-model matching based on 3D data

OpenAIRE

Deschaud, Jean-Emmanuel

2018-01-01

The Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) problem has been well studied in the robotics community, especially using mono, stereo cameras or depth sensors. 3D depth sensors, such as Velodyne LiDAR, have proved in the last 10 years to be very useful to perceive the environment in autonomous driving, but few methods exist that directly use these 3D data for odometry. We present a new low-drift SLAM algorithm based only on 3D LiDAR data. Our method relies on a scan-to-model matching framew...

Let’s agree on the casing of Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Deering, Carol; Stoker, Jason M.

2014-01-01

Is it lidar, Lidar, LiDAR, LIDAR, LiDar, LiDaR, or liDAR? A comprehensive review of the scientific/technical literature reveals seven different casings of this short form for light detection and ranging. And there could be more.

2012 MEGIS Topographic Lidar: Statewide Lidar Project Area 1 (Aroostook), Maine

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LiDAR data is a remotely sensed high resolution elevation data collected by an airborne platform. The LiDAR sensor uses a combination of laser range finding, GPS...

Pulsed Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric CO2 Column Absorption and Range During the ASCENDS 2009-2011 Airborne Campaigns

Science.gov (United States)

Abshire, J. B.; Weaver, C. J.; Riris, H.; Mao, J.; Sun, X.; Allan, G. R.; Hasselbrack, W. E.; Browell, E. V.

2012-01-01

We have developed a pulsed lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric CO2 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's ASCENDS mission and have demonstrated the CO2 and O2 measurements from aircraft. Our technique uses two pulsed lasers allowing simultaneous measurement of a single CO2 absorption line near 1572 nm, O2 extinction in the Oxygen A-band, surface height and backscatter profile. The lasers are stepped in wavelength across the CO2 line and an O2 line doublet during the measurement. The column densities for the CO2 and O2 are estimated from the differential optical depths (DOD) of the scanned absorption lines via the IPDA technique. For the 2009 ASCENDS campaign we flew the CO2 lidar only on a Lear-25 aircraft, and measured the absorption line shapes of the CO2 line using 20 wavelength samples per scan. Measurements were made at stepped altitudes from 3 to 12.6 km over the Lamont OK, central Illinois, North Carolina, and over the Virginia Eastern Shore. Although the received signal energies were weaker than expected for ASCENDS, clear C02 line shapes were observed at all altitudes. Most flights had 5-6 altitude steps with 200-300 seconds of recorded measurements per step. We averaged every 10 seconds of measurements and used a cross-correlation approach to estimate the range to the scattering surface and the echo pulse energy at each wavelength. We then solved for the best-fit CO2 absorption line shape, and calculated the DOD of the fitted CO2 line, and computed its statistics at the various altitude steps. We compared them to CO2 optical depths calculated from spectroscopy based on HITRAN 2008 and the column number densities calculated from the airborne in-situ readings. The 2009 measurements have been analyzed in detail and they were similar on all flights. The results show clear CO2 line shape and absorption signals, which follow the expected changes with aircraft altitude from 3 to 13 km. They showed the expected nearly the linear dependence of DOD vs

An investigation of rock fall and pore water pressure using LIDAR in Highway 63 rock cuts.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-07-01

The purpose of this research work is compare LIDAR scanning measurements of rock fall with the natural changes in groundwater level to determining the effect of water pressures (levels) on rock fall. To collect the information of rock cut volume chan...

Balloonborne lidar payloads for remote sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, O.; Aurilio, G.; Hurd, A. G.; Rappaport, S. A.; Reidy, W. P.; Rieder, R. J.; Bedo, D. E.; Swirbalus, R. A.

1994-02-01

A series of lidar experiments has been conducted using the Atmospheric Balloonborne Lidar Experiment payload (ABLE). These experiments included the measurement of atmospheric Rayleigh and Mie backscatter from near space (approximately 30 km) and Raman backscatter measurements of atmospheric constituents as a function of altitude. The ABLE payload consisted of a frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser transmitter, a 50 cm receiver telescope, and filtered photodetectors in various focal plane configurations. The payload for lidar pointing, thermal control, data handling, and remote control of the lidar system. Comparison of ABLE performance with that of a space lidar shows significant performance advantages and cost effectiveness for balloonborne lidar systems.

Innovative LIDAR 3D Dynamic Measurement System to estimate fruit-tree leaf area.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanz-Cortiella, Ricardo; Llorens-Calveras, Jordi; Escolà, Alexandre; Arnó-Satorra, Jaume; Ribes-Dasi, Manel; Masip-Vilalta, Joan; Camp, Ferran; Gràcia-Aguilá, Felip; Solanelles-Batlle, Francesc; Planas-DeMartí, Santiago; Pallejà-Cabré, Tomàs; Palacin-Roca, Jordi; Gregorio-Lopez, Eduard; Del-Moral-Martínez, Ignacio; Rosell-Polo, Joan R

2011-01-01

In this work, a LIDAR-based 3D Dynamic Measurement System is presented and evaluated for the geometric characterization of tree crops. Using this measurement system, trees were scanned from two opposing sides to obtain two three-dimensional point clouds. After registration of the point clouds, a simple and easily obtainable parameter is the number of impacts received by the scanned vegetation. The work in this study is based on the hypothesis of the existence of a linear relationship between the number of impacts of the LIDAR sensor laser beam on the vegetation and the tree leaf area. Tests performed under laboratory conditions using an ornamental tree and, subsequently, in a pear tree orchard demonstrate the correct operation of the measurement system presented in this paper. The results from both the laboratory and field tests confirm the initial hypothesis and the 3D Dynamic Measurement System is validated in field operation. This opens the door to new lines of research centred on the geometric characterization of tree crops in the field of agriculture and, more specifically, in precision fruit growing.

CHARACTERIZING URBAN VOLUMETRY USING LIDAR DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Santos

2013-05-01

Most common metrics are based on area (2D measurements. These include indicators like impervious area per capita or surface occupied by green areas, having usually as primary source a spectral image obtained through a satellite or airborne camera. More recently, laser scanning data has become available for large-scale applications. Such sensors acquire altimetric information and are used to produce Digital Surface Models (DSM. In this context, LiDAR data available for the city is explored along with demographic information, and a framework to produce volumetric (3D urban indexes is proposed, and measures like Built Volume per capita, Volumetric Density and Volumetric Homogeneity are computed.

A LiDAR method of canopy structure retrieval for wind modeling of heterogeneous forests

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boudreault, Louis-Etienne; Bechmann, Andreas; Taryainen, Lasse

2015-01-01

and this information is required for each grid point in the three-dimensional computational domain. By using raw data from aerial LiDAR scans together with the Beer-Lambert law, we propose and test a method to calculate and grid highly variable and realistic frontal area density input. An extensive comparison...

A generalized adaptive mathematical morphological filter for LIDAR data

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Zheng

Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology has become the primary method to derive high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs), which are essential for studying Earth's surface processes, such as flooding and landslides. The critical step in generating a DTM is to separate ground and non-ground measurements in a voluminous point LIDAR dataset, using a filter, because the DTM is created by interpolating ground points. As one of widely used filtering methods, the progressive morphological (PM) filter has the advantages of classifying the LIDAR data at the point level, a linear computational complexity, and preserving the geometric shapes of terrain features. The filter works well in an urban setting with a gentle slope and a mixture of vegetation and buildings. However, the PM filter often removes ground measurements incorrectly at the topographic high area, along with large sizes of non-ground objects, because it uses a constant threshold slope, resulting in "cut-off" errors. A novel cluster analysis method was developed in this study and incorporated into the PM filter to prevent the removal of the ground measurements at topographic highs. Furthermore, to obtain the optimal filtering results for an area with undulating terrain, a trend analysis method was developed to adaptively estimate the slope-related thresholds of the PM filter based on changes of topographic slopes and the characteristics of non-terrain objects. The comparison of the PM and generalized adaptive PM (GAPM) filters for selected study areas indicates that the GAPM filter preserves the most "cut-off" points removed incorrectly by the PM filter. The application of the GAPM filter to seven ISPRS benchmark datasets shows that the GAPM filter reduces the filtering error by 20% on average, compared with the method used by the popular commercial software TerraScan. The combination of the cluster method, adaptive trend analysis, and the PM filter allows users without much experience in

Lidar configurations for wind turbine control

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mirzaei, Mahmood; Mann, Jakob

2016-01-01

Lidar sensors have proved to be very beneficial in the wind energy industry. They can be used for yaw correction, feed-forward pitch control and load verification. However, the current lidars are expensive. One way to reduce the price is to use lidars with few measurement points. Finding the best...... by the lidar is compared against the effective wind speed on a wind turbine rotor both theoretically and through simulations. The study provides some results to choose the best configuration of the lidar with few measurement points....

IEA Wind Task 32: Wind lidar identifying and mitigating barriers to the adoption of wind lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clifton, Andrew; Clive, Peter; Gottschall, Julia

2018-01-01

IEA Wind Task 32 exists to identify and mitigate barriers to the adoption of lidar for wind energy applications. It leverages ongoing international research and development activities in academia and industry to investigate site assessment, power performance testing, controls and loads, and complex...... flows. Since its initiation in 2011, Task 32 has been responsible for several recommended practices and expert reports that have contributed to the adoption of ground-based, nacelle-based, and floating lidar by the wind industry. Future challenges include the development of lidar uncertainty models......, best practices for data management, and developing community-based tools for data analysis, planning of lidar measurements and lidar configuration. This paper describes the barriers that Task 32 identified to the deployment of wind lidar in each of these application areas, and the steps that have been...

LIDAR Research & Development Lab

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The LIDAR Research and Development labs are used to investigate and improve LIDAR components such as laser sources, optical signal detectors and optical filters. The...

Model of the Correlation between Lidar Systems and Wind Turbines for Lidar-Assisted Control

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schlipf, David; Cheng, Po Wen; Mann, Jakob

2013-01-01

- or spinner-based lidar system. If on the one hand, the assumed correlation is overestimated, then the uncorrelated frequencies of the preview will cause unnecessary control action, inducing undesired loads. On the other hand, the benefits of the lidar-assisted controller will not be fully exhausted......, if correlated frequencies are filtered out. To avoid these miscalculations, this work presents a method to model the correlation between lidar systems and wind turbines using Kaimal wind spectra. The derived model accounts for different measurement configurations and spatial averaging of the lidar system......Investigations of lidar-assisted control to optimize the energy yield and to reduce loads of wind turbines have increased significantly in recent years. For this kind of control, it is crucial to know the correlation between the rotor effective wind speed and the wind preview provided by a nacelle...

Calibration of Ground-based Lidar instrument

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yordanova, Ginka; Gómez Arranz, Paula

This report presents the result of the lidar calibration performed for the given Ground-based Lidar at DTU’s test site for large wind turbines at Høvsøre, Denmark. Calibration is here understood as the establishment of a relation between the reference wind speed measurements with measurement...... uncertainties provided by measurement standard and corresponding lidar wind speed indications with associated measurement uncertainties. The lidar calibration concerns the 10 minute mean wind speed measurements. The comparison of the lidar measurements of the wind direction with that from wind vanes...

Laser Scanning in Forests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Håkan Olsson

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The introduction of Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS to forests has been revolutionary during the last decade. This development was facilitated by combining earlier ranging lidar discoveries [1–5], with experience obtained from full-waveform ranging radar [6,7] to new airborne laser scanning systems which had components such as a GNSS receiver (Global Navigation Satellite System, IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit and a scanning mechanism. Since the first commercial ALS in 1994, new ALS-based forest inventory approaches have been reported feasible for operational activities [8–12]. ALS is currently operationally applied for stand level forest inventories, for example, in Nordic countries. In Finland alone, the adoption of ALS for forest data collection has led to an annual savings of around 20 M€/year, and the work is mainly done by companies instead of governmental organizations. In spite of the long implementation times and there being a limited tradition of making changes in the forest sector, laser scanning was commercially and operationally applied after about only one decade of research. When analyzing high-ranked journal papers from ISI Web of Science, the topic of laser scanning of forests has been the driving force for the whole laser scanning research society over the last decade. Thus, the topic “laser scanning in forests” has provided a significant industrial, societal and scientific impact. [...

2013 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) Topographic LiDAR: Tulalip Partnership

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In October 2012, WSI (Watershed Sciences, Inc.) was contracted by the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC)to collect Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data on a...

2013 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) Topographic LiDAR: Saddle Mountain

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In October 2013, WSI, a Quantum Spatial Company (QSI), was contracted by the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) to collect Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data...

IEA Wind Task 32: Wind Lidar Identifying and Mitigating Barriers to the Adoption of Wind Lidar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Clifton

2018-03-01

Full Text Available IEA Wind Task 32 exists to identify and mitigate barriers to the adoption of lidar for wind energy applications. It leverages ongoing international research and development activities in academia and industry to investigate site assessment, power performance testing, controls and loads, and complex flows. Since its initiation in 2011, Task 32 has been responsible for several recommended practices and expert reports that have contributed to the adoption of ground-based, nacelle-based, and floating lidar by the wind industry. Future challenges include the development of lidar uncertainty models, best practices for data management, and developing community-based tools for data analysis, planning of lidar measurements and lidar configuration. This paper describes the barriers that Task 32 identified to the deployment of wind lidar in each of these application areas, and the steps that have been taken to confirm or mitigate the barriers. Task 32 will continue to be a meeting point for the international wind lidar community until at least 2020 and welcomes old and new participants.

VEHICLE LOCALIZATION BY LIDAR POINT CORRELATION IMPROVED BY CHANGE DETECTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Schlichting

2016-06-01

Full Text Available LiDAR sensors are proven sensors for accurate vehicle localization. Instead of detecting and matching features in the LiDAR data, we want to use the entire information provided by the scanners. As dynamic objects, like cars, pedestrians or even construction sites could lead to wrong localization results, we use a change detection algorithm to detect these objects in the reference data. If an object occurs in a certain number of measurements at the same position, we mark it and every containing point as static. In the next step, we merge the data of the single measurement epochs to one reference dataset, whereby we only use static points. Further, we also use a classification algorithm to detect trees. For the online localization of the vehicle, we use simulated data of a vertical aligned automotive LiDAR sensor. As we only want to use static objects in this case as well, we use a random forest classifier to detect dynamic scan points online. Since the automotive data is derived from the LiDAR Mobile Mapping System, we are able to use the labelled objects from the reference data generation step to create the training data and further to detect dynamic objects online. The localization then can be done by a point to image correlation method using only static objects. We achieved a localization standard deviation of about 5 cm (position and 0.06° (heading, and were able to successfully localize the vehicle in about 93 % of the cases along a trajectory of 13 km in Hannover, Germany.

Vehicle Localization by LIDAR Point Correlation Improved by Change Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Schlichting, A.; Brenner, C.

2016-06-01

LiDAR sensors are proven sensors for accurate vehicle localization. Instead of detecting and matching features in the LiDAR data, we want to use the entire information provided by the scanners. As dynamic objects, like cars, pedestrians or even construction sites could lead to wrong localization results, we use a change detection algorithm to detect these objects in the reference data. If an object occurs in a certain number of measurements at the same position, we mark it and every containing point as static. In the next step, we merge the data of the single measurement epochs to one reference dataset, whereby we only use static points. Further, we also use a classification algorithm to detect trees. For the online localization of the vehicle, we use simulated data of a vertical aligned automotive LiDAR sensor. As we only want to use static objects in this case as well, we use a random forest classifier to detect dynamic scan points online. Since the automotive data is derived from the LiDAR Mobile Mapping System, we are able to use the labelled objects from the reference data generation step to create the training data and further to detect dynamic objects online. The localization then can be done by a point to image correlation method using only static objects. We achieved a localization standard deviation of about 5 cm (position) and 0.06° (heading), and were able to successfully localize the vehicle in about 93 % of the cases along a trajectory of 13 km in Hannover, Germany.

The Use of Three-Dimensional Convolutional Neural Networks to Interpret LiDAR for Forest Inventory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elias Ayrey

2018-04-01

Full Text Available As light detection and ranging (LiDAR technology becomes more available, it has become common to use these datasets to generate remotely sensed forest inventories across landscapes. Traditional methods for generating these inventories employ the use of height and proportion metrics to measure LiDAR returns and relate these back to field data using predictive models. Here, we employ a three-dimensional convolutional neural network (CNN, a deep learning technique that scans the LiDAR data and automatically generates useful features for predicting forest attributes. We test the accuracy in estimating forest attributes using the three-dimensional implementations of different CNN models commonly used in the field of image recognition. Using the best performing model architecture, we compared CNN performance to models developed using traditional height metrics. The results of this comparison show that CNNs produced 12% less prediction error when estimating biomass, 6% less in estimating tree count, and 2% less when estimating the percentage of needleleaf trees. We conclude that using CNNs can be a more accurate means of interpreting LiDAR data for forest inventories compared to standard approaches.

Three Dimensional Dynamic Model Based Wind Field Reconstruction from Lidar Data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raach, Steffen; Schlipf, David; Haizmann, Florian; Cheng, Po Wen

2014-01-01

dimensional turbulent wind field in real-time, scanned by a lidar system with an optimized trajectory

Observations of beach cusp evolution using a stationary, shore-based lidar system

Science.gov (United States)

O'Dea, A.; Whitesides, E. T.; Brodie, K.; Spore, N.

2016-12-01

Although beach cusps are common features on beaches around the world, questions still remain regarding the range of conditions in which they form, the initial forcing conditions under which they form, and the erosive or accretionary nature of cusp events. While many prior studies have focused on the formation and morphology of beach cusps, many of these are limited in the spatial extent of observations, in their spatial or temporal resolution, or in the availability of accompanying hydrodynamic data. In this study, beach cusp formation and evolution is investigated using an automated lidar system that provides hourly three-dimensional scans of subaerial beach topography with high spatial resolution ([O(1 cm)]). The stationary lidar scanner is mounted on a 4-m tower located on the crest of a shore-backing dune on an Atlantic Ocean beach near Duck, North Carolina. The device measures a 237°-framescan of the nearshore region over a 15 minute period each hour. Individual scans are coregistered to a baseline scan using an iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm and then filtered to remove noise, dune vegetation, and water. To assess the accuracy of the coregistration algorithm, the 3-dimensional location of five permanent reflectors near the device are found for each scan and compared to their measured GPS location. Precisely coregistered scans allow for an assessment of elevation change across cuspate features in addition to traditional measurements of cusp wavelength. Beach cusp events are assessed over a three month period from September through November 2015. Wave and current data from a cross-shore array of sensors deployed continuously throughout the three month period as well as from two alongshore arrays of ADV sensors deployed from October 13 through November 1 are used to determine the forcing conditions under which the cusps formed and evolved. Funded by the USACE Coastal Field Data Collection Program.

Lidar Inter-Comparison Exercise Final Campaign Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Protat, A [Australian Bureau of Meterology; Young, S

2015-02-01

The objective of this field campaign was to evaluate the performance of the new Leosphere R-MAN 510 lidar, procured by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, by testing it against the MicroPulse Lidar (MPL) and Raman lidars, at the Darwin Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site. This lidar is an eye-safe (355 nm), turn-key mini Raman lidar, which allows for the detection of aerosols and cloud properties, and the retrieval of particulate extinction profiles. To accomplish this evaluation, the R-MAN 510 lidar has been operated at the Darwin ARM site, next to the MPL, Raman lidar, and Vaisala ceilometer (VCEIL) for three months (from 20 January 2013 to 20 April 2013) in order to collect a sufficient sample size for statistical comparisons.

2015 OLC Lidar DEM: Wasco, WA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — WSI collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the Oregon LiDAR Consortium (OLC) Wasco County, WA, study area. The Oregon LiDAR Consortium's Wasco County...

Adaptive Data Processing Technique for Lidar-Assisted Control to Bridge the Gap between Lidar Systems and Wind Turbines: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schlipf, David; Raach, Steffen; Haizmann, Florian; Cheng, Po Wen; Fleming, Paul; Scholbrock, Andrew, Krishnamurthy, Raghu; Boquet, Mathieu

2015-12-14

This paper presents first steps toward an adaptive lidar data processing technique crucial for lidar-assisted control in wind turbines. The prediction time and the quality of the wind preview from lidar measurements depend on several factors and are not constant. If the data processing is not continually adjusted, the benefit of lidar-assisted control cannot be fully exploited, or can even result in harmful control action. An online analysis of the lidar and turbine data are necessary to continually reassess the prediction time and lidar data quality. In this work, a structured process to develop an analysis tool for the prediction time and a new hardware setup for lidar-assisted control are presented. The tool consists of an online estimation of the rotor effective wind speed from lidar and turbine data and the implementation of an online cross correlation to determine the time shift between both signals. Further, initial results from an ongoing campaign in which this system was employed for providing lidar preview for feed-forward pitch control are presented.

2015 OLC Lidar: Chelan

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Quantum Spatial has collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the Oregon LiDAR Consortium (OLC) Chelan FEMA study area. This study area is located in...

Better Visualisation of Air-borne Laser Scanning for geomorphological and archaeological interpretation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ljungberg, Thomas; Scott, D; Kristiansen, Søren Munch

Digital elevation models derived from high-precision Air-borne Laser Scanning (ALS or LiDAR) point clouds are becoming increasingly available throughout the world. These elevation models presents a very valuable tool for locating and interpreting geomorphological as well as archaeological features...

2009 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) Topographic LiDAR: Lewis County, Washington

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Watershed Sciences, Inc. (WSI) collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the Lewis County survey area for the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium. This data...

The impact of forest structure and spatial scale on the relationship between ground plot above ground biomass and GEDI lidar waveforms

Science.gov (United States)

Armston, J.; Marselis, S.; Hancock, S.; Duncanson, L.; Tang, H.; Kellner, J. R.; Calders, K.; Disney, M.; Dubayah, R.

2017-12-01

The NASA Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) will place a multi-beam waveform lidar instrument on the International Space Station (ISS) to provide measurements of forest vertical structure globally. These measurements of structure will underpin empirical modelling of above ground biomass density (AGBD) at the scale of individual GEDI lidar footprints (25m diameter). The GEDI pre-launch calibration strategy for footprint level models relies on linking AGBD estimates from ground plots with GEDI lidar waveforms simulated from coincident discrete return airborne laser scanning data. Currently available ground plot data have variable and often large uncertainty at the spatial resolution of GEDI footprints due to poor colocation, allometric model error, sample size and plot edge effects. The relative importance of these sources of uncertainty partly depends on the quality of ground measurements and region. It is usually difficult to know the magnitude of these uncertainties a priori so a common approach to mitigate their influence on model training is to aggregate ground plot and waveform lidar data to a coarser spatial scale (0.25-1ha). Here we examine the impacts of these principal sources of uncertainty using a 3D simulation approach. Sets of realistic tree models generated from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data or parametric modelling matched to tree inventory data were assembled from four contrasting forest plots across tropical rainforest, deciduous temperate forest, and sclerophyll eucalypt woodland sites. These tree models were used to simulate geometrically explicit 3D scenes with variable tree density, size class and spatial distribution. GEDI lidar waveforms are simulated over ground plots within these scenes using monte carlo ray tracing, allowing the impact of varying ground plot and waveform colocation error, forest structure and edge effects on the relationship between ground plot AGBD and GEDI lidar waveforms to be directly assessed. We

Charactering lidar optical subsystem using four quadrants method

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Xiaomin; Liu, Dong; Xu, Jiwei; Wang, Zhenzhu; Wang, Bangxin; Wu, Decheng; Zhong, Zhiqing; Xie, Chenbo; Wang, Yingjian

2018-02-01

Lidar is a kind of active optical remote sensing instruments , can be applied to sound atmosphere with a high spatial and temporal resolution. Many parameter of atmosphere can be get by using different inverse algorithm with lidar backscatter signal. The basic setup of a lidar consist of a transmitter and a receiver. To make sure the quality of lidar signal data, the lidar must be calibrated before being used to measure the atmospheric variables. It is really significant to character and analyze lidar optical subsystem because a well equiped lidar optical subsystem contributes to high quality lidar signal data. we pay close attention to telecover test to character and analyze lidar optical subsystem.The telecover test is called four quadrants method consisting in dividing the telescope aperture in four quarants. when a lidar is well configured with lidar optical subsystem, the normalized signal from four qudrants will agree with each other on some level. Testing our WARL-II lidar by four quadrants method ,we find the signals of the four basically consistent with each other both in near range and in far range. But in detail, the signals in near range have some slight distinctions resulting from overlap function, some signals distinctions are induced by atmospheric instability.

Data processing technique for multiangle lidar sounding of poorly stratified polluted atmospheres: Theory and experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Cyle E. Wold; Vladimir A. Kovalev; Alexander P. Petkov; Wei Min Hao

2012-01-01

Scanning elastic lidar, which can operate in different slant directions, is the most appropriate remote sensing tool for investigating the optical properties of smoke-polluted atmospheres. However, the commonly used methodologies of multiangle measurements are based on the assumption of horizontal stratification of the searched atmosphere1,2. When working in real...

Application of short-range dual-Doppler lidars to evaluate the coherence of turbulence

Science.gov (United States)

Cheynet, Etienne; Jakobsen, Jasna Bogunović; Snæbjörnsson, Jónas; Mikkelsen, Torben; Sjöholm, Mikael; Mann, Jakob; Hansen, Per; Angelou, Nikolas; Svardal, Benny

2016-12-01

Two synchronized continuous wave scanning lidars are used to study the coherence of the along-wind and across-wind velocity components. The goal is to evaluate the potential of the lidar technology for application in wind engineering. The wind lidars were installed on the Lysefjord Bridge during four days in May 2014 to monitor the wind field in the horizontal plane upstream of the bridge deck. Wind records obtained by five sonic anemometers mounted on the West side of the bridge are used as reference data. Single- and two-point statistics of wind turbulence are studied, with special emphasis on the root-coherence and the co-coherence of turbulence. A four-parameter decaying exponential function has been fitted to the measured co-coherence, and a good agreement is observed between data obtained by the sonic anemometers and the lidars. The root-coherence of turbulence is compared to theoretical models. The analytical predictions agree rather well with the measured coherence for the along-wind component. For increasing wavenumbers, larger discrepancies are, however, noticeable between the measured coherence and the theoretical predictions. The WindScanners are observed to slightly overestimate the integral length scales, which could not be explained by the laser beam averaging effect alone. On the other hand, the spatial averaging effect does not seem to have any significant effect on the coherence.

The design, development, and test of balloonborne and groundbased lidar systems. Volume 1: Balloonborne coherent CO2 lidar system

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, O.; Aurilio, G.; Bucknam, R. D.; Hurd, A. G.; Rappaport, S. A.

1991-06-01

This is Volume 1 of a three volume final report on the design, development, and test of balloonborne and groundbased lidar systems. Volume 2 describes the flight test of Atmospheric Balloonborne Lidar Experiment, ABLE 2, which successfully made atmospheric density backscatter measurements during a flight over White Sands Missile Range. Volume 3 describes groundbased lidar development and measurements, including the design of a telescope dome lidar installation, the design of a transportable lidar shed for remote field sites, and field measurements of atmospheric and cloud backscatter from Ascension Island during SABLE 89 and Terciera, Azores during GABLE 90. In this volume, Volume 1, the design and fabrication of a balloonborne CO2 coherent lidar payload are described. The purpose of this payload is to measure, from altitudes greater than 20 km, the 10.6 micrometers backscatter from atmospheric aerosols as a function of altitude. Minor modifications to the lidar would provide for aerosol velocity measurements to be made. The lidar and payload system design was completed, and major components were fabricated and assembled. These tasks have been successfully completed, and recommendations for further lidar measurements and data analysis have been made.

The value of Doppler LiDAR systems to monitor turbulence intensity during storm events in order to enhance aviation safety in Iceland

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Shu; Nína Petersen, Guðrún; Finger, David C.

2017-04-01

Turbulence and wind shear are a major natural hazards for aviation safety in Iceland. The temporal and spatial scale of atmospheric turbulence is very dynamic, requiring an adequate method to detect and monitor turbulence with high resolution. The Doppler Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system can provide continuous information about the wind field using the Doppler effect form emitted light signals. In this study, we use a Leosphere Windcube 200s LiDAR systems stationed near Reykjavik city Airport and at Keflavik International Airport, Iceland, to evaluate turbulence intensity by estimating eddy dissipation rate (EDR). For this purpose, we retrieved radial wind velocity observations from Velocity Azimuth Display (VAD) scans (360°scans at 15° and 75° elevation angle) to compute EDR. The method was used to monitor and characterize storm events in fall 2016 and the following winter. The preliminary result reveal that the LiDAR observations can detect and quantify atmospheric turbulence with high spatial and temporal resolution. This finding is an important step towards enhanced aviation safety in subpolar climate characterized by sever wind turbulence.

Semiconductor Laser Wind Lidar for Turbine Control

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Qi

This thesis describes an experimentally oriented study of continuous wave (CW) coherent Doppler lidar system design. The main application is remote wind sensing for active wind turbine control using nacelle mounted lidar systems; and the primary focus is to devise an industrial instrument that can...... historical overview within the topic of wind lidar systems. Both the potential and the challenges of an industrialized wind lidar has been addressed here. Furthermore, the basic concept behind the heterodyne detection and a brief overview of the lidar signal processing is explained; and a simple...... investigation of the telescope truncation and lens aberrations is conducted, both numerically and experimentally. It is shown that these parameters dictate the spatial resolution of the lidar system, and have profound impact on the SNR. In this work, an all-semiconductor light source is used in the lidar design...

Palingol: a declarative programming language to describe nucleic acids' secondary structures and to scan sequence database.

Science.gov (United States)

Billoud, B; Kontic, M; Viari, A

1996-01-01

At the DNA/RNA level, biological signals are defined by a combination of spatial structures and sequence motifs. Until now, few attempts had been made in writing general purpose search programs that take into account both sequence and structure criteria. Indeed, the most successful structure scanning programs are usually dedicated to particular structures and are written using general purpose programming languages through a complex and time consuming process where the biological problem of defining the structure and the computer engineering problem of looking for it are intimately intertwined. In this paper, we describe a general representation of structures, suitable for database scanning, together with a programming language, Palingol, designed to manipulate it. Palingol has specific data types, corresponding to structural elements-basically helices-that can be arranged in any way to form a complex structure. As a consequence of the declarative approach used in Palingol, the user should only focus on 'what to search for' while the language engine takes care of 'how to look for it'. Therefore, it becomes simpler to write a scanning program and the structural constraints that define the required structure are more clearly identified. PMID:8628670

LIDAR wind speed measurements from a rotating spinner (SpinnerEx 2009)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Angelou, Nikolas; Mikkelsen, Torben; Hansen, Kasper Hjorth

spinner of a MW-sized wind turbine, and investigate the approaching wind fields from this vantage point. Time series of wind speed measurements from the lidar with 50 Hz sampling rate were successfully obtained for approximately 60 days, during the measurement campaign lasting from April to August 2009....... In this report, information is given regarding the experimental setup and the lidar’s operation parameters. The geometrical model used for the reconstruction of the scanning pattern of the lidar is described. This model takes into account the lidar’s pointing direction, the spinner axis’s vertical tilt...... and the wind turbine’s yaw relative to the mean wind speed direction. The data analysis processes are documented. A methodology for the calculation of the yaw misalignment of the wind turbine relative to the wind direction, as a function of various averaging times, is proposed, using the lidar’s instantaneous...

Development of lidar techniques for environmental studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andersson, Mats

1996-09-01

The lidar group in Lund has performed many DIAL measurements with a mobile lidar system that was first described in 1987. The lidar system is based on a Nd:YAG-pumped dye laser. During the last few years the lidar group has focused on fluorescence imaging and mercury measurements in the troposphere. In 1994 we performed two campaigns: one fluorescence imaging measurement campaign outside Avignon, France and one unique lidar campaign at a mercury mine in Almaden, Spain. Both campaigns are described in this thesis. This thesis also describes how the mobile lidar system was updated with the graphical programming language LabVIEW to obtain a user friendly lidar system. The software controls the lidar system and analyses measured data. The measurement results are shown as maps of species concentration. All electronics and the major parts of the program are described. A new graphical technique to estimate wind speed from plumes is also discussed. First measurements have been performed with the new system. 31 refs, 19 figs, 1 tab

A graph signal filtering-based approach for detection of different edge types on airborne lidar data

Science.gov (United States)

Bayram, Eda; Vural, Elif; Alatan, Aydin

2017-10-01

Airborne Laser Scanning is a well-known remote sensing technology, which provides a dense and highly accurate, yet unorganized point cloud of earth surface. During the last decade, extracting information from the data generated by airborne LiDAR systems has been addressed by many studies in geo-spatial analysis and urban monitoring applications. However, the processing of LiDAR point clouds is challenging due to their irregular structure and 3D geometry. In this study, we propose a novel framework for the detection of the boundaries of an object or scene captured by LiDAR. Our approach is motivated by edge detection techniques in vision research and it is established on graph signal filtering which is an exciting and promising field of signal processing for irregular data types. Due to the convenient applicability of graph signal processing tools on unstructured point clouds, we achieve the detection of the edge points directly on 3D data by using a graph representation that is constructed exclusively to answer the requirements of the application. Moreover, considering the elevation data as the (graph) signal, we leverage aerial characteristic of the airborne LiDAR data. The proposed method can be employed both for discovering the jump edges on a segmentation problem and for exploring the crease edges on a LiDAR object on a reconstruction/modeling problem, by only adjusting the filter characteristics.

THE BENEFITS OF TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING AND HYPERSPECTRAL DATA FUSION PRODUCTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. J. Buckley

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Close range hyperspectral imaging is a developing method for the analysis and identification of material composition in many applications, such as in within the earth sciences. Using compact imaging devices in the field allows near-vertical topography to be imaged, thus bypassing the key limitations of viewing angle and resolution that preclude the use of airborne and spaceborne platforms. Terrestrial laser scanning allows 3D topography to be captured with high precision and spatial resolution. The combination of 3D geometry from laser scanning, and material properties from hyperspectral imaging allows new fusion products to be created, adding new information for solving application problems. This paper highlights the advantages of terrestrial lidar and hyperspectral integration, focussing on the qualitative and quantitative aspects, with examples from a geological field application. Accurate co-registration of the two data types is required. This allows 2D pixels to be linked to the 3D lidar geometry, giving increased quantitative analysis as classified material vectors are projected to 3D space for calculation of areas and examination of spatial relationships. User interpretation of hyperspectral results in a spatially-meaningful manner is facilitated using visual methods that combine the geometric and mineralogical products in a 3D environment. Point cloud classification and the use of photorealistic modelling enhance qualitative validation and interpretation, and allow image registration accuracy to be checked. A method for texture mapping of lidar meshes with multiple image textures, both conventional digital photos and hyperspectral results, is described. The integration of terrestrial laser scanning and hyperspectral imaging is a valuable means of providing new analysis methods, suitable for many applications requiring linked geometric and chemical information.

Installation report - Lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Georgieva Yankova, Ginka; Villanueva, Héctor

The report describes the installation, configuration and data transfer for the ground-based lidar. The unit is provided by a customer but is installed and operated by DTU while in this project.......The report describes the installation, configuration and data transfer for the ground-based lidar. The unit is provided by a customer but is installed and operated by DTU while in this project....

Investigation of the Impact of the Upstream Induction Zone on LIDAR Measurement Accuracy for Wind Turbine Control Applications using Large-Eddy Simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simley, Eric; Pao, Lucy Y; Gebraad, Pieter; Churchfield, Matthew

2014-01-01

Several sources of error exist in lidar measurements for feedforward control of wind turbines including the ability to detect only radial velocities, spatial averaging, and wind evolution. This paper investigates another potential source of error: the upstream induction zone. The induction zone can directly affect lidar measurements and presents an opportunity for further decorrelation between upstream wind and the wind that interacts with the rotor. The impact of the induction zone is investigated using the combined CFD and aeroelastic code SOWFA. Lidar measurements are simulated upstream of a 5 MW turbine rotor and the true wind disturbances are found using a wind speed estimator and turbine outputs. Lidar performance in the absence of an induction zone is determined by simulating lidar measurements and the turbine response using the aeroelastic code FAST with wind inputs taken far upstream of the original turbine location in the SOWFA wind field. Results indicate that while measurement quality strongly depends on the amount of wind evolution, the induction zone has little effect. However, the optimal lidar preview distance and circular scan radius change slightly due to the presence of the induction zone

Frequency Stepped Pulse Train Modulated Wind Sensing Lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Anders Sig; Pedersen, Anders Tegtmeier; Rottwitt, Karsten

2011-01-01

of frequency shifts corresponding to a specific distance. The spatial resolution depends on the repetition rate of the pulses in the pulse train. Directional wind measurements are shown and compared to a CW lidar measurement. The carrier to noise ratio of the FSPT lidar compared to a CW lidar is discussed......In this paper a wind sensing lidar utilizing a Frequency Stepped Pulse Train (FSPT) is demonstrated. One of the advantages in the FSTP lidar is that it enables direct measurement of wind speed as a function of distance from the lidar. Theoretically the FSPT lidar continuously produces measurements...... as is the case with a CW lidar, but at the same time with a spatial resolution, and without the range ambiguity originating from e.g. clouds. The FSPT lidar utilizes a frequency sweeping source for generation of the FSPT. The source generates a pulse train where each pulse has an optical carrier frequency...

Evaluating Mesoscale Simulations of the Coastal Flow Using Lidar Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Floors, R.; Hahmann, A. N.; Peña, A.

2018-03-01

The atmospheric flow in the coastal zone is investigated using lidar and mast measurements and model simulations. Novel dual-Doppler scanning lidars were used to investigate the flow over a 7 km transect across the coast, and vertically profiling lidars were used to study the vertical wind profile at offshore and onshore positions. The Weather, Research and Forecasting model is set up in 12 different configurations using 2 planetary boundary layer schemes, 3 horizontal grid spacings and varied sources of land use, and initial and lower boundary conditions. All model simulations describe the observed mean wind profile well at different onshore and offshore locations from the surface up to 500 m. The simulated mean horizontal wind speed gradient across the shoreline is close to that observed, although all simulations show wind speeds that are slightly higher than those observed. Inland at the lowest observed height, the model has the largest deviations compared to the observations. Taylor diagrams show that using ERA-Interim data as boundary conditions improves the model skill scores. Simulations with 0.5 and 1 km horizontal grid spacing show poorer model performance compared to those with a 2 km spacing, partially because smaller resolved wave lengths degrade standard error metrics. Modeled and observed velocity spectra were compared and showed that simulations with the finest horizontal grid spacing resolved more high-frequency atmospheric motion.

Categorisation of full waveform data provided by laser scanning devices

Science.gov (United States)

Ullrich, Andreas; Pfennigbauer, Martin

2011-11-01

In 2004, a laser scanner device for commercial airborne laser scanning applications, the RIEGL LMS-Q560, was introduced to the market, making use of a radical alternative approach to the traditional analogue signal detection and processing schemes found in LIDAR instruments so far: digitizing the echo signals received by the instrument for every laser pulse and analysing these echo signals off-line in a so-called full waveform analysis in order to retrieve almost all information contained in the echo signal using transparent algorithms adaptable to specific applications. In the field of laser scanning the somewhat unspecific term "full waveform data" has since been established. We attempt a categorisation of the different types of the full waveform data found in the market. We discuss the challenges in echo digitization and waveform analysis from an instrument designer's point of view and we will address the benefits to be gained by using this technique, especially with respect to the so-called multi-target capability of pulsed time-of-flight LIDAR instruments.

Remote sensing of sulphur dioxide emissions of sea-going vessels through lidar; Zwaveldioxide-uitstoot van zeeschepen op afstand gemeten met lidar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berkhout, A J.C.; Swart, D P.J.; Van der Hoff, G R; Bergwerff, J B

2011-12-15

RIVM developed an instrument to measure from the shore sulphur dioxide emissions of passing sea-going vessels. This instrument uses the lidar technique (Light Detection And Ranging). The instrument uses a laser beam to scan the exhaust plume from a passing ship and determine the emission, unnoticed. It was used from 2006 to 2008 to measure sulphur dioxide emissions from a large number of ships sailing on the Westerscheldt estuary and on the North Sea Canal. The highest measured emission was 37 gram per second. The total emission of sulphur dioxide in the Netherlands has been declining for many years. Since 2006, emissions from ocean shipping are declining as well, but not as fast as those from other sources. Therefore, the contribution from ocean shipping is gaining importance. In 2010, 55 percent of the Dutch sulphur dioxide emissions originated with sea-going vessels. In 1990, this was 21 percent. Sea-going ships are not allowed to use sulphur-rich fuel in territorial waters and at the North Sea. This relatively cheap fuel may be on board, though, for use elsewhere at sea. To what extent ship owners comply with this ban is not known. Traditional measurement methods involve taking fuel samples on board. This requires someone boarding the ship. The crew therefore knows a measurement is taking place and can adjust the type of fuel used. Moreover, with traditional methods, only a few ships per day can be checked. Lidar is not yet recognised as a law enforcement instrument. Therefore, no fines can be imposed based on lidar measurements only. The lidar may be used, though, to identify possible offenders. A law enforcement official may then board that ship to ascertain that the law was breached. When used in this way, the use of the lidar is cost-effective even now. This is because the lidar can measure almost all passing ships. Expensive patrol ships can then be directed to only visit those ships that are the most likely offenders. Moreover, this greatly increases the

From Cooperative Scans to Predictive Buffer Management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. Switakowski; P.A. Boncz (Peter); M. Zukowski (Marcin)

2012-01-01

textabstractIn analytical applications, database systems often need to sustain workloads with multiple concurrent scans hitting the same table. The Cooperative Scans (CScans) framework, which introduces an Active Buer Manager (ABM) component into the database architecture, has been the most

The design, development, and test of balloonborne and groundbased lidar systems. Volume 2: Flight test of Atmospheric Balloon Lidar Experiment, ABLE 2

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, O.; Bucknam, R. D.; Hurd, A. G.; Sheehan, W. H.

1991-06-01

This is Volume 3 of a three volume final report on the design, development, and test of balloonborne and groundbased lidar systems. Volume 1 describes the design and fabrication of a balloonborne CO2 coherent payload to measure the 10.6 micrometers backscatter from atmospheric aerosols as a function of altitude. Volume 2 describes the Aug. 1987 flight test of Atmospheric Balloonborne Lidar Experiment, ABLE 2. In this volume we describe groundbased lidar development and measurements. A design was developed for installation of the ABLE lidar in the GL rooftop dome. A transportable shed was designed to house the ABLE lidar at the various remote measurement sites. Refurbishment and modification of the ABLE lidar were completed to permit groundbased lidar measurements of clouds and aerosols. Lidar field measurements were made at Ascension Island during SABLE 89. Lidar field measurements were made at Terciera, Azores during GABLE 90. These tasks were successfully completed, and recommendations for further lidar measurements and data analysis were made.

Wind observations above an urban river using a new lidar technique, scintillometry and anemometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wood, C.R. [Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6BB (United Kingdom); Finnish Meteorological Institute, Erik Palmenin aukio 1, Helsinki, 00101 (Finland); Pauscher, L. [King' s College London, Department of Geography, London, WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Ward, H.C. [King' s College London, Department of Geography, London, WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB (United Kingdom); Kotthaus, S. [King' s College London, Department of Geography, London, WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Barlow, J.F., E-mail: j.f.barlow@reading.ac.uk [Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6BB (United Kingdom); Gouvea, M. [King' s College London, Department of Geography, London, WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Lane, S.E. [Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6BB (United Kingdom); Grimmond, C.S.B. [King' s College London, Department of Geography, London, WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom)

2013-01-01

Airflow along rivers might provide a key mechanism for ventilation in cities: important for air quality and thermal comfort. Airflow varies in space and time in the vicinity of rivers. Consequently, there is limited utility in point measurements. Ground-based remote sensing offers the opportunity to study 3D airflow in locations which are difficult to observe with conventional approaches. For three months in the winter and spring of 2011, the airflow above the River Thames in central London was observed using a scanning Doppler lidar, a scintillometer and sonic anemometers. First, an inter-comparison showed that lidar-derived mean wind-speed estimates compare almost as well to sonic anemometers (root-mean-square error (rmse) 0.65-0.68 m s{sup -1}) as comparisons between sonic anemometers (0.35-0.73 m s{sup -1}). Second, the lidar duo-beam operating strategy provided horizontal transects of wind vectors (comparison with scintillometer rmse 1.12-1.63 m s{sup -1}) which revealed mean and turbulent airflow across the river and surrounds; in particular, channelled airflow along the river and changes in turbulence quantities consistent with the roughness changes between built and river environments. The results have important consequences for air quality and dispersion around urban rivers, especially given that many cities have high traffic rates on roads located on riverbanks. -- Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer An inter-comparison was made between lidar-derived winds and regular anemometry. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A new lidar operating technique was developed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Airflow features above an urban river included channelling of wind.

Wind observations above an urban river using a new lidar technique, scintillometry and anemometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, C.R.; Pauscher, L.; Ward, H.C.; Kotthaus, S.; Barlow, J.F.; Gouvea, M.; Lane, S.E.; Grimmond, C.S.B.

2013-01-01

Airflow along rivers might provide a key mechanism for ventilation in cities: important for air quality and thermal comfort. Airflow varies in space and time in the vicinity of rivers. Consequently, there is limited utility in point measurements. Ground-based remote sensing offers the opportunity to study 3D airflow in locations which are difficult to observe with conventional approaches. For three months in the winter and spring of 2011, the airflow above the River Thames in central London was observed using a scanning Doppler lidar, a scintillometer and sonic anemometers. First, an inter-comparison showed that lidar-derived mean wind-speed estimates compare almost as well to sonic anemometers (root-mean-square error (rmse) 0.65–0.68 m s −1 ) as comparisons between sonic anemometers (0.35–0.73 m s −1 ). Second, the lidar duo-beam operating strategy provided horizontal transects of wind vectors (comparison with scintillometer rmse 1.12–1.63 m s −1 ) which revealed mean and turbulent airflow across the river and surrounds; in particular, channelled airflow along the river and changes in turbulence quantities consistent with the roughness changes between built and river environments. The results have important consequences for air quality and dispersion around urban rivers, especially given that many cities have high traffic rates on roads located on riverbanks. -- Highlights: ► An inter-comparison was made between lidar-derived winds and regular anemometry. ► A new lidar operating technique was developed. ► Airflow features above an urban river included channelling of wind.

2006 MDEQ Camp Shelby, MS Lidar Survey

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This metadata record describes the acquisition and processing of bare earth lidar data, raw point cloud lidar data, lidar intensity data, and floodmap breaklines...

2015 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) LiDAR: WA DNR Lands (P1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In June 2014, WSI, a Quantum Spatial Inc. (QSI) company, was contracted by the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) to collect Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)...

2014 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) Topographic LiDAR: Willapa Valley (Delivery 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In January, 2014 WSI, a Quantum Spatial (QSI) company, was contracted by the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) to collect Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data...

2015 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) LiDAR: WA DNR Lands (P2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In June 2014, WSI, a Quantum Spatial Inc. (QSI) company, was contracted by the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) to collect Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)...

Detecting Multi-layered Forest Stands Using High Density Airborne LiDAR Data. GI_Forum|GI_Forum 2015 – Geospatial Minds for Society|

OpenAIRE

Schultz, Alfred; Mund, Jan-Peter; Körner, Michael; Wilke, Robert

2016-01-01

Since two decades, the use of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) has become very prominent in analysing 3D forest structures (AKAY et al. 2009). The potential of full waveform analysis of high density Airborne LiDAR data (ALS) for the detection and structural analysis of multi-layered forest stands is not yet well investigated (JASKIERNIAK et al. 2011), although ALS data provide exact information on tree heights of multi-layered forest stands usi...

ASSESSING TEMPORAL BEHAVIOR IN LIDAR POINT CLOUDS OF URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Schachtschneider

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Self-driving cars and robots that run autonomously over long periods of time need high-precision and up-to-date models of the changing environment. The main challenge for creating long term maps of dynamic environments is to identify changes and adapt the map continuously. Changes can occur abruptly, gradually, or even periodically. In this work, we investigate how dense mapping data of several epochs can be used to identify the temporal behavior of the environment. This approach anticipates possible future scenarios where a large fleet of vehicles is equipped with sensors which continuously capture the environment. This data is then being sent to a cloud based infrastructure, which aligns all datasets geometrically and subsequently runs scene analysis on it, among these being the analysis for temporal changes of the environment. Our experiments are based on a LiDAR mobile mapping dataset which consists of 150 scan strips (a total of about 1 billion points, which were obtained in multiple epochs. Parts of the scene are covered by up to 28 scan strips. The time difference between the first and last epoch is about one year. In order to process the data, the scan strips are aligned using an overall bundle adjustment, which estimates the surface (about one billion surface element unknowns as well as 270,000 unknowns for the adjustment of the exterior orientation parameters. After this, the surface misalignment is usually below one centimeter. In the next step, we perform a segmentation of the point clouds using a region growing algorithm. The segmented objects and the aligned data are then used to compute an occupancy grid which is filled by tracing each individual LiDAR ray from the scan head to every point of a segment. As a result, we can assess the behavior of each segment in the scene and remove voxels from temporal objects from the global occupancy grid.

Assessing Temporal Behavior in LIDAR Point Clouds of Urban Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Schachtschneider, J.; Schlichting, A.; Brenner, C.

2017-05-01

Self-driving cars and robots that run autonomously over long periods of time need high-precision and up-to-date models of the changing environment. The main challenge for creating long term maps of dynamic environments is to identify changes and adapt the map continuously. Changes can occur abruptly, gradually, or even periodically. In this work, we investigate how dense mapping data of several epochs can be used to identify the temporal behavior of the environment. This approach anticipates possible future scenarios where a large fleet of vehicles is equipped with sensors which continuously capture the environment. This data is then being sent to a cloud based infrastructure, which aligns all datasets geometrically and subsequently runs scene analysis on it, among these being the analysis for temporal changes of the environment. Our experiments are based on a LiDAR mobile mapping dataset which consists of 150 scan strips (a total of about 1 billion points), which were obtained in multiple epochs. Parts of the scene are covered by up to 28 scan strips. The time difference between the first and last epoch is about one year. In order to process the data, the scan strips are aligned using an overall bundle adjustment, which estimates the surface (about one billion surface element unknowns) as well as 270,000 unknowns for the adjustment of the exterior orientation parameters. After this, the surface misalignment is usually below one centimeter. In the next step, we perform a segmentation of the point clouds using a region growing algorithm. The segmented objects and the aligned data are then used to compute an occupancy grid which is filled by tracing each individual LiDAR ray from the scan head to every point of a segment. As a result, we can assess the behavior of each segment in the scene and remove voxels from temporal objects from the global occupancy grid.

Calibration Methods for a Space Borne Backscatter Lidar

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kunz, G.J.

1996-01-01

Lidar returns from cloud decks and from the Earth's surface are useful for calibrating single scatter lidar signals from space. To this end analytical methods (forward and backward) are presented for inverting lidar waveforms in terms of the path integrated lidar retum and the transmission losses

New Generation Lidar Technology and Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Spinhirne, James D.

1999-01-01

Lidar has been a tool for atmospheric research for several decades. Until recently routine operational use of lidar was not known. Problems have involved a lack of appropriate technology rather than a lack of applications. Within the last few years, lidar based on a new generation of solid state lasers and detectors have changed the situation. Operational applications for cloud and aerosol research applications are now well established. In these research applications, the direct height profiling capability of lidar is typically an adjunct to other types of sensing, both passive and active. Compact eye safe lidar with the sensitivity for ground based monitoring of all significant cloud and aerosol structure and the reliability to operate full time for several years is now in routine use. The approach is known as micro pulse lidar (MPL). For MPL the laser pulse repetition rate is in the kilohertz range and the pulse energies are in the micro-Joule range. The low pulse energy permits the systems to be eye safe and reliable with solid state lasers. A number of MPL systems have been deployed since 1992 at atmospheric research sites at a variety of global locations. Accurate monitoring of cloud and aerosol vertical distribution is a critical measurement for atmospheric radiation. An airborne application of lidar cloud and aerosol profiling is retrievals of parameters from combined lidar and passive sensing involving visible, infrared and microwave frequencies. A lidar based on a large pulse, solid state diode pumped ND:YAG laser has been deployed on the NASA ER-2 high altitude research aircraft along with multi-spectral visible/IR and microwave imaging radiometers since 1993. The system has shown high reliability in an extensive series of experimental projects for cloud remote sensing. The retrieval of cirrus radiation parameters is an effective application for combined lidar and passive sensing. An approved NASA mission will soon begin long term lidar observation of

2012 USGS Lidar: Juneau (AK)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This task order is for planning, acquisition, processing, and derivative products of LiDAR data to be collected for Juneau, Alaska. LiDAR data, and derivative...

Detection and classification of pole-like road objects from mobile LiDAR data in motorway environment

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Li; Li, Zan; Liu, Hua; Tan, Junxiang; Zhao, Sainan; Chen, Changjun

2017-12-01

Mobile LiDAR Scanning (MLS) can collect 3-dimensional (3D) road and road-related geospatial information accurately and efficiently. Pole-like objects located in road environment are important street furniture and they are necessary information in road inventory and road mapping. The automatic detection and classification of pole-like road objects from mobile LiDAR data can greatly reduce the cost and improve the efficiency. This paper provides a complete workflow for the detection and classification of pole-like road objects from mobile LiDAR data in motorway environment. The major workflow includes three steps: data preprocessing, pole-like road objects detection and pole-like road objects classification. In data preprocessing step, ground points are removed by an automatic ground filtering algorithm, and then off-ground points are clustered into segments and the overlapped segments containing pole-like road objects are further separated through an iterative min-cut based segmentation approach. In detection step, filters utilizing both prior and shape information are used to detect the target objects. In classification step, features of objects are calculated and classified using Random Forest classifier. Our method was tested on two datasets scanned in motorway environment, and the results showed that the Matthews correlation coefficient of the two datasets in detection step was 93.7% and 95.9% respectively and the overall accuracy of the two datasets in classification step was 96.5% and 97.9% respectively.

A Concept of Multi-Mode High Spectral Resolution Lidar Using Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Yoshitaka

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present the design of a High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL using a laser that oscillates in a multi-longitudinal mode. Rayleigh and Mie scattering components are separated using a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI with the same free spectral range (FSR as the transmitted laser. The transmitted laser light is measured as a reference signal with the same MZI. By scanning the MZI periodically with a scanning range equal to the mode spacing, we can identify the maximum Mie and the maximum Rayleigh signals using the reference signal. The cross talk due to the spectral width of each laser mode can also be estimated.

Mixed layer depths via Doppler lidar during low-level jet events

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Brian; Demoz, Belay; Bonin, Timothy; Delgado, Ruben

2018-04-01

A low-level jet (LLJ) is a prominent wind speed peak in the lower troposphere. Nocturnal LLJs have been shown to transport and mix atmospheric constituents from the residual layer down to the surface, breaching quiescent nocturnal conditions due to high wind shear. A new fuzzy logic algorithm combining turbulence and aerosol information from Doppler lidar scans can resolve the strength and depth of this mixing below the jet. Conclusions will be drawn about LLJ relations to turbulence and mixing.

Integrated remote sensing and visualization (IRSV) system for transportation infrastructure operations and management, phase one, volume 3 : use of scanning LiDAR in structural evaluation of bridges.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-12-01

This volume introduces several applications of remote bridge inspection technologies studied in : this Integrated Remote Sensing and Visualization (IRSV) study using ground-based LiDAR : systems. In particular, the application of terrestrial LiDAR fo...

Generic methodology for calibrating profiling nacelle lidars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borraccino, Antoine; Courtney, Michael; Wagner, Rozenn

Improving power performance assessment by measuring at different heights has been demonstrated using ground-based profiling LIDARs. More recently, nacelle-mounted lidars studies have shown promising capabilities to assess power performance. Using nacelle lidars avoids the erection of expensive me...

Iowa LiDAR Mapping Project

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security — This is collection level metadata for LAS and ASCII data files from the statewide Iowa Lidar Project. The Iowa Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Project collects...

Inspiration from drones, Lidar measurements and 3D models in undergraduate teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Blenkinsop, Thomas; Ellis, Jennifer

2017-04-01

Three-dimensional models, photogrammetry and remote sensing are increasingly common techniques used in structural analysis. We have found that using drones and Lidar on undergraduate field trips has piqued interest in fieldwork, provided data for follow-up laboratory exercises, and inspired undergraduates to attempt 3D modelling in independent mapping projects. The scale of structures visible in cliff and sea shore exposures in South Wales is ideal for using drones to capture images for 3D models. Fault scarps in the South Wales coalfield were scanned by Lidar and drone. Our experience suggests that the drone data were much easier to acquire and process than the Lidar data, and adequate for most teaching purposes. In the lab, we used the models to show the structure in 3D, and as the basis for an introduction to geological modelling software. Now that tools for photogrammetry, drones, and processing software are widely available and affordable, they can be readily integrated into teaching. An additional benefit from the images and models is that they may be used for exercises that can be substituted for fieldwork to achieve some (but not all) of the learning outcomes in the case that field access is prevented.

Combined Use of Airborne Lidar and DBInSAR Data to Estimate LAI in Temperate Mixed Forests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ross F. Nelson

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to determine whether leaf area index (LAI in temperate mixed forests is best estimated using multiple-return airborne laser scanning (lidar data or dual-band, single-pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar data (from GeoSAR alone, or both in combination. In situ measurements of LAI were made using the LiCor LAI-2000 Plant Canopy Analyzer on 61 plots (21 hardwood, 36 pine, 4 mixed pine hardwood; stand age ranging from 12-164 years; mean height ranging from 0.4 to 41.2 m in the Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest, Virginia, USA. Lidar distributional metrics were calculated for all returns and for ten one meter deep crown density slices (a new metric, five above and five below the mode of the vegetation returns for each plot. GeoSAR metrics were calculated from the X-band backscatter coefficients (four looks as well as both X- and P-band interferometric heights and magnitudes for each plot. Lidar metrics alone explained 69% of the variability in LAI, while GeoSAR metrics alone explained 52%. However, combining the lidar and GeoSAR metrics increased the R² to 0.77 with a CV-RMSE of 0.42. This study indicates the clear potential for X-band backscatter and interferometric height (both now available from spaceborne sensors, when combined with small-footprint lidar data, to improve LAI estimation in temperate mixed forests.

Clear-air lidar dark band

Science.gov (United States)

Girolamo, Paolo Di; Scoccione, Andrea; Cacciani, Marco; Summa, Donato; Schween, Jan H.

2018-04-01

This paper illustrates measurements carried out by the Raman lidar BASIL in the frame of HOPE, revealing the presence of a clear-air dark band phenomenon (i.e. the appearance of a minimum in lidar backscatter echoes) in the upper portion of the convective boundary layer. The phenomenon is clearly distinguishable in the lidar backscatter echoes at 1064 nm. This phenomenon is attributed to the presence of lignite aerosol particles advected from the surrounding open pit mines in the vicinity of the measuring site.

2014 OLC Lidar: Colville, WA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — WSI, a Quantum Spatial company, has collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the Oregon LiDAR Consortium (OLC) Colville study area. This study area is...

2015 OLC Lidar DEM: Chelan

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Quantum Spatial has collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the Oregon LiDAR Consortium (OLC) Chelan FEMA study area. This study area is located in...

2015 OLC Lidar: Okanogan WA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Quantum Spatial has collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the Oregon LiDAR Consortium (OLC) Okanogan FEMA study area. This study area is located in...

Occurrence and characteristics of mutual interference between LIDAR scanners

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Gunzung; Eom, Jeongsook; Park, Seonghyeon; Park, Yongwan

2015-05-01

The LIDAR scanner is at the heart of object detection of the self-driving car. Mutual interference between LIDAR scanners has not been regarded as a problem because the percentage of vehicles equipped with LIDAR scanners was very rare. With the growing number of autonomous vehicle equipped with LIDAR scanner operated close to each other at the same time, the LIDAR scanner may receive laser pulses from other LIDAR scanners. In this paper, three types of experiments and their results are shown, according to the arrangement of two LIDAR scanners. We will show the probability that any LIDAR scanner will interfere mutually by considering spatial and temporal overlaps. It will present some typical mutual interference scenario and report an analysis of the interference mechanism.

Methods from Information Extraction from LIDAR Intensity Data and Multispectral LIDAR Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Scaioni, M.; Höfle, B.; Baungarten Kersting, A. P.; Barazzetti, L.; Previtali, M.; Wujanz, D.

2018-04-01

LiDAR is a consolidated technology for topographic mapping and 3D reconstruction, which is implemented in several platforms On the other hand, the exploitation of the geometric information has been coupled by the use of laser intensity, which may provide additional data for multiple purposes. This option has been emphasized by the availability of sensors working on different wavelength, thus able to provide additional information for classification of surfaces and objects. Several applications ofmonochromatic and multi-spectral LiDAR data have been already developed in different fields: geosciences, agriculture, forestry, building and cultural heritage. The use of intensity data to extract measures of point cloud quality has been also developed. The paper would like to give an overview on the state-of-the-art of these techniques, and to present the modern technologies for the acquisition of multispectral LiDAR data. In addition, the ISPRS WG III/5 on `Information Extraction from LiDAR Intensity Data' has collected and made available a few open data sets to support scholars to do research on this field. This service is presented and data sets delivered so far as are described.

METHODS FROM INFORMATION EXTRACTION FROM LIDAR INTENSITY DATA AND MULTISPECTRAL LIDAR TECHNOLOGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Scaioni

2018-04-01

Full Text Available LiDAR is a consolidated technology for topographic mapping and 3D reconstruction, which is implemented in several platforms On the other hand, the exploitation of the geometric information has been coupled by the use of laser intensity, which may provide additional data for multiple purposes. This option has been emphasized by the availability of sensors working on different wavelength, thus able to provide additional information for classification of surfaces and objects. Several applications ofmonochromatic and multi-spectral LiDAR data have been already developed in different fields: geosciences, agriculture, forestry, building and cultural heritage. The use of intensity data to extract measures of point cloud quality has been also developed. The paper would like to give an overview on the state-of-the-art of these techniques, and to present the modern technologies for the acquisition of multispectral LiDAR data. In addition, the ISPRS WG III/5 on ‘Information Extraction from LiDAR Intensity Data’ has collected and made available a few open data sets to support scholars to do research on this field. This service is presented and data sets delivered so far as are described.

LIDAR Wind Speed Measurement Analysis and Feed-Forward Blade Pitch Control for Load Mitigation in Wind Turbines: January 2010--January 2011

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunne, F.; Simley, E.; Pao, L.Y.

2011-10-01

This report examines the accuracy of measurements that rely on Doppler LIDAR systems to determine their applicability to wind turbine feed-forward control systems and discusses feed-forward control system designs that use preview wind measurements. Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems are able to measure the speed of incoming wind before it interacts with a wind turbine rotor. These preview wind measurements can be used in feed-forward control systems designed to reduce turbine loads. However, the degree to which such preview-based control techniques can reduce loads by reacting to turbulence depends on how accurately the incoming wind field can be measured. The first half of this report examines the accuracy of different measurement scenarios that rely on coherent continuous-wave or pulsed Doppler LIDAR systems to determine their applicability to feed-forward control. In particular, the impacts of measurement range and angular offset from the wind direction are studied for various wind conditions. A realistic case involving a scanning LIDAR unit mounted in the spinner of a wind turbine is studied in depth with emphasis on choices for scan radius and preview distance. The effects of turbulence parameters on measurement accuracy are studied as well. Continuous-wave and pulsed LIDAR models based on typical commercially available units were used in the studies present in this report. The second half of this report discusses feed-forward control system designs that use preview wind measurements. Combined feedback/feed-forward blade pitch control is compared to industry standard feedback control when simulated in realistic turbulent above-rated winds. The feed-forward controllers are designed to reduce fatigue loads, increasing turbine lifetime and therefore reducing the cost of energy. Three feed-forward designs are studied: non-causal series expansion, Preview Control, and optimized FIR filter. The input to the feed-forward controller is a measurement of

Raman Lidar Measurements of Aerosol Extinction and Backscattering. Report 2; Derivation of Aerosol Real Refractive Index, Single-Scattering Albedo, and Humidification Factor using Raman Lidar and Aircraft Size Distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrare, R. A.; Melfi, S. H.; Whiteman, D. N.; Evans, K. D.; Poellot, M.; Kaufman, Y. J.

1998-01-01

Aerosol backscattering and extinction profiles measured by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Scanning Raman Lidar (SRL) during the remote cloud sensing (RCS) intensive operations period (IOP) at the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) southern Great Plains (SGP) site during two nights in April 1994 are discussed. These profiles are shown to be consistent with the simultaneous aerosol size distribution measurements made by a PCASP (Passive Cavity Aerosol Spectrometer Probe) optical particle counter flown on the University of North Dakota Citation aircraft. We describe a technique which uses both lidar and PCASP measurements to derive the dependence of particle size on relative humidity, the aerosol real refractive index n, and estimate the effective single-scattering albedo Omega(sub 0). Values of n ranged between 1.4-1.5 (dry) and 1.37-1.47 (wet); Omega(sub 0) varied between 0.7 and 1.0. The single-scattering albedo derived from this technique is sensitive to the manner in which absorbing particles are represented in the aerosol mixture; representing the absorbing particles as an internal mixture rather than the external mixture assumed here results in generally higher values of Omega(sub 0). The lidar measurements indicate that the change in particle size with relative humidity as measured by the PCASP can be represented in the form discussed by Hattel with the exponent gamma = 0.3 + or - 0.05. The variations in aerosol optical and physical characteristics captured in the lidar and aircraft size distribution measurements are discussed in the context of the meteorological conditions observed during the experiment.

Automatic 3d Building Model Generations with Airborne LiDAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Yastikli, N.; Cetin, Z.

2017-11-01

LiDAR systems become more and more popular because of the potential use for obtaining the point clouds of vegetation and man-made objects on the earth surface in an accurate and quick way. Nowadays, these airborne systems have been frequently used in wide range of applications such as DEM/DSM generation, topographic mapping, object extraction, vegetation mapping, 3 dimensional (3D) modelling and simulation, change detection, engineering works, revision of maps, coastal management and bathymetry. The 3D building model generation is the one of the most prominent applications of LiDAR system, which has the major importance for urban planning, illegal construction monitoring, 3D city modelling, environmental simulation, tourism, security, telecommunication and mobile navigation etc. The manual or semi-automatic 3D building model generation is costly and very time-consuming process for these applications. Thus, an approach for automatic 3D building model generation is needed in a simple and quick way for many studies which includes building modelling. In this study, automatic 3D building models generation is aimed with airborne LiDAR data. An approach is proposed for automatic 3D building models generation including the automatic point based classification of raw LiDAR point cloud. The proposed point based classification includes the hierarchical rules, for the automatic production of 3D building models. The detailed analyses for the parameters which used in hierarchical rules have been performed to improve classification results using different test areas identified in the study area. The proposed approach have been tested in the study area which has partly open areas, forest areas and many types of the buildings, in Zekeriyakoy, Istanbul using the TerraScan module of TerraSolid. The 3D building model was generated automatically using the results of the automatic point based classification. The obtained results of this research on study area verified that automatic 3D

AUTOMATIC 3D BUILDING MODEL GENERATIONS WITH AIRBORNE LiDAR DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Yastikli

2017-11-01

Full Text Available LiDAR systems become more and more popular because of the potential use for obtaining the point clouds of vegetation and man-made objects on the earth surface in an accurate and quick way. Nowadays, these airborne systems have been frequently used in wide range of applications such as DEM/DSM generation, topographic mapping, object extraction, vegetation mapping, 3 dimensional (3D modelling and simulation, change detection, engineering works, revision of maps, coastal management and bathymetry. The 3D building model generation is the one of the most prominent applications of LiDAR system, which has the major importance for urban planning, illegal construction monitoring, 3D city modelling, environmental simulation, tourism, security, telecommunication and mobile navigation etc. The manual or semi-automatic 3D building model generation is costly and very time-consuming process for these applications. Thus, an approach for automatic 3D building model generation is needed in a simple and quick way for many studies which includes building modelling. In this study, automatic 3D building models generation is aimed with airborne LiDAR data. An approach is proposed for automatic 3D building models generation including the automatic point based classification of raw LiDAR point cloud. The proposed point based classification includes the hierarchical rules, for the automatic production of 3D building models. The detailed analyses for the parameters which used in hierarchical rules have been performed to improve classification results using different test areas identified in the study area. The proposed approach have been tested in the study area which has partly open areas, forest areas and many types of the buildings, in Zekeriyakoy, Istanbul using the TerraScan module of TerraSolid. The 3D building model was generated automatically using the results of the automatic point based classification. The obtained results of this research on study area verified

2006 Fulton County Georgia Lidar

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) LAS dataset is a survey of Fulton County. The Fulton County LiDAR Survey project area consists of approximately 690.5 square...

2014 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) Topographic LiDAR: Cedar River Watershed (Delivery 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In September 2013, WSI, a Quantum Spatial company (QSI), was contracted by the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) to collect Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)...

2014 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) Topographic LiDAR: Cedar River Watershed (Delivery 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In September 2013, WSI, a Quantum Spatial company (QSI), was contracted by the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) to collect Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)...

SAR and LIDAR fusion: experiments and applications

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Matthew C.; Zaugg, Evan C.; Bradley, Joshua P.; Bowden, Ryan D.

2013-05-01

In recent years ARTEMIS, Inc. has developed a series of compact, versatile Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems which have been operated on a variety of small manned and unmanned aircraft. The multi-frequency-band SlimSAR has demonstrated a variety of capabilities including maritime and littoral target detection, ground moving target indication, polarimetry, interferometry, change detection, and foliage penetration. ARTEMIS also continues to build upon the radar's capabilities through fusion with other sensors, such as electro-optical and infrared camera gimbals and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) devices. In this paper we focus on experiments and applications employing SAR and LIDAR fusion. LIDAR is similar to radar in that it transmits a signal which, after being reflected or scattered by a target area, is recorded by the sensor. The differences are that a LIDAR uses a laser as a transmitter and optical sensors as a receiver, and the wavelengths used exhibit a very different scattering phenomenology than the microwaves used in radar, making SAR and LIDAR good complementary technologies. LIDAR is used in many applications including agriculture, archeology, geo-science, and surveying. Some typical data products include digital elevation maps of a target area and features and shapes extracted from the data. A set of experiments conducted to demonstrate the fusion of SAR and LIDAR data include a LIDAR DEM used in accurately processing the SAR data of a high relief area (mountainous, urban). Also, feature extraction is used in improving geolocation accuracy of the SAR and LIDAR data.

A cloud masking algorithm for EARLINET lidar systems

Science.gov (United States)

Binietoglou, Ioannis; Baars, Holger; D'Amico, Giuseppe; Nicolae, Doina

2015-04-01

Cloud masking is an important first step in any aerosol lidar processing chain as most data processing algorithms can only be applied on cloud free observations. Up to now, the selection of a cloud-free time interval for data processing is typically performed manually, and this is one of the outstanding problems for automatic processing of lidar data in networks such as EARLINET. In this contribution we present initial developments of a cloud masking algorithm that permits the selection of the appropriate time intervals for lidar data processing based on uncalibrated lidar signals. The algorithm is based on a signal normalization procedure using the range of observed values of lidar returns, designed to work with different lidar systems with minimal user input. This normalization procedure can be applied to measurement periods of only few hours, even if no suitable cloud-free interval exists, and thus can be used even when only a short period of lidar measurements is available. Clouds are detected based on a combination of criteria including the magnitude of the normalized lidar signal and time-space edge detection performed using the Sobel operator. In this way the algorithm avoids misclassification of strong aerosol layers as clouds. Cloud detection is performed using the highest available time and vertical resolution of the lidar signals, allowing the effective detection of low-level clouds (e.g. cumulus humilis). Special attention is given to suppress false cloud detection due to signal noise that can affect the algorithm's performance, especially during day-time. In this contribution we present the details of algorithm, the effect of lidar characteristics (space-time resolution, available wavelengths, signal-to-noise ratio) to detection performance, and highlight the current strengths and limitations of the algorithm using lidar scenes from different lidar systems in different locations across Europe.

2012 MEGIS Topographic Lidar: Statewide Lidar Project Areas 2 and 3 (Mid-Coastal Cleanup), Maine

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LiDAR data is a remotely sensed high resolution elevation data collected by an airborne platform. The LiDAR sensor uses a combination of laser range finding, GPS...

Simulating Various Terrestrial and Uav LIDAR Scanning Configurations for Understory Forest Structure Modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Hämmerle, M.; Lukač, N.; Chen, K.-C.; Koma, Zs.; Wang, C.-K.; Anders, K.; Höfle, B.

2017-09-01

Information about the 3D structure of understory vegetation is of high relevance in forestry research and management (e.g., for complete biomass estimations). However, it has been hardly investigated systematically with state-of-the-art methods such as static terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) or laser scanning from unmanned aerial vehicle platforms (ULS). A prominent challenge for scanning forests is posed by occlusion, calling for proper TLS scan position or ULS flight line configurations in order to achieve an accurate representation of understory vegetation. The aim of our study is to examine the effect of TLS or ULS scanning strategies on (1) the height of individual understory trees and (2) understory canopy height raster models. We simulate full-waveform TLS and ULS point clouds of a virtual forest plot captured from various combinations of max. 12 TLS scan positions or 3 ULS flight lines. The accuracy of the respective datasets is evaluated with reference values given by the virtually scanned 3D triangle mesh tree models. TLS tree height underestimations range up to 1.84 m (15.30 % of tree height) for single TLS scan positions, but combining three scan positions reduces the underestimation to maximum 0.31 m (2.41 %). Combining ULS flight lines also results in improved tree height representation, with a maximum underestimation of 0.24 m (2.15 %). The presented simulation approach offers a complementary source of information for efficient planning of field campaigns aiming at understory vegetation modelling.

SIMULATING VARIOUS TERRESTRIAL AND UAV LIDAR SCANNING CONFIGURATIONS FOR UNDERSTORY FOREST STRUCTURE MODELLING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Hämmerle

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Information about the 3D structure of understory vegetation is of high relevance in forestry research and management (e.g., for complete biomass estimations. However, it has been hardly investigated systematically with state-of-the-art methods such as static terrestrial laser scanning (TLS or laser scanning from unmanned aerial vehicle platforms (ULS. A prominent challenge for scanning forests is posed by occlusion, calling for proper TLS scan position or ULS flight line configurations in order to achieve an accurate representation of understory vegetation. The aim of our study is to examine the effect of TLS or ULS scanning strategies on (1 the height of individual understory trees and (2 understory canopy height raster models. We simulate full-waveform TLS and ULS point clouds of a virtual forest plot captured from various combinations of max. 12 TLS scan positions or 3 ULS flight lines. The accuracy of the respective datasets is evaluated with reference values given by the virtually scanned 3D triangle mesh tree models. TLS tree height underestimations range up to 1.84 m (15.30 % of tree height for single TLS scan positions, but combining three scan positions reduces the underestimation to maximum 0.31 m (2.41 %. Combining ULS flight lines also results in improved tree height representation, with a maximum underestimation of 0.24 m (2.15 %. The presented simulation approach offers a complementary source of information for efficient planning of field campaigns aiming at understory vegetation modelling.

Standards – An Important Step for the (Public Use of Lidars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Althausen Dietrich

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Lidar standards are needed to ensure quality and lidar product control at the interface between lidar manufacturers and lidar users. Meanwhile three lidar standards have been published by German and international standardization organizations. This paper describes the cooperation between the lidar technique inventors, lidar instrument constructors, and lidar product users to establish useful standards. Presently a backscatter lidar standard is elaborated in Germany. Key points of this standard are presented here. Two German standards were already accepted as international standards by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO. Hence, German and international organizations for the establishment of lidar standards are introduced to encourage a cooperative work on lidar standards by lidar scientists.

Saginaw Bay, MI LiDAR

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — TASK NAME:(NRCS) Saginaw Bay, MI LiDAR LiDAR Data Acquisition and Processing Production Task USGS Contract No. G10PC00057 Task Order No. G11PD01254 Woolpert Order...

CLASSIFICATION OF WATER SURFACES USING AIRBORNE TOPOGRAPHIC LIDAR DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Smeeckaert

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Accurate Digital Terrain Models (DTM are inevitable inputs for mapping areas subject to natural hazards. Topographic airborne laser scanning has become an established technique to characterize the Earth surface: lidar provides 3D point clouds allowing a fine reconstruction of the topography. For flood hazard modeling, the key step before terrain modeling is the discrimination of land and water surfaces within the delivered point clouds. Therefore, instantaneous shoreline, river borders, inland waters can be extracted as a basis for more reliable DTM generation. This paper presents an automatic, efficient, and versatile workflow for land/water classification of airborne topographic lidar data. For that purpose, a classification framework based on Support Vector Machines (SVM is designed. First, a restricted set of features, based only 3D lidar point coordinates and flightline information, is defined. Then, the SVM learning step is performed on small but well-targeted areas thanks to an automatic region growing strategy. Finally, label probabilities given by the SVM are merged during a probabilistic relaxation step in order to remove pixel-wise misclassification. Results show that survey of millions of points are labelled with high accuracy (>95% in most cases for coastal areas, and >89% for rivers and that small natural and anthropic features of interest are still well classified though we work at low point densities (0.5–4 pts/m2. Our approach is valid for coasts and rivers, and provides a strong basis for further discrimination of land-cover classes and coastal habitats.

Holographic Raman lidar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andersen, G.

2000-01-01

Full text: We have constructed a Raman lidar system that incorporates a holographic optical element. By resolving just 3 nitrogen lines in the Resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS) spectrum, temperature fits as good as 1% at altitudes of 20km can be made in 30 minutes. Due to the narrowband selectivity of the HOE, the lidar provides measurements over a continuous 24hr period. By adding a 4th channel to capture the Rayleigh backscattered light, temperature profiles can be extended to 80km

Pointing Verification Method for Spaceborne Lidars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Axel Amediek

2017-01-01

Full Text Available High precision acquisition of atmospheric parameters from the air or space by means of lidar requires accurate knowledge of laser pointing. Discrepancies between the assumed and actual pointing can introduce large errors due to the Doppler effect or a wrongly assumed air pressure at ground level. In this paper, a method for precisely quantifying these discrepancies for airborne and spaceborne lidar systems is presented. The method is based on the comparison of ground elevations derived from the lidar ranging data with high-resolution topography data obtained from a digital elevation model and allows for the derivation of the lateral and longitudinal deviation of the laser beam propagation direction. The applicability of the technique is demonstrated by using experimental data from an airborne lidar system, confirming that geo-referencing of the lidar ground spot trace with an uncertainty of less than 10 m with respect to the used digital elevation model (DEM can be obtained.

Lidar-Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC) for the Retrieval of Vertical Aerosol Properties from Combined Lidar Radiometer Data: Development and Distribution in EARLINET

Science.gov (United States)

Chaikovsky, A.; Dubovik, O.; Holben, Brent N.; Bril, A.; Goloub, P.; Tanre, D.; Pappalardo, G.; Wandinger, U.; Chaikovskaya, L.; Denisov, S.;

A Scalable Infrastructure for Lidar Topography Data Distribution, Processing, and Discovery

Science.gov (United States)

Crosby, C. J.; Nandigam, V.; Krishnan, S.; Phan, M.; Cowart, C. A.; Arrowsmith, R.; Baru, C.

2010-12-01

our end-users (such as generation of custom DEMs via various gridding algorithms, and hydrological modeling algorithms). In the future, the SOA will enable direct authenticated access to back-end functionality through simple Web service Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), so that users may access our data and compute resources via clients other than Web browsers. In addition to an overview of the OpenTopography SOA, this presentation will discuss our recently developed lidar data ingestion and management system for point cloud data delivered in the binary LAS standard. This system compliments our existing partitioned database approach for data delivered in ASCII format, and permits rapid ingestion of data. The system has significantly reduced data ingestion times and has implications for data distribution in emergency response situations. We will also address on ongoing work to develop a community lidar metadata catalog based on the OGC Catalogue Service for Web (CSW) standard, which will help to centralize discovery of public domain lidar data.

Automatic extraction of pavement markings on streets from point cloud data of mobile LiDAR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Yang; Zhong, Ruofei; Liu, Xianlin; Tang, Tao; Wang, Liuzhao

2017-01-01

Pavement markings provide an important foundation as they help to keep roads users safe. Accurate and comprehensive information about pavement markings assists the road regulators and is useful in developing driverless technology. Mobile light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems offer new opportunities to collect and process accurate pavement markings’ information. Mobile LiDAR systems can directly obtain the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of an object, thus defining spatial data and the intensity of (3D) objects in a fast and efficient way. The RGB attribute information of data points can be obtained based on the panoramic camera in the system. In this paper, we present a novel method process to automatically extract pavement markings using multiple attribute information of the laser scanning point cloud from the mobile LiDAR data. This method process utilizes a differential grayscale of RGB color, laser pulse reflection intensity, and the differential intensity to identify and extract pavement markings. We utilized point cloud density to remove the noise and used morphological operations to eliminate the errors. In the application, we tested our method process on different sections of roads in Beijing, China, and Buffalo, NY, USA. The results indicated that both correctness ( p ) and completeness ( r ) were higher than 90%. The method process of this research can be applied to extract pavement markings from huge point cloud data produced by mobile LiDAR. (paper)

Automatic extraction of pavement markings on streets from point cloud data of mobile LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Yang; Zhong, Ruofei; Tang, Tao; Wang, Liuzhao; Liu, Xianlin

2017-08-01

Pavement markings provide an important foundation as they help to keep roads users safe. Accurate and comprehensive information about pavement markings assists the road regulators and is useful in developing driverless technology. Mobile light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems offer new opportunities to collect and process accurate pavement markings’ information. Mobile LiDAR systems can directly obtain the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of an object, thus defining spatial data and the intensity of (3D) objects in a fast and efficient way. The RGB attribute information of data points can be obtained based on the panoramic camera in the system. In this paper, we present a novel method process to automatically extract pavement markings using multiple attribute information of the laser scanning point cloud from the mobile LiDAR data. This method process utilizes a differential grayscale of RGB color, laser pulse reflection intensity, and the differential intensity to identify and extract pavement markings. We utilized point cloud density to remove the noise and used morphological operations to eliminate the errors. In the application, we tested our method process on different sections of roads in Beijing, China, and Buffalo, NY, USA. The results indicated that both correctness (p) and completeness (r) were higher than 90%. The method process of this research can be applied to extract pavement markings from huge point cloud data produced by mobile LiDAR.

Development of a personalized training system using the Lung Image Database Consortium and Image Database resource Initiative Database.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Hongli; Wang, Weisheng; Luo, Jiawei; Yang, Xuedong

2014-12-01

The aim of this study was to develop a personalized training system using the Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database resource Initiative (IDRI) Database, because collecting, annotating, and marking a large number of appropriate computed tomography (CT) scans, and providing the capability of dynamically selecting suitable training cases based on the performance levels of trainees and the characteristics of cases are critical for developing a efficient training system. A novel approach is proposed to develop a personalized radiology training system for the interpretation of lung nodules in CT scans using the Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database Resource Initiative (IDRI) database, which provides a Content-Boosted Collaborative Filtering (CBCF) algorithm for predicting the difficulty level of each case of each trainee when selecting suitable cases to meet individual needs, and a diagnostic simulation tool to enable trainees to analyze and diagnose lung nodules with the help of an image processing tool and a nodule retrieval tool. Preliminary evaluation of the system shows that developing a personalized training system for interpretation of lung nodules is needed and useful to enhance the professional skills of trainees. The approach of developing personalized training systems using the LIDC/IDRL database is a feasible solution to the challenges of constructing specific training program in terms of cost and training efficiency. Copyright © 2014 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Creation of a dynamic database and analysis of LIDAR measurements in web format at the Laboratory of Environmental Laser Applications at the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pozzetti, Lucila Maria Viola

2006-01-01

The LIDAR system (Light Detection and Ranging) laser remote sensing at the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute - Laboratory of Environmental Laser Applications allows on line measurements of variations in the concentrations of atmospheric aerosols by sending a laser beam to the atmosphere and collecting the backscattered light. Such a system supplies a great number of physical parameters that must be managed in an agile form to the attainment of a real time analysis. Database implementation therefore becomes an important toll of communication and graphical visualization of measurements. A criterion for classification of this valuable information was adopted, establishing defined levels of storage from specific characteristics of the determined data types. The compilation and automation of these measurements will promote optimized integration between data, analysis and retrieval of the resulting properties and of the atmosphere, improving future research and data analysis. (author)

Atmospheric lidar: legislative, scientific and technological aspects; Lidar atmosferico. Aspetti legislativi, scientifici e tecnologici

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barbini, R.; Colao, F.; Fiorani, L.; Palucci, A. [ENEA, Divisione Fisica Applicata, Centro Ricerche Frascati, Frascati, RM (Italy)

2000-07-01

The Atmospheric Lidar is one of the systems of the Mobile Laboratory of Laser Remote Sensing under development at the ENEA Research Center of Frascati. This technical report addresses the legislative, scientific and technological aspects that are the basis for the identification of the requirements, the definition of the architecture and the fixation of the specifications of the Atmospheric Lidar. The problems of air pollution are introduced in section 2. A summary of the Italian laws on that topic is then given. Section 4 provides a survey of the atmospheric measurements that can be achieved with the lidar. The sensitivity in the monitoring of pollutants is discussed in section 5. The other systems of the Mobile Laboratory of Laser Remote Sensing are shortly described in section 6. The last section is devoted to conclusions and perspectives. [Italian] Il lidar atmosferico e' uno dei sistemi del Laboratorio Mobile di Telerilevamento Laser in corso di realizzazione presso il Centro Ricerche di Frascati dell'ENEA. Questo rapporto tecnico discute gli aspetti legislativi, scientifici, tecnologici che sono alla base dell'individuazione dei requisiti, della definizione dell'architettura e della fissazione delle specifiche del Lidar atmosferico. La problematica dell'inquinamento dell'aria e' introdotta nella sezione 2. Segue un riassunto della legislazione italiana su tale tematica. La sezione 4 offre una panoramica delle misure atmosferiche realizzabili con il Lidar. La sensibilita' nel monitoraggio di inquinanti e' discussa nella sezione 5. Gli altri sistemi del Laboratorio Mobile di Telerilevamento Laser sono descritti brevemente nella sezione 6. L'ultima sezione e' dedicata alle conclusioni e alle prospettive.

Nonlinear filtering for LIDAR signal processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. G. Lainiotis

1996-01-01

Full Text Available LIDAR (Laser Integrated Radar is an engineering problem of great practical importance in environmental monitoring sciences. Signal processing for LIDAR applications involves highly nonlinear models and consequently nonlinear filtering. Optimal nonlinear filters, however, are practically unrealizable. In this paper, the Lainiotis's multi-model partitioning methodology and the related approximate but effective nonlinear filtering algorithms are reviewed and applied to LIDAR signal processing. Extensive simulation and performance evaluation of the multi-model partitioning approach and its application to LIDAR signal processing shows that the nonlinear partitioning methods are very effective and significantly superior to the nonlinear extended Kalman filter (EKF, which has been the standard nonlinear filter in past engineering applications.

Derivation of Sky-View Factors from LIDAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Kidd, Christopher; Chapman, Lee

2013-01-01

The use of Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging), an active light-emitting instrument, is becoming increasingly common for a range of potential applications. Its ability to provide fine resolution spatial and vertical resolution elevation data makes it ideal for a wide range of studies. This paper demonstrates the capability of Lidar data to measure sky view factors (SVF). The Lidar data is used to generate a spatial map of SVFs which are then compared against photographically-derived SVF at selected point locations. At each location three near-surface elevations measurements were taken and compared with collocated Lidar-derived estimated. It was found that there was generally good agreement between the two methodologies, although with decreasing SVF the Lidar-derived technique tended to overestimate the SVF: this can be attributed in part to the spatial resolution of the Lidar sampling. Nevertheless, airborne Lidar systems can map sky view factors over a large area easily, improving the utility of such data in atmospheric and meteorological models.

SmallSat Database

Science.gov (United States)

Petropulos, Dolores; Bittner, David; Murawski, Robert; Golden, Bert

2015-01-01

The SmallSat has an unrealized potential in both the private industry and in the federal government. Currently over 70 companies, 50 universities and 17 governmental agencies are involved in SmallSat research and development. In 1994, the U.S. Army Missile and Defense mapped the moon using smallSat imagery. Since then Smart Phones have introduced this imagery to the people of the world as diverse industries watched this trend. The deployment cost of smallSats is also greatly reduced compared to traditional satellites due to the fact that multiple units can be deployed in a single mission. Imaging payloads have become more sophisticated, smaller and lighter. In addition, the growth of small technology obtained from private industries has led to the more widespread use of smallSats. This includes greater revisit rates in imagery, significantly lower costs, the ability to update technology more frequently and the ability to decrease vulnerability of enemy attacks. The popularity of smallSats show a changing mentality in this fast paced world of tomorrow. What impact has this created on the NASA communication networks now and in future years? In this project, we are developing the SmallSat Relational Database which can support a simulation of smallSats within the NASA SCaN Compatability Environment for Networks and Integrated Communications (SCENIC) Modeling and Simulation Lab. The NASA Space Communications and Networks (SCaN) Program can use this modeling to project required network support needs in the next 10 to 15 years. The SmallSat Rational Database could model smallSats just as the other SCaN databases model the more traditional larger satellites, with a few exceptions. One being that the smallSat Database is designed to be built-to-order. The SmallSat database holds various hardware configurations that can be used to model a smallSat. It will require significant effort to develop as the research material can only be populated by hand to obtain the unique data

Coherent Lidar Turbulence Measurement for Gust Load Alleviation

Science.gov (United States)

Bogue, Rodney K.; Ehernberger, L. J.; Soreide, David; Bagley, Hal

1996-01-01

Atmospheric turbulence adversely affects operation of commercial and military aircraft and is a design constraint. The airplane structure must be designed to survive the loads imposed by turbulence. Reducing these loads allows the airplane structure to be lighter, a substantial advantage for a commercial airplane. Gust alleviation systems based on accelerometers mounted in the airplane can reduce the maximum gust loads by a small fraction. These systems still represent an economic advantage. The ability to reduce the gust load increases tremendously if the turbulent gust can be measured before the airplane encounters it. A lidar system can make measurements of turbulent gusts ahead of the airplane, and the NASA Airborne Coherent Lidar for Advanced In-Flight Measurements (ACLAIM) program is developing such a lidar. The ACLAIM program is intended to develop a prototype lidar system for use in feasibility testing of gust load alleviation systems and other airborne lidar applications, to define applications of lidar with the potential for improving airplane performance, and to determine the feasibility and benefits of these applications. This paper gives an overview of the ACLAIM program, describes the lidar architecture for a gust alleviation system, and describes the prototype ACLAIM lidar system.

Quantifying Wave Breaking Shape and Type in the Surf-Zone Using LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Albright, A.; Brodie, K. L.; Hartzell, P. J.; Glennie, C. L.

2017-12-01

Waves change shape as they shoal and break across the surf-zone, ultimately dissipating and transferring their energy into turbulence by either spilling or plunging. This injection of turbulence and changes in wave shape can affect the direction of sediment transport at the seafloor, and ultimately lead to morphological evolution. Typical methods for collecting wave data in the surf-zone include in-situ pressure gauges, velocimeters, ultrasonic sensors, and video imagery. Drawbacks to these data collection methods are low spatial resolution of point measurements, reliance on linear theory to calculate sea-surface elevations, and intensive computations required to extract wave properties from stereo 2D imagery. As a result, few field measurements of the shapes of plunging and/or spilling breakers exist, and existing knowledge is confined to results of laboratory studies. We therefore examine the use of a multi-beam scanning Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing instrument with the goal of classifying the breaking type of propagating waves in the surf-zone and quantitatively determining wave morphometric properties. Data were collected with a Velodyne HDL-32E LiDAR scanner (360° vertical field of view) mounted on an arm of the Coastal Research Amphibious Buggy (CRAB) at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina. Processed laser scan data are used to visualize the lifecycle of a wave (shoaling, breaking, broken) and identify wave types (spilling, plunging, non-breaking) as they pass beneath the scanner. For each rotation of the LiDAR scanner, the point cloud data are filtered, smoothed, and detrended in order to identify individual waves and measure their properties, such as speed, height, period, upward/downward slope, asymmetry, and skewness. The 3D nature of point cloud data is advantageous for research, because it enables viewing from any angle. In our analysis, plan views are used to separate individual waves

Lidar instruments for ESA Earth observation missions

Science.gov (United States)

Hélière, Arnaud; Armandillo, Errico; Durand, Yannig; Culoma, Alain; Meynart, Roland

2017-11-01

The idea of deploying a lidar system on an Earthorbiting satellite stems from the need for continuously providing profiles of our atmospheric structure with high accuracy and resolution and global coverage. Interest in this information for climatology, meteorology and the atmospheric sciences in general is huge. Areas of application range from the determination of global warming and greenhouse effects, to monitoring the transport and accumulation of pollutants in the different atmospheric regions (such as the recent fires in Southeast Asia), to the assessment of the largely unknown microphysical properties and the structural dynamics of the atmosphere itself. Spaceborne lidar systems have been the subject of extensive investigations by the European Space Agency since mid 1970's, resulting in mission and instrument concepts, such as ATLID, the cloud backscatter lidar payload of the EarthCARE mission, ALADIN, the Doppler wind lidar of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM) and more recently a water vapour Differential Absorption Lidar considered for the WALES mission. These studies have shown the basic scientific and technical feasibility of spaceborne lidars, but they have also demonstrated their complexity from the instrument viewpoint. As a result, the Agency undertook technology development in order to strengthen the instrument maturity. This is the case for ATLID, which benefited from a decade of technology development and supporting studies and is now studied in the frame of the EarthCARE mission. ALADIN, a Direct Detection Doppler Wind Lidar operating in the Ultra -Violet, will be the 1st European lidar to fly in 2007 as payload of the Earth Explorer Core Mission ADM. WALES currently studied at the level of a phase A, is based upon a lidar operating at 4 wavelengths in near infrared and aims to profile the water vapour in the lower part of the atmosphere with high accuracy and low bias. Lastly, the European Space Agency is extending the lidar instrument field

The RUNE Experiment—A Database of Remote-Sensing Observations of Near-Shore Winds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Floors, Rogier Ralph; Peña, Alfredo; Lea, Guillaume

2016-01-01

We present a comprehensive database of near-shore wind observations that were carried out during the experimental campaign of the RUNE project. RUNE aims at reducing the uncertainty of the near-shore wind resource estimates from model outputs by using lidar, ocean, and satellite observations. Here...

IEA Task 32: Wind Lidar Systems for Wind Energy Deployment (LIDAR)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuhn, Martin; Trabucchi, Davide; Clifton, Andrew; Courtney, Mike; Rettenmeier, Andreas

2016-05-25

Under the International Energy Agency Wind Implementing Agreement (IEA Wind) Task 11, researchers started examining novel applications for remote sensing and the issues around them during the 51st topical expert meeting about remote sensing in January 2007. The 59th topical expert meeting organized by Task 11 in October 2009 was also dedicated to remote sensing, and the first draft of the Task's recommended practices on remote sensing was published in January 2013. The results of the Task 11 topical expert meetings provided solid groundwork for a new IEA Wind Task 32 on wind lidar technologies. Members of the wind community identified the need to consolidate the knowledge about wind lidar systems to facilitate their use, and to investigate how to exploit the advantages offered by this technology. This was the motivation that led to the start of IEA Wind Task 32 'Lidar Application for Wind Energy Deployment' in November 2011. The kick-off was meeting was held in May 2012.

Lidar extinction measurement in the mid infrared

Science.gov (United States)

Mitev, Valentin; Babichenko, S.; Borelli, R.; Fiorani, L.; Grigorov, I.; Nuvoli, M.; Palucci, A.; Pistilli, M.; Puiu, Ad.; Rebane, Ott; Santoro, S.

2014-11-01

We present a lidar measurement of atmospheric extinction coefficient. The measurement is performed by inversion of the backscatter lidar signal at wavelengths 3'000nm and 3'500nm. The inversion of the backscatter lidar signal was performed with constant extinction-to-backscatter ration values of 104 and exponential factor 0.1.

2012 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) Topographic LiDAR: Quinault River Watershed, Washington (Delivery 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Watershed Sciences, Inc. (WSI) collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data on the Quinault watershed survey area for the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium. This...

Calibrating nacelle lidars

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Courtney, M.

2013-01-15

Nacelle mounted, forward looking wind lidars are beginning to be used to provide reference wind speed measurements for the power performance testing of wind turbines. In such applications, a formal calibration procedure with a corresponding uncertainty assessment will be necessary. This report presents four concepts for performing such a nacelle lidar calibration. Of the four methods, two are found to be immediately relevant and are pursued in some detail. The first of these is a line of sight calibration method in which both lines of sight (for a two beam lidar) are individually calibrated by accurately aligning the beam to pass close to a reference wind speed sensor. A testing procedure is presented, reporting requirements outlined and the uncertainty of the method analysed. It is seen that the main limitation of the line of sight calibration method is the time required to obtain a representative distribution of radial wind speeds. An alternative method is to place the nacelle lidar on the ground and incline the beams upwards to bisect a mast equipped with reference instrumentation at a known height and range. This method will be easier and faster to implement and execute but the beam inclination introduces extra uncertainties. A procedure for conducting such a calibration is presented and initial indications of the uncertainties given. A discussion of the merits and weaknesses of the two methods is given together with some proposals for the next important steps to be taken in this work. (Author)

Cyclops: single-pixel imaging lidar system based on compressive sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Magalhães, F.; Correia, M. V.; Farahi, F.; Pereira do Carmo, J.; Araújo, F. M.

2017-11-01

Mars and the Moon are envisaged as major destinations of future space exploration missions in the upcoming decades. Imaging LIDARs are seen as a key enabling technology in the support of autonomous guidance, navigation and control operations, as they can provide very accurate, wide range, high-resolution distance measurements as required for the exploration missions. Imaging LIDARs can be used at critical stages of these exploration missions, such as descent and selection of safe landing sites, rendezvous and docking manoeuvres, or robotic surface navigation and exploration. Despite these devices have been commercially available and used for long in diverse metrology and ranging applications, their size, mass and power consumption are still far from being suitable and attractive for space exploratory missions. Here, we describe a compact Single-Pixel Imaging LIDAR System that is based on a compressive sensing technique. The application of the compressive codes to a DMD array enables compression of the spatial information, while the collection of timing histograms correlated to the pulsed laser source ensures image reconstruction at the ranged distances. Single-pixel cameras have been compared with raster scanning and array based counterparts in terms of noise performance, and proved to be superior. Since a single photodetector is used, a better SNR and higher reliability is expected in contrast with systems using large format photodetector arrays. Furthermore, the event of failure of one or more micromirror elements in the DMD does not prevent full reconstruction of the images. This brings additional robustness to the proposed 3D imaging LIDAR. The prototype that was implemented has three modes of operation. Range Finder: outputs the average distance between the system and the area of the target under illumination; Attitude Meter: provides the slope of the target surface based on distance measurements in three areas of the target; 3D Imager: produces 3D ranged

Interrelationship of Cn2 & Eddy Dissipation rate based on Scintillometer and Doppler Lidar observations in complex terrain during the Perdigao Campaign 2017

Science.gov (United States)

Creegan, E. D.; Krishnamurthy, R.; Hocut, C. M.; Pattantyus, A.; Leo, L. S.; Wang, Y.; Fernando, H. J.; Bariteau, L.

2017-12-01

The Perdigao campaign is a joint EU/US science project designed to provide information on flow field(s) over complex terrain and through wind turbines at unprecedented high spatial and temporal resolution. The goal is to improve wind energy physics and overcome the current deficiencies of wind resource models. Topographically the Perdigao location is an expansion of the "double hill in crossflow", consisting of two parallel ridges along the NW-SE direction. The site was heavily instrumented with an array of towers (with multiple transects along the valley and across two ridges) and a large suite of ground based and aerial remote sensing platforms. On the outflow side of the NW ridge a scintillometer was emplaced with the line-of-sight (LOS) running adjacent to the towers comprising the NE transect from the ridgetop down to the base. Scanning lidars were placed at both ends of this LOS. Other instruments included a tethered lifting system (TLS), sodar, microwave radiometer, an energy budget flux tower and radiosonde releases. Scintillomoter data provides a quantitative measure of the intensity of optical turbulence, through the refractive index structure parameter, Cn2, where averaged Cn2 is often determined as a function of local differences in temperature, moisture, and wind velocity at discrete points. The refractive index structure parameter is also a function of the inner (dissipation) and outer (energy producing) turbulent scales. The scintillometer directly gives path averaged Cn2 and Eddy Dissipation rate along the LOS. Coplanar scans along the same path were synchronized using two scanning coherent Doppler lidars. Algorithms have been developed to estimate both eddy dissipation rate and Cn2 from Doppler lidar data effectively creating a new lidar data product. Additionally, from TLS measurements, Cn2 and dissipation rate are calculated using the high frequency spectra of the hot-wire sensor. In this work, measurements of Cn2 and Eddy Dissipation rate

IMPROVED TOPOGRAPHIC MODELS VIA CONCURRENT AIRBORNE LIDAR AND DENSE IMAGE MATCHING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Mandlburger

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Modern airborne sensors integrate laser scanners and digital cameras for capturing topographic data at high spatial resolution. The capability of penetrating vegetation through small openings in the foliage and the high ranging precision in the cm range have made airborne LiDAR the prime terrain acquisition technique. In the recent years dense image matching evolved rapidly and outperforms laser scanning meanwhile in terms of the achievable spatial resolution of the derived surface models. In our contribution we analyze the inherent properties and review the typical processing chains of both acquisition techniques. In addition, we present potential synergies of jointly processing image and laser data with emphasis on sensor orientation and point cloud fusion for digital surface model derivation. Test data were concurrently acquired with the RIEGL LMS-Q1560 sensor over the city of Melk, Austria, in January 2016 and served as basis for testing innovative processing strategies. We demonstrate that (i systematic effects in the resulting scanned and matched 3D point clouds can be minimized based on a hybrid orientation procedure, (ii systematic differences of the individual point clouds are observable at penetrable, vegetated surfaces due to the different measurement principles, and (iii improved digital surface models can be derived combining the higher density of the matching point cloud and the higher reliability of LiDAR point clouds, especially in the narrow alleys and courtyards of the study site, a medieval city.

Filtering Photogrammetric Point Clouds Using Standard LIDAR Filters Towards DTM Generation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Z.; Gerke, M.; Vosselman, G.; Yang, M. Y.

2018-05-01

Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) can be generated from point clouds acquired by laser scanning or photogrammetric dense matching. During the last two decades, much effort has been paid to developing robust filtering algorithms for the airborne laser scanning (ALS) data. With the point cloud quality from dense image matching (DIM) getting better and better, the research question that arises is whether those standard Lidar filters can be used to filter photogrammetric point clouds as well. Experiments are implemented to filter two dense matching point clouds with different noise levels. Results show that the standard Lidar filter is robust to random noise. However, artefacts and blunders in the DIM points often appear due to low contrast or poor texture in the images. Filtering will be erroneous in these locations. Filtering the DIM points pre-processed by a ranking filter will bring higher Type II error (i.e. non-ground points actually labelled as ground points) but much lower Type I error (i.e. bare ground points labelled as non-ground points). Finally, the potential DTM accuracy that can be achieved by DIM points is evaluated. Two DIM point clouds derived by Pix4Dmapper and SURE are compared. On grassland dense matching generates points higher than the true terrain surface, which will result in incorrectly elevated DTMs. The application of the ranking filter leads to a reduced bias in the DTM height, but a slightly increased noise level.

ALTERNATIVE METHODOLOGIES FOR THE ESTIMATION OF LOCAL POINT DENSITY INDEX: MOVING TOWARDS ADAPTIVE LIDAR DATA PROCESSING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Lari

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Over the past few years, LiDAR systems have been established as a leading technology for the acquisition of high density point clouds over physical surfaces. These point clouds will be processed for the extraction of geo-spatial information. Local point density is one of the most important properties of the point cloud that highly affects the performance of data processing techniques and the quality of extracted information from these data. Therefore, it is necessary to define a standard methodology for the estimation of local point density indices to be considered for the precise processing of LiDAR data. Current definitions of local point density indices, which only consider the 2D neighbourhood of individual points, are not appropriate for 3D LiDAR data and cannot be applied for laser scans from different platforms. In order to resolve the drawbacks of these methods, this paper proposes several approaches for the estimation of the local point density index which take the 3D relationship among the points and the physical properties of the surfaces they belong to into account. In the simplest approach, an approximate value of the local point density for each point is defined while considering the 3D relationship among the points. In the other approaches, the local point density is estimated by considering the 3D neighbourhood of the point in question and the physical properties of the surface which encloses this point. The physical properties of the surfaces enclosing the LiDAR points are assessed through eigen-value analysis of the 3D neighbourhood of individual points and adaptive cylinder methods. This paper will discuss these approaches and highlight their impact on various LiDAR data processing activities (i.e., neighbourhood definition, region growing, segmentation, boundary detection, and classification. Experimental results from airborne and terrestrial LiDAR data verify the efficacy of considering local point density variation for

Aerosol backscatter measurements at 10.6 microns with airborne and ground-based CO2 Doppler lidars over the Colorado High Plains. I - Lidar intercomparison

Science.gov (United States)

Bowdle, David A.; Rothermel, Jeffry; Vaughan, J. Michael; Brown, Derek W.; Post, Madison J.

1991-01-01

An airborne continuous-wave (CW) focused CO2 Doppler lidar and a ground-based pulsed CO2 Doppler lidar were to obtain seven pairs of comparative measurements of tropospheric aerosol backscatter profiles at 10.6-micron wavelength, near Denver, Colorado, during a 20-day period in July 1982. In regions of uniform backscatter, the two lidars show good agreement, with differences usually less than about 50 percent near 8-km altitude and less than a factor of 2 or 3 elsewhere but with the pulsed lidar often lower than the CW lidar. Near sharp backscatter gradients, the two lidars show poorer agreement, with the pulsed lidar usually higher than the CW lidar. Most discrepancies arise from a combination of atmospheric factors and instrument factors, particularly small-scale areal and temporal backscatter heterogeneity above the planetary boundary layer, unusual large-scale vertical backscatter structure in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, and differences in the spatial resolution, detection threshold, and noise estimation for the two lidars.

Initial Tests and Accuracy Assesment of a Compact Mobile Laser Scanning System

Science.gov (United States)

Julge, K.; Ellmann, A.; Vajakas, T.; Kolka, R.

2016-06-01

Mobile laser scanning (MLS) is a faster and cost-effective alternative to static laser scanning, even though there is a slight trade-off in accuracy. This contribution describes a compact mobile laser scanning system mounted on a vehicle. The technical parameters of the used system components, i.e. a small LIDAR sensor Velodyne VLP-16 and a dual antenna GNSS/INS system Advanced Navigation Spatial Dual, are reviewed, along with the integration of these components for spatial data acquisition. Calculation principles of 3D coordinates from the real-time data of all the involved sensors are discussed. The field tests were carried out in a controlled environment of a parking lot and at different velocities. Experiments were carried out to test the ability of the GNSS/INS system to cope with difficult conditions, e.g. sudden movements due to cornering or swerving. The accuracy of the resulting MLS point cloud is evaluated with respect to high-accuracy static terrestrial laser scanning data. Problems regarding combining LIDAR, GNSS and INS sensors are outlined, as well as the initial accuracy assessments. Initial tests revealed errors related to insufficient quality of inertial data and a need for the trajectory post-processing calculations. Although this study was carried out while the system was mounted on a car, there is potential for operating the system on an unmanned aerial vehicle, all-terrain vehicle or in a backpack mode due to its relatively compact size.

INITIAL TESTS AND ACCURACY ASSESMENT OF A COMPACT MOBILE LASER SCANNING SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Julge

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Mobile laser scanning (MLS is a faster and cost-effective alternative to static laser scanning, even though there is a slight trade-off in accuracy. This contribution describes a compact mobile laser scanning system mounted on a vehicle. The technical parameters of the used system components, i.e. a small LIDAR sensor Velodyne VLP-16 and a dual antenna GNSS/INS system Advanced Navigation Spatial Dual, are reviewed, along with the integration of these components for spatial data acquisition. Calculation principles of 3D coordinates from the real-time data of all the involved sensors are discussed. The field tests were carried out in a controlled environment of a parking lot and at different velocities. Experiments were carried out to test the ability of the GNSS/INS system to cope with difficult conditions, e.g. sudden movements due to cornering or swerving. The accuracy of the resulting MLS point cloud is evaluated with respect to high-accuracy static terrestrial laser scanning data. Problems regarding combining LIDAR, GNSS and INS sensors are outlined, as well as the initial accuracy assessments. Initial tests revealed errors related to insufficient quality of inertial data and a need for the trajectory post-processing calculations. Although this study was carried out while the system was mounted on a car, there is potential for operating the system on an unmanned aerial vehicle, all-terrain vehicle or in a backpack mode due to its relatively compact size.

In-field High Throughput Phenotyping and Cotton Plant Growth Analysis Using LiDAR.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Shangpeng; Li, Changying; Paterson, Andrew H; Jiang, Yu; Xu, Rui; Robertson, Jon S; Snider, John L; Chee, Peng W

2018-01-01

Plant breeding programs and a wide range of plant science applications would greatly benefit from the development of in-field high throughput phenotyping technologies. In this study, a terrestrial LiDAR-based high throughput phenotyping system was developed. A 2D LiDAR was applied to scan plants from overhead in the field, and an RTK-GPS was used to provide spatial coordinates. Precise 3D models of scanned plants were reconstructed based on the LiDAR and RTK-GPS data. The ground plane of the 3D model was separated by RANSAC algorithm and a Euclidean clustering algorithm was applied to remove noise generated by weeds. After that, clean 3D surface models of cotton plants were obtained, from which three plot-level morphologic traits including canopy height, projected canopy area, and plant volume were derived. Canopy height ranging from 85th percentile to the maximum height were computed based on the histogram of the z coordinate for all measured points; projected canopy area was derived by projecting all points on a ground plane; and a Trapezoidal rule based algorithm was proposed to estimate plant volume. Results of validation experiments showed good agreement between LiDAR measurements and manual measurements for maximum canopy height, projected canopy area, and plant volume, with R 2 -values of 0.97, 0.97, and 0.98, respectively. The developed system was used to scan the whole field repeatedly over the period from 43 to 109 days after planting. Growth trends and growth rate curves for all three derived morphologic traits were established over the monitoring period for each cultivar. Overall, four different cultivars showed similar growth trends and growth rate patterns. Each cultivar continued to grow until ~88 days after planting, and from then on varied little. However, the actual values were cultivar specific. Correlation analysis between morphologic traits and final yield was conducted over the monitoring period. When considering each cultivar individually

A Dual Wavelength Echidna® Lidar (DWEL) for Forest Structure Retrieval

Science.gov (United States)

Strahler, A. H.; Douglas, E. S.; Martel, J.; Cook, T.; Mendillo, C.; Marshall, R. A.; Chakrabarti, S.; Schaaf, C.; Woodcock, C. E.; Li, Z.; Yang, X.; Culvenor, D.; Jupp, D.; Newnham, G.; Lovell, J.

2012-12-01

A newly-constructed, ground-based lidar scanner designed for automated retrieval of forest structure, the Dual Wavelength Echidna Lidar (DWEL), separates laser "hits" of leaves from hits of trunks and branches using simultaneous laser pulses at 1548 nm, where leaf water content produces strong absorption, and at 1064 nm, where leaves and branches have similar reflectances. The DWEL uses a rotating mirror scan mechanism on a revolving mount, coupled with full digitization of return waveforms, to identify, locate, and parameterize scattering events in the three-dimensional space around the scanner. In the DWEL instrument, the two measurement lasers are triggered simultaneously. Laser pulses are sharply peaked; full-width half-max pulse length of the lasers is 5.1 ns, corresponding to 1.53 m in distance. The laser pulses are expanded and collimated to a 6-mm beam diameter (1/e2), then shaped into a top-hat cross section using a diffraction apparatus. Interchangeable optics provide a beam divergence of 1.25-, 2.5-, or 5-mrad. A mirror and two dichroic filters combine the beams and join them with a visible green continuous-wave marker laser. The combined beam is guided along an optical path to the 10-cm rotating scan mirror. Scan encoders in zenith and azimuth directions resolve the pointing of the instrument to 215 units per 2π radians. Scan resolution has three settings: 1-, 2-, and 4-mrad. Scan time varies with resolution: 11 min at 4 mrad; 41 min at 2 mrad; and 2.7 hr at 1 mrad. The return beam enters the 10-cm diameter Newtonian-Nasmyth telescope and is directed to the receiver assembly, which splits the return beam using a dichroic filter and narrowband pass filters. Two 0.5 mm InGaAs photodiodes measure the return signal, which is sampled by two digitizers at 2 gigasamples per second with 10-bit precision. This provides a 7.5-cm sampling of the 1.53 m pulse, allowing very good reconstruction of the return waveform. The designed signal-to-noise ratio is 10:1 (8

Weather and climate needs for Lidar observations from space and concepts for their realization. [wind, temperature, moisture, and pressure data needs

Science.gov (United States)

Atlas, D.; Korb, C. L.

1980-01-01

The spectrum of weather and climate needs for Lidar observations from space is discussed with emphasis on the requirements for wind, temperature, moisture, and pressure data. It is shown that winds are required to realistically depict all atmospheric scales in the tropics and the smaller scales at higher latitudes, where both temperature and wind profiles are necessary. The need for means to estimate air-sea exchanges of sensible and latent heat also is noted. A concept for achieving this through a combination of Lidar cloud top heights and IR cloud top temperatures of cloud streets formed during cold air outbreaks over the warmer ocean is outlined. Recent theoretical feasibility studies concerning the profiling of temperatures, pressure, and humidity by differential absorption Lidar (DIAL) from space and expected accuracies are reviewed. An alternative approach to Doppler Lidar wind measurements also is presented. The concept involves the measurement of the displacement of the aerosol backscatter pattern, at constant heights, between two successive scans of the same area, one ahead of the spacecraft and the other behind it a few minutes later. Finally, an integrated space Lidar system capable of measuring temperature, pressure, humidity, and winds which combines the DIAL methods with the aerosol pattern displacement concept is described.

Multiangle lidar observations of the Atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Lalitkumar Prakash, Pawar; Choukiker, Yogesh Kumar; Raghunath, K.

2018-04-01

Atmospheric Lidars are used extensively to get aerosol parameters like backscatter coefficient, backscatter ratio etc. National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Gadanki (13°N, 79°E), India has a powerful lidar which has alt-azimuth capability. Inversion method is applied to data from observations of lidar system at different azimuth and elevation angles. Data Analysis is described and Observations in 2D and 3D format are discussed. Presence of Cloud and the variation of backscatter parameters are seen in an interesting manner.

LIDAR for atmosphere research over Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Sivakumar, V

2008-11-01

Full Text Available d’aéronomie, CNRS, Paris, France 1Email: SVenkataraman@csir.co.za – www.csir.co.za K-6665 [www.kashangroup.com] Lidar for atmospheric studies: The CSIR’s laser research into monitoring various pollutants in the lower atmosphere via... to lidar applications for atmosphere studies including pollutant monitoring. The following salient features emanated from the survey: • Around 80% of the lidars are in the northern hemisphere • Of the 20% in the southern hemisphere region...

2012 Oregon Lidar Consortium (OLC) Lidar: Keno (OR)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Watershed Sciences, Inc. (WSI) collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data of the Oregon Keno Study Area for the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral...

Two-component wind fields over ocean waves using atmospheric lidar and motion estimation algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Mayor, S. D.

2016-02-01

Numerical models, such as large eddy simulations, are capable of providing stunning visualizations of the air-sea interface. One reason for this is the inherent spatial nature of such models. As compute power grows, models are able to provide higher resolution visualizations over larger domains revealing intricate details of the interactions of ocean waves and the airflow over them. Spatial observations on the other hand, which are necessary to validate the simulations, appear to lag behind models. The rough ocean environment of the real world is an additional challenge. One method of providing spatial observations of fluid flow is that of particle image velocimetry (PIV). PIV has been successfully applied to many problems in engineering and the geosciences. This presentation will show recent research results that demonstate that a PIV-style approach using pulsed-fiber atmospheric elastic backscatter lidar hardware and wavelet-based optical flow motion estimation software can reveal two-component wind fields over rough ocean surfaces. Namely, a recently-developed compact lidar was deployed for 10 days in March of 2015 in the Eureka, California area. It scanned over the ocean. Imagery reveal that breaking ocean waves provide copius amounts of particulate matter for the lidar to detect and for the motion estimation algorithms to retrieve wind vectors from. The image below shows two examples of results from the experiment. The left panel shows the elastic backscatter intensity (copper shades) under a field of vectors that was retrieved by the wavelet-based optical flow algorithm from two scans that took about 15 s each to acquire. The vectors, that reveal offshore flow toward the NW, were decimated for clarity. The bright aerosol features along the right edge of the sector scan were caused by ocean waves breaking on the beach. The right panel is the result of scanning over the ocean on a day when wave amplitudes ranged from 8-12 feet and whitecaps offshore beyond the

Laser remote sensing of water vapor: Raman lidar development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldsmith, J.E.M.; Lapp, M.; Bisson, S.E.; Melfi, S.H.; Whiteman, D.N.; Ferrare, R.A.; Evans, K.D.

1994-01-01

The goal of this research is the development of a critical design for a Raman lidar system optimized to match ARM Program needs for profiling atmospheric water vapor at CART sites. This work has emphasized the development of enhanced daytime capabilities using Raman lidar techniques. This abstract touches briefly on the main components of the research program, summarizing results of the efforts. A detailed Raman lidar instrument model has been developed to predict the daytime and nighttime performance capabilities of Raman lidar systems. The model simulates key characteristics of the lidar system, using realistic atmospheric profiles, modeled background sky radiance, and lidar system parameters based on current instrument capabilities. The model is used to guide development of lidar systems based on both the solar-blind concept and the narrowband, narrow field-of-view concept for daytime optimization

Sensitivity analysis of nacelle lidar free stream wind speed measurements to wind-induction reconstruction model and lidar range configuration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svensson, Elin; Borraccino, Antoine; Meyer Forsting, Alexander Raul

The sensitivity of nacelle lidar wind speed measurements to wind-induction models and lidar range configurations is studied using experimental data from the Nørrekær Enge (NKE) measurement campaign and simulated lidar data from Reynold-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) aerodynamic computational fluid...... the ZDM was configured to measure at five distances. From the configured distances, a large number of range configurations were created and systematically tested to determine the sensitivity of the reconstructed wind speeds to the number of ranges, minimum range and maximum range in the range......) of the fitting residuals. The results demonstrate that it is not possible to use RANS CFD simulated lidar data to determine optimal range configurations for real-time nacelle lidars due to their perfect (unrealistic) representation of the simulated flow field. The recommended range configurations are therefore...

2007 USGS Lidar: Canyon Fire (CA)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This Southern California Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data is to provide high accuracy LIDAR data. These datasets will be the initial acquisition to support...

LSNR Airborne LIDAR Mapping System Design and Early Results (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Shrestha, K.; Carter, W. E.; Slatton, K. C.

2009-12-01

Low signal-to-noise ratio (LSNR) detection techniques allow for implementation of airborne light detection and range (LIDAR) instrumentation aboard platforms with prohibitive power, size, and weight restrictions. The University of Florida has developed the Coastal Area Tactical-mapping System (CATS), a prototype LSNR LIDAR system capable of single photon laser ranging. CATS is designed to operate in a fixed-wing aircraft flying 600 m above ground level, producing 532 nm, 480 ps, 3 μJ output pulses at 8 kHz. To achieve continuous coverage of the terrain with 20 cm spatial resolution in a single pass, a 10x10 array of laser beamlets is scanned. A Risley prism scanner (two rotating V-coated optical wedges) allows the array of laser beamlets to be deflected in a variety of patterns, including conical, spiral, and lines at selected angles to the direction of flight. Backscattered laser photons are imaged onto a 100 channel (10x10 segmented-anode) photomultiplier tube (PMT) with a micro-channel plate (MCP) amplifier. Each channel of the PMT is connected to a multi-stop 2 GHz event timer. Here we report on tests in which ranges for known targets were accumulated for repeated laser shots and statistical analyses were applied to evaluate range accuracy, minimum separation distance, bathymetric mapping depth, and atmospheric scattering. Ground-based field test results have yielded 10 cm range accuracy and sub-meter feature identification at variable scan settings. These experiments also show that a secondary surface can be detected at a distance of 15 cm from the first. Range errors in secondary surface identification for six separate trials were within 7.5 cm, or within the timing resolution limit of the system. Operating at multi-photon sensitivity may have value for situations in which high ambient noise precludes single-photon sensitivity. Low reflectivity targets submerged in highly turbid waters can cause detection issues. CATS offers the capability to adjust the

Spaceborne Lidar in the Study of Marine Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Hostetler, Chris A; Behrenfeld, Michael J; Hu, Yongxiang; Hair, Johnathan W; Schulien, Jennifer A

2018-01-03

Satellite passive ocean color instruments have provided an unbroken ∼20-year record of global ocean plankton properties, but this measurement approach has inherent limitations in terms of spatial-temporal sampling and ability to resolve vertical structure within the water column. These limitations can be addressed by coupling ocean color data with measurements from a spaceborne lidar. Airborne lidars have been used for decades to study ocean subsurface properties, but recent breakthroughs have now demonstrated that plankton properties can be measured with a satellite lidar. The satellite lidar era in oceanography has arrived. Here, we present a review of the lidar technique, its applications in marine systems, a perspective on what can be accomplished in the near future with an ocean- and atmosphere-optimized satellite lidar, and a vision for a multiplatform virtual constellation of observational assets that would enable a three-dimensional reconstruction of global ocean ecosystems.

Spaceborne Lidar in the Study of Marine Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Hostetler, Chris A.; Behrenfeld, Michael J.; Hu, Yongxiang; Hair, Johnathan W.; Schulien, Jennifer A.

2018-01-01

Satellite passive ocean color instruments have provided an unbroken ˜20-year record of global ocean plankton properties, but this measurement approach has inherent limitations in terms of spatial-temporal sampling and ability to resolve vertical structure within the water column. These limitations can be addressed by coupling ocean color data with measurements from a spaceborne lidar. Airborne lidars have been used for decades to study ocean subsurface properties, but recent breakthroughs have now demonstrated that plankton properties can be measured with a satellite lidar. The satellite lidar era in oceanography has arrived. Here, we present a review of the lidar technique, its applications in marine systems, a perspective on what can be accomplished in the near future with an ocean- and atmosphere-optimized satellite lidar, and a vision for a multiplatform virtual constellation of observational assets that would enable a three-dimensional reconstruction of global ocean ecosystems.

A New Framework for Quantifying Lidar Uncertainty

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Newman, Jennifer, F.; Clifton, Andrew; Bonin, Timothy A.; Churchfield, Matthew J.

2017-03-24

As wind turbine sizes increase and wind energy expands to more complex and remote sites, remote sensing devices such as lidars are expected to play a key role in wind resource assessment and power performance testing. The switch to remote sensing devices represents a paradigm shift in the way the wind industry typically obtains and interprets measurement data for wind energy. For example, the measurement techniques and sources of uncertainty for a remote sensing device are vastly different from those associated with a cup anemometer on a meteorological tower. Current IEC standards discuss uncertainty due to mounting, calibration, and classification of the remote sensing device, among other parameters. Values of the uncertainty are typically given as a function of the mean wind speed measured by a reference device. However, real-world experience has shown that lidar performance is highly dependent on atmospheric conditions, such as wind shear, turbulence, and aerosol content. At present, these conditions are not directly incorporated into the estimated uncertainty of a lidar device. In this presentation, we propose the development of a new lidar uncertainty framework that adapts to current flow conditions and more accurately represents the actual uncertainty inherent in lidar measurements under different conditions. In this new framework, sources of uncertainty are identified for estimation of the line-of-sight wind speed and reconstruction of the three-dimensional wind field. These sources are then related to physical processes caused by the atmosphere and lidar operating conditions. The framework is applied to lidar data from an operational wind farm to assess the ability of the framework to predict errors in lidar-measured wind speed.

Multiangle lidar observations of the Atmosphere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lalitkumar Prakash Pawar

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Atmospheric Lidars are used extensively to get aerosol parameters like backscatter coefficient, backscatter ratio etc. National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Gadanki (13°N, 79°E, India has a powerful lidar which has alt-azimuth capability. Inversion method is applied to data from observations of lidar system at different azimuth and elevation angles. Data Analysis is described and Observations in 2D and 3D format are discussed. Presence of Cloud and the variation of backscatter parameters are seen in an interesting manner.

Wind measurement via direct detection lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Afek, I.; Sela, N.; Narkiss, N.; Shamai, G.; Tsadka, S.

2013-10-01

Wind sensing Lidar is considered a promising technology for high quality wind measurements required for various applications such as hub height wind resource assessment, power curve measurements and advanced, real time, forward looking turbine control. Until recently, the only available Lidar technology was based on coherent Doppler shift detection, whose market acceptance has been slow primarily due to its exuberant price. Direct detection Lidar technology provides an alternative to remote sensing of wind by incorporating high precision measurement, a robust design and an affordable price tag.

Testing the Suitability of a Terrestrial 2D LiDAR Scanner for Canopy Characterization of Greenhouse Tomato Crops

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jordi Llop

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Canopy characterization is essential for pesticide dosage adjustment according to vegetation volume and density. It is especially important for fresh exportable vegetables like greenhouse tomatoes. These plants are thin and tall and are planted in pairs, which makes their characterization with electronic methods difficult. Therefore, the accuracy of the terrestrial 2D LiDAR sensor is evaluated for determining canopy parameters related to volume and density and established useful correlations between manual and electronic parameters for leaf area estimation. Experiments were performed in three commercial tomato greenhouses with a paired plantation system. In the electronic characterization, a LiDAR sensor scanned the plant pairs from both sides. The canopy height, canopy width, canopy volume, and leaf area were obtained. From these, other important parameters were calculated, like the tree row volume, leaf wall area, leaf area index, and leaf area density. Manual measurements were found to overestimate the parameters compared with the LiDAR sensor. The canopy volume estimated with the scanner was found to be reliable for estimating the canopy height, volume, and density. Moreover, the LiDAR scanner could assess the high variability in canopy density along rows and hence is an important tool for generating canopy maps.

2014 OLC Lidar DEM: Colville, WA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — WSI, a Quantum Spatial company, has collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the Oregon LiDAR Consortium (OLC) Colville study area. This study area is...

Object Classification Using Airborne Multispectral LiDAR Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PAN Suoyan

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Airborne multispectral LiDAR system,which obtains surface geometry and spectral data of objects,simultaneously,has become a fast effective,large-scale spatial data acquisition method.Multispectral LiDAR data are characteristics of completeness and consistency of spectrum and spatial geometric information.Support vector machine (SVM,a machine learning method,is capable of classifying objects based on small samples.Therefore,by means of SVM,this paper performs land cover classification using multispectral LiDAR data. First,all independent point cloud with different wavelengths are merged into a single point cloud,where each pixel contains the three-wavelength spectral information.Next,the merged point cloud is converted into range and intensity images.Finally,land-cover classification is performed by means of SVM.All experiments were conducted on the Optech Titan multispectral LiDAR data,containing three individual point cloud collected by 532 nm,1024 nm,and 1550 nm laser beams.Experimental results demonstrate that ①compared to traditional single-wavelength LiDAR data,multispectral LiDAR data provide a promising solution to land use and land cover applications;②SVM is a feasible method for land cover classification of multispectral LiDAR data.

M3RSM: Many-to-Many Multi-Resolution Scan Matching

Science.gov (United States)

2015-05-01

a localization problem), or may be derived from a LIDAR scan earlier in the robot’s trajectory (a SLAM problem). The reference map is generally...Mapping ( SLAM ) systems prevent the unbounded accumulation of error. A typical approach with laser range-finder data is to compute the posterior...even greater bottleneck than the SLAM optimiza- tion itself. In our multi-robot mapping system, over a dozen robots explored an area simultaneously [14

2014 PSLC Lidar: City of Redmond

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In February 2014, Quantum Spatial (QSI) was contracted by the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) to collect Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the City of...

2014 Horry County, South Carolina Lidar

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set is comprised of lidar point cloud data. This project required lidar data to be acquired over Horry County, South Carolina. The total area of the Horry...

Elevation - LIDAR Survey - Roseau County, Minnesota

Data.gov (United States)

Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, Department of Defense — LIDAR Data for Roseau County Minnesota. This project consists of approximately 87 square miles of LIDAR mapping in Roseau County, Minnesota at two sites: area 1,...

2006 Volusia County Florida LiDAR

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This dataset is the lidar data for Volusia County, Florida, approximately 1,432 square miles, acquired in early March of 2006. A total of 143 flight lines of Lidar...

STREAMED VERTICAL RECTANGLE DETECTION IN TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANS FOR FACADE DATABASE PRODUCTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Demantké

2012-07-01

Full Text Available A reliable and accurate facade database would be a major asset in applications such as localization of autonomous vehicles, registration and fine building modeling. Mobile mapping devices now provide the data required to create such a database, but efficient methods should be designed in order to tackle the enormous amount of data collected by such means (a million point per second for hours of acquisition. Another important limitation is the presence of numerous objects in urban scenes of many different types. This paper proposes a method that overcomes these two issues: – The facade detection algorithm is streamed: the data is processed in the order it was acquired. More precisely, the input data is split into overlapping blocks which are analysed in turn to extract facade parts. Close overlapping parts are then merged in order to recover the full facade rectangle. – The geometry of the neighborhood of each point is analysed to define a probability that the point belongs to a vertical planar patch. This probability is then injected in a RANdom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC algorithm both in the sampling step and in the hypothesis validation, in order to favour the most reliable candidates. This ensures much more robustness against outliers during the facade detection. This way, the main vertical rectangles are detected without any prior knowledge about the data. The only assumptions are that the facades are roughly planar and vertical. The method has been successfully tested on a large dataset in Paris. The facades are detected despite the presence of trees occluding large areas of some facades. The robustness and accuracy of the detected facade rectangles makes them useful for localization applications and for registration of other scans of the same city or of entire city models.

TU-A-12A-04: Quantitative Texture Features Calculated in Lung Tissue From CT Scans Demonstrate Consistency Between Two Databases From Different Institutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cunliffe, A; Armato, S; Castillo, R; Pham, N; Guerrero, T; Al-Hallaq, H

2014-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the consistency of computed tomography (CT) scan texture features, previously identified as stable in a healthy patient cohort, in esophageal cancer patient CT scans. Methods: 116 patients receiving radiation therapy (median dose: 50.4Gy) for esophageal cancer were retrospectively identified. For each patient, diagnostic-quality pre-therapy (0-183 days) and post-therapy (5-120 days) scans (mean voxel size: 0.8mm×0.8mm×2.5mm) and a treatment planning scan and associated dose map were collected. An average of 501 32x32-pixel ROIs were placed randomly in the lungs of each pre-therapy scan. ROI centers were mapped to corresponding locations in post-therapy and planning scans using the displacement vector field output by demons deformable registration. Only ROIs with mean dose <5Gy were analyzed, as these were expected to contain minimal post-treatment damage. 140 texture features were calculated in pre-therapy and post-therapy scan ROIs and compared using Bland-Altman analysis. For each feature, the mean feature value change and the distance spanned by the 95% limits of agreement were normalized to the mean feature value, yielding normalized range of agreement (nRoA) and normalized bias (nBias). Using Wilcoxon signed rank tests, nRoA and nBias were compared with values computed previously in 27 healthy patient scans (mean voxel size: 0.67mm×0.67mm×1mm) acquired at a different institution. Results: nRoA was significantly (p<0.001) larger in cancer patients than healthy patients. Differences in nBias were not significant (p=0.23). The 20 features identified previously as having nRoA<20% for healthy patients had the lowest nRoA values in the current database, with an average increase of 5.6%. Conclusion: Despite differences in CT scanner type, scan resolution, and patient health status, the same 20 features remained stable (i.e., low variability and bias) in the absence of disease changes for databases from two institutions. Identification of

2012 USGS Lidar: Elwha River (WA)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — TASK NAME: Elwha River, WA LiDAR LiDAR Data Acquisition and Processing Production Task USGS Contract No. G10PC00057 Task Order No. G11PD01088 Woolpert Order No....

Lidar data used in the COFIN project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ejsing Jørgensen, Hans; Nielsen, Morten

1999-01-01

This report presents the Lidar data used in the COFIN project. The Lidar data have been obtained from several ground level dispersion experiments over flat and complex terrain. The method for treating the data and the conditons under which the data wereobtained are described in detail. Finally we...... describe the Tools to extract and visualize the Lidar data. Data, report, and visualisation tools are available on the Risø FTP server....

Quantifying Local Ablation Rates for the Greenland Ice Sheet Using Terrestrial LIDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Kershner, C. M.; Pitcher, L. H.; LeWinter, A.; Finnegan, D. C.; Overstreet, B. T.; Miège, C.; Cooper, M. G.; Smith, L. C.; Rennermalm, A. K.

2016-12-01

Quantifying accurate ice surface ablation or melt rates for the Greenland Ice Sheet is important for calibrating and validating surface mass balance models and constraining sea level rise estimates. Common practice is to monitor surface ablation at defined points by manually measuring ice surface lowering in relation to stakes inserted into the ice / snow. However, this method does not account for the effects of local topography, solar zenith angle, and local variations in ice surface albedo/impurities on ablation rates. To directly address these uncertainties, we use a commercially available terrestrial LIDAR scanner (TLS) to monitor daily melt rates in the ablation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet for 7 consecutive days in July 2016. Each survey is registered to previous scans using retroreflective cylinders and is georeferenced using static GPS measurements. Bulk ablation will be calculated using multi-temporal differential LIDAR techniques, and difficulties in referencing scans and collecting high quality surveys in this dynamic environment will be discussed, as well as areas for future research. We conclude that this novel application of TLS technology provides a spatially accurate, higher fidelity measurements of ablation across a larger area with less interpolation and less time spent than using traditional manual point based methods alone. Furthermore, this sets the stage for direct calibration, validation and cross-comparison with existing airborne (e.g. NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper - ATM - onboard Operation IceBridge and NASA's Land, Vegetation & Ice Sensor - LVIS) and forthcoming spaceborne sensors (e.g. NASA's ICESat-2).

The Danish fetal medicine database

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ekelund, Charlotte Kvist; Kopp, Tine Iskov; Tabor, Ann

2016-01-01

trimester ultrasound scan performed at all public hospitals in Denmark are registered in the database. Main variables/descriptive data: Data on maternal characteristics, ultrasonic, and biochemical variables are continuously sent from the fetal medicine units’Astraia databases to the central database via...... analyses are sent to the database. Conclusion: It has been possible to establish a fetal medicine database, which monitors first-trimester screening for chromosomal abnormalities and second-trimester screening for major fetal malformations with the input from already collected data. The database...

A time-lapse lidar survey of the Mam Tor landslide, Derbyshire, UK.

Science.gov (United States)

Hodgetts, David; Rutter, Ernest

2013-04-01

Since 2004 a terrestrial lidar survey of the Mam Tor landslide in Castleton, Derbyshire, has been undertaken each year. Using a Riegl LMSZ420i laser scanner, the data has been collected during the winter months, while the vegetation is at a minimum, to ensure the surveys record a surface as close to the true geometry of the landslip as possible. These surveys, when combined and viewed in sequence provide an accurate record of the landslides movement over this time. The main challenge in comparing yearly scans of a progressively moving feature (at up to 500mm/year) is to ensure that each year's scan is in the correct place relative to the others, to this end features outside of the landslip are used as reference points to ensure consistent cross referencing of the landslip scans. In addition to this each year the laser scanner is sited in the same position within the study area, to ensure the same areal coverage over consecutive years. In-house software called Virtual Reality Geological Studio (VRGS) is used to interpret and analyse the landslip data (in both point cloud and triangulated mesh form), providing tools for comparing surface elevation, but also to tracking individual features (such as individual boulders) from year to year allowing movement vectors to be mapped across the area of the landslip. These vectors can then be compared with other measurements from total-station surveys to act as a check on the validity of the lidar mapping approach. Topographic sections will be shown through several parts of the slip to facilitate year by year comparison. The landslide itself has formed within the Carboniferous Edale Mudstone Formation, is approximately 900m long, 270 to 300m wide and up to 20m thick. The landslip is estimated to be over 3200 years old.

Comparison of 3D point clouds produced by LIDAR and UAV photoscan in the Rochefort cave (Belgium)

Science.gov (United States)

Watlet, Arnaud; Triantafyllou, Antoine; Kaufmann, Olivier; Le Mouelic, Stéphane

2016-04-01

Amongst today's techniques that are able to produce 3D point clouds, LIDAR and UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) photogrammetry are probably the most commonly used. Both methods have their own advantages and limitations. LIDAR scans create high resolution and high precision 3D point clouds, but such methods are generally costly, especially for sporadic surveys. Compared to LIDAR, UAV (e.g. drones) are cheap and flexible to use in different kind of environments. Moreover, the photogrammetric processing workflow of digital images taken with UAV becomes easier with the rise of many affordable software packages (e.g. Agisoft, PhotoModeler3D, VisualSFM). We present here a challenging study made at the Rochefort Cave Laboratory (South Belgium) comprising surface and underground surveys. The site is located in the Belgian Variscan fold-and-thrust belt, a region that shows many karstic networks within Devonian limestone units. A LIDAR scan has been acquired in the main chamber of the cave (~ 15000 m³) to spatialize 3D point cloud of its inner walls and infer geological beds and structures. Even if the use of LIDAR instrument was not really comfortable in such caving environment, the collected data showed a remarkable precision according to few control points geometry. We also decided to perform another challenging survey of the same cave chamber by modelling a 3D point cloud using photogrammetry of a set of DSLR camera pictures taken from the ground and UAV pictures. The aim was to compare both techniques in terms of (i) implementation of data acquisition and processing, (ii) quality of resulting 3D points clouds (points density, field vs cloud recovery and points precision), (iii) their application for geological purposes. Through Rochefort case study, main conclusions are that LIDAR technique provides higher density point clouds with slightly higher precision than photogrammetry method. However, 3D data modeled by photogrammetry provide visible light spectral information

Infrastructure Investment Protection with LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-15

The primary goal of this research effort was to explore the wide variety of uses of LiDAR technology and to evaluate their : applicability to NCDOT practices. NCDOT can use this information about LiDAR in determining how and when the : technology can...

2013 NRCS-USGS Lidar: Lauderdale (MS)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — TASK NAME:NRCS LAUDERDALE MS 0.7M NPS LIDAR. LiDAR Data Acquisition and Processing Production Task. USGS Contract No. G10PC00057. Task Order No. G12PD000125 Woolpert...

2014 USGS/NRCS Lidar: Central MS

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — TASK NAME: USGS-NRCS Laurel MS 0.7m NPS LIDAR Lidar Data Acquisition and Processing Production Task USGS Contract No. G10PC00057 Task Order No. G13PD01086 Woolpert...

Lidar-based mapping of flood control levees in south Louisiana

Science.gov (United States)

Thatcher, Cindy A.; Lim, Samsung; Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Monica; Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Kimbrow, Dustin R.

2016-01-01

Flood protection in south Louisiana is largely dependent on earthen levees, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the state’s levee system has received intense scrutiny. Accurate elevation data along the levees are critical to local levee district managers responsible for monitoring and maintaining the extensive system of non-federal levees in coastal Louisiana. In 2012, high resolution airborne lidar data were acquired over levees in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, and a mobile terrestrial lidar survey was conducted for selected levee segments using a terrestrial lidar scanner mounted on a truck. The mobile terrestrial lidar data were collected to test the feasibility of using this relatively new technology to map flood control levees and to compare the accuracy of the terrestrial and airborne lidar. Metrics assessing levee geometry derived from the two lidar surveys are also presented as an efficient, comprehensive method to quantify levee height and stability. The vertical root mean square error values of the terrestrial lidar and airborne lidar digital-derived digital terrain models were 0.038 m and 0.055 m, respectively. The comparison of levee metrics derived from the airborne and terrestrial lidar-based digital terrain models showed that both types of lidar yielded similar results, indicating that either or both surveying techniques could be used to monitor geomorphic change over time. Because airborne lidar is costly, many parts of the USA and other countries have never been mapped with airborne lidar, and repeat surveys are often not available for change detection studies. Terrestrial lidar provides a practical option for conducting repeat surveys of levees and other terrain features that cover a relatively small area, such as eroding cliffs or stream banks, and dunes.

Telescope aperture optimization for spacebased coherent wind lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Xian-ying; Zhu, Jun; Cao, Qipeng; Zhang, Yinchao; Yin, Huan; Dong, Xiaojing; Wang, Chao; Zhang, Yongchao; Zhang, Ning

2015-08-01

Many studies have indicated that the optimum measurement approach for winds from space is a pulsed coherent wind lidar, which is an active remote sensing tool with the characteristics that high spatial and temporal resolutions, real-time detection, high mobility, facilitated control and so on. Because of the significant eye safety, efficiency, size, and lifetime advantage, 2μm wavelength solid-state laser lidar systems have attracted much attention in spacebased wind lidar plans. In this paper, the theory of coherent detection is presented and a 2μm wavelength solid-state laser lidar system is introduced, then the ideal aperture is calculated from signal-to-noise(SNR) view at orbit 400km. However, considering real application, even if the lidar hardware is perfectly aligned, the directional jitter of laser beam, the attitude change of the lidar in the long round trip time of the light from the atmosphere and other factors can bring misalignment angle. So the influence of misalignment angle is considered and calculated, and the optimum telescope diameter(0.45m) is obtained as the misalignment angle is 4 μrad. By the analysis of the optimum aperture required for spacebased coherent wind lidar system, we try to present the design guidance for the telescope.

Applications of KHZ-CW Lidar in Ecological Entomology

Science.gov (United States)

Malmqvist, Elin; Brydegaard, Mikkel

2016-06-01

The benefits of kHz lidar in ecological entomology are explained. Results from kHz-measurements on insects, carried out with a CW-lidar system, employing the Scheimpflug principle to obtain range resolution, are presented. A method to extract insect events and analyze the large amount of lidar data is also described.

INTERACT-II campaign:comparison of commercial lidars and ceilometers with advanced multi-wavelength Raman lidars

Science.gov (United States)

Rosoldi, Marco; Madonna, Fabio; Pappalardo, Gelsomina; Vande Hey, Joshua; Zheng, Yunhui; Vaisala Team

2017-04-01

Knowledge of aerosol spatio-temporal distribution in troposphere is essential for the study of climate and air quality. For this purpose, global scale high resolution continuous measurements of tropospheric aerosols are needed. Global coverage high resolution networks of ground-based low-cost and low-maintenance remote sensing instruments, such as commercial automatic lidars and ceilometers, can strongly contribute to this scientific mission. Therefore, it is very interesting for scientific community to understand to which extent these instruments are able to provide reliable aerosol measurements and fill in the geographical gaps of existing networks of the advanced lidars, like EARLINET (European Aerosol Research LIdar NETwork). The INTERACT-II (INTERcomparison of Aerosol and Cloud Tracking) campaign, carried out at CIAO (CNR-IMAA Atmospheric Observatory) in Tito Scalo, Potenza, Italy (760m a.s.l., 40.60°N, 15.72°E), aims to evaluate the performances of commercial automatic lidars and ceilometers for tropospheric aerosol profiling. The campaign has been performed in the period from July 2016 to January 2017 in the framework of ACTRIS-2 (Aerosol Clouds Trace gases Research InfraStructure) H2020 research infrastructure project. Besides the commercial ceilometers operational at CIAO (VAISALA CT25K and Luftt CHM15k), the performance of a CL51 VAISALA ceilometer, a Campbell CS135 ceilometer and a mini-Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) have been assessed using the EARLINET multi-wavelengths Raman lidars operative at CIAO as reference. Following a similar approach used in the first INTERACT campaign (Madonna et al., AMT 2015), attenuated backscatter coefficient profiles and signals obtained from all the instruments have been compared, over a vertical resolution of 60 meters and a temporal integration ranging between 1 and 2 hours, depending on the observed atmospheric scenario. CIAO lidars signals have been processed using the EARLINET Single Calculus Chain (SCC) also with the

Software design of control system of CCD side-scatter lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Kuang, Zhiqiang; Liu, Dong; Deng, Qian; Zhang, Zhanye; Wang, Zhenzhu; Yu, Siqi; Tao, Zongming; Xie, Chenbo; Wang, Yingjian

2018-03-01

Because of the existence of blind zone and transition zone, the application of backscattering lidar in near-ground is limited. The side-scatter lidar equipped with the Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) can separate the transmitting and receiving devices to avoid the impact of the geometric factors which is exited in the backscattering lidar and, detect the more precise near-ground aerosol signals continuously. Theories of CCD side-scatter lidar and the design of control system are introduced. The visible control of laser and CCD and automatic data processing method of the side-scatter lidar are developed by using the software of Visual C #. The results which are compared with the calibration of the atmospheric aerosol lidar data show that signals from the CCD side- scatter lidar are convincible.

Use of LiDAR to Assist in Delineating Waters of the United States, Including Wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

2014-03-01

components: a mounting platform, a laser and scanning mirror, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a global positioning system (GPS) antenna and...including but not limited to TIFF, ASC , IMG, and KML files or compressed as a KMZ file. These files are quickly imported and viewed using GIS such as...sediment transport processes and hydraulics. Sedimentology 56:2024–2043. Hogg, A., and J. Holland. 2008. An evaluation of DEMs derived from LiDAR

Multi-wavelength Ocean Profiling and Atmospheric Lidar

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We propose to build and demonstrate the world's first multi-wavelength ocean-profiling high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL). The lidar will provide profiles of...

A real-time uncertainty-knowledge and training database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joergensen, H.E.; Santabarbara, J.M.; Mikkelsen, T.

1993-01-01

The paper describes an experimentally obtained database for training of uncertainties and data interpretation in connection with local scale accidental atmospheric dispersion scenarios. Based on remote measurement techniques using lidars, sequential 'snapshots', or movies, of the fluctuating concentration, profiles during several full scale diffusion experiments have been obtained. The aim has been to establish data sets suitable for comparison and training with the real-time atmospheric dispersion models in decision support systems, such as the RODOS system under development within the CEC. (author)

A real-time uncertainty-knowledge and training database

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ejsing Jørgensen, Hans; Santabarbara, J.M.; Mikkelsen, T.

1993-01-01

The paper describes an experimentally obtained database for training of uncertainties and data interpretation in connection with local scale accidental atmospheric dispersion scenarios. Based on remote measurement techniques using lidars, sequential 'snapshots', or movies. of the fluctuating...... concentration profiles during several full scale diffusion experiments has been obtained. The aim has been to establish data sets suitable tor comparison and training with the real-time atmospheric dispersion models in decision support systems, such as the RODOS system under development within the CEC....

2012 Oregon Lidar Consortium (OLC) Lidar DEM: Keno (OR)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Watershed Sciences, Inc. (WSI) collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data of the Oregon Keno Study Area for the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral...

A Concealed Car Extraction Method Based on Full-Waveform LiDAR Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chuanrong Li

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Concealed cars extraction from point clouds data acquired by airborne laser scanning has gained its popularity in recent years. However, due to the occlusion effect, the number of laser points for concealed cars under trees is not enough. Thus, the concealed cars extraction is difficult and unreliable. In this paper, 3D point cloud segmentation and classification approach based on full-waveform LiDAR was presented. This approach first employed the autocorrelation G coefficient and the echo ratio to determine concealed cars areas. Then the points in the concealed cars areas were segmented with regard to elevation distribution of concealed cars. Based on the previous steps, a strategy integrating backscattered waveform features and the view histogram descriptor was developed to train sample data of concealed cars and generate the feature pattern. Finally concealed cars were classified by pattern matching. The approach was validated by full-waveform LiDAR data and experimental results demonstrated that the presented approach can extract concealed cars with accuracy more than 78.6% in the experiment areas.

Combined Atmospheric and Ocean Profiling from an Airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hair Johnathan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available First of its kind combined atmospheric and ocean profile data were collected by the recently upgraded NASA Langley Research Center’s (LaRC High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-1 during the 17 July – 7 August 2014 Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research Experiment (SABOR. This mission sampled over a region that covered the Gulf of Maine, open-ocean near Bermuda, and coastal waters from Virginia to Rhode Island. The HSRL-1 and the Research Scanning Polarimeter from NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies collected data onboard the NASA LaRC King Air aircraft and flight operations were closely coordinated with the Research Vessel Endeavor that made in situ ocean optical measurements. The lidar measurements provided profiles of atmospheric backscatter and particulate depolarization at 532nm, 1064nm, and extinction (532nm from approximately 9km altitude. In addition, for the first time HSRL seawater backscatter, depolarization, and diffuse attenuation data at 532nm were collected and compared to both the ship measurements and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (NASA MODIS-Aqua satellite ocean retrievals.

Shipborne LiDAR system for coastal change monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, chang hwan; Park, chang hong; Kim, hyun wook; hyuck Kim, won; Lee, myoung hoon; Park, hyeon yeong

2016-04-01

Coastal areas, used as human utilization areas like leisure space, medical care, ports and power plants, etc., are regions that are continuously changing and interconnected with oceans and land and the sea level has risen by about 8cm (1.9mm / yr) due to global warming from 1964 year to 2006 year in Korea. Coastal erosion due to sea-level rise has caused the problem of marine ecosystems and loss of tourism resources, etc. Regular monitoring of coastal erosion is essential at key locations with such volatility. But the survey method of land mobile LiDAR (light detection and ranging) system has much time consuming and many restrictions. For effective monitoring beach erosion, KIOST (Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology) has constructed a shipborne mobile LiDAR system. The shipborne mobile LiDAR system comprised a land mobile LiDAR (RIEGL LMS-420i), an INS (inertial navigation system, MAGUS Inertial+), a RTKGPS (LEICA GS15 GS25), and a fixed platform. The shipborne mobile LiDAR system is much more effective than a land mobile LiDAR system in the measuring of fore shore areas without shadow zone. Because the vessel with the shipborne mobile LiDAR system is continuously moved along the shoreline, it is possible to efficiently survey a large area in a relatively short time. Effective monitoring of the changes using the constructed shipborne mobile LiDAR system for seriously eroded coastal areas will be able to contribute to coastal erosion management and response.

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) From Space - Laser Altimeters

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Xiaoli

2016-01-01

Light detection and ranging, or lidar, is like radar but atoptical wavelengths. The principle of operation and theirapplications in remote sensing are similar. Lidars havemany advantages over radars in instrument designs andapplications because of the much shorter laser wavelengthsand narrower beams. The lidar transmitters and receiveroptics are much smaller than radar antenna dishes. Thespatial resolution of lidar measurement is much finer thanthat of radar because of the much smaller footprint size onground. Lidar measurements usually give a better temporalresolution because the laser pulses can be much narrowerthan radio frequency (RF) signals. The major limitation oflidar is the ability to penetrate clouds and ground surfaces.

System analysis and simulation of airborne scannerless 3D imaging lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Pan; Hao, Qiwei; Chen, Siying

2009-11-01

Airborne non-scanned 3D imaging lidar is a recently developed method for remote sensing. The design method and flow of the system parameters round with the spatial resolution are established and explained in detail with examples. An evaluation indicator of data coverage is proposed to optimize the imaging control method. Pixel aliasing in all directions are analyzed, the possible factors cause the aliasing are stated, including the time control error, atmospheric disturbance and platform shake. At last, a parallel data output format is proposed to eliminate the timing mismatch of image data and POS parameters.

Scanning lidar fluorosensor for remote diagnostic of surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Caneve, Luisa; Colao, Francesco; Fantoni, Roberta; Fiorani, Luca

2013-08-01

Scanning hyperspectral systems based on laser induced fluorescence (LIF) have been developed and realized at the ENEA allowing to obtain information of analytical and qualitative interest on different materials by the study of the emission of fluorescence. This technique, for a surface analysis, is fast, remote, not invasive and specific. A new compact setup capable of fast 2D monochromatic images acquisition on up to 90 different spectral channels in the visible/UV range will be presented. It has been recently built with the aim to increase the performances in terms of space resolution, time resolved capabilities and data acquisition speed. Major achievements have been reached by a critical review of the optical design. The results recently obtained with in-situ measurements of interest for applications in the field of cultural heritage will be shown. 2001 Elsevier Science. All rights reserved

EARLINET: towards an advanced sustainable European aerosol lidar network

Science.gov (United States)

Pappalardo, G.; Amodeo, A.; Apituley, A.; Comeron, A.; Freudenthaler, V.; Linné, H.; Ansmann, A.; Bösenberg, J.; D'Amico, G.; Mattis, I.; Mona, L.; Wandinger, U.; Amiridis, V.; Alados-Arboledas, L.; Nicolae, D.; Wiegner, M.

2014-03-01

The European Aerosol Research Lidar Network, EARLINET was founded in 2000 as a research project for establishing a quantitative, comprehensive and statistically significant database for the horizontal, vertical, and temporal distribution of aerosols on a continental scale. Since then EARLINET is continuing to provide the most extensive collection of ground-based data for the aerosol vertical distribution over Europe. This paper gives an overview of the network's main developments since 2000 and introduces the dedicated EARLINET special issue which reports on the present innovative and comprehensive technical solutions and scientific results related to the use of advanced lidar remote sensing techniques for the study of aerosol properties as developed within the network in the last thirteen years. Since 2000, EARLINET has strongly developed in terms of number of stations and spatial distribution, from 17 stations in 10 countries in 2000, to 27 stations in 16 countries in 2013. EARLINET has strongly developed also in terms of technological advances with the spread of advanced multi-wavelength Raman lidar stations in Europe. The developments for the quality assurance strategy, the optimization of instruments and data processing and dissemination of data have contributed to a significant improvement of the network towards a more sustainable observing system, with an increase of the observing capability and a reduction of operational costs. Consequently, EARLINET data have already been extensively used for many climatological studies, long-range transport events, Saharan dust outbreaks, plumes from volcanic eruptions and for model evaluation and satellite data validation and integration. Future plans are in the direction of continuous measurements and near real time data delivery in close cooperation with other ground-based networks, as in the ACTRIS research infrastructure, and with the modelling and satellite community, bridging the research community with the

Calibration and Validation of a Detailed Architectural Canopy Model Reconstruction for the Simulation of Synthetic Hemispherical Images and Airborne LiDAR Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magnus Bremer

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Canopy density measures such as the Leaf Area Index (LAI have become standardized mapping products derived from airborne and terrestrial Light Detection And Ranging (aLiDAR and tLiDAR, respectively data. A specific application of LiDAR point clouds is their integration into radiative transfer models (RTM of varying complexity. Using, e.g., ray tracing, this allows flexible simulations of sub-canopy light condition and the simulation of various sensors such as virtual hemispherical images or waveform LiDAR on a virtual forest plot. However, the direct use of LiDAR data in RTMs shows some limitations in the handling of noise, the derivation of surface areas per LiDAR point and the discrimination of solid and porous canopy elements. In order to address these issues, a strategy upgrading tLiDAR and Digital Hemispherical Photographs (DHP into plausible 3D architectural canopy models is suggested. The presented reconstruction workflow creates an almost unbiased virtual 3D representation of branch and leaf surface distributions, minimizing systematic errors due to the object–sensor relationship. The models are calibrated and validated using DHPs. Using the 3D models for simulations, their capabilities for the description of leaf density distributions and the simulation of aLiDAR and DHP signatures are shown. At an experimental test site, the suitability of the models, in order to systematically simulate and evaluate aLiDAR based LAI predictions under various scan settings is proven. This strategy makes it possible to show the importance of laser point sampling density, but also the diversity of scan angles and their quantitative effect onto error margins.

2010 ARRA Lidar: 4 Southeast Counties (MI)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — TASK NAME: Southeast Michigan LiDAR LiDAR Data Acquisition and Processing Production Task- Monroe, St. Clair, Macomb, and Livingston Counties SEMCOG CONTRACT:...

Initial investigations of microscale cellular convection in an equatorial marine atmospheric boundary layer revealed by lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, D. I.; Eichinger, W. E.; Ecke, R. E.; Kao, J. C. Y.; Reisner, J. M.; Tellier, L. L.

During the Combined Sensor Program (CSP) in March of 1996, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) fielded an advanced scanning Raman lidar. The lidar was part of a larger suite of micrometeorological sensors to quantify processes associated with the ocean-atmosphere interface, including intermittency and coherent atmospheric features in the “warm pool” of the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) near Manus Island (2° S. lat, 147° E. long). Initial inspection of the data has revealed excellent information on the microscale vertical and horizontal spatial and temporal structure of the equatorial Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer (MABL). The data from this experiment have added to the increasing body of measurements on surface layer convection and intermittency including, for the first time, the observation of microscale cellular convective structures such as hexagonal patterns associated with Rayleigh-Bénard cells.

High resolution humidity, temperature and aerosol profiling with MeteoSwiss Raman lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Dinoev, Todor; Arshinov, Yuri; Bobrovnikov, Sergei; Serikov, Ilya; Calpini, Bertrand; van den Bergh, Hubert; Parlange, Marc B.; Simeonov, Valentin

2010-05-01

Meteorological services rely, in part, on numerical weather prediction (NWP). Twice a day radiosonde observations of water vapor provide the required data for assimilation but this time resolution is insufficient to resolve certain meteorological phenomena. High time resolution temperature profiles from microwave radiometers are available as well but have rather low vertical resolution. The Raman LIDARs are able to provide temperature and humidity profiles with high time and range resolution, suitable for NWP model assimilation and validation. They are as well indispensible tools for continuous aerosol profiling for high resolution atmospheric boundary layer studies. To improve the database available for direct meteorological applications the Swiss meteo-service (MeteoSwiss), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) initiated a project to design and build an automated Raman lidar for day and night vertical profiling of tropospheric water vapor with the possibility to further upgrade it with an aerosol and temperature channels. The project was initiated in 2004 and RALMO (Raman Lidar for meteorological observations) was inaugurated in August 2008 at MeteoSwiss aerological station at Payerne. RALMO is currently operational and continuously profiles water vapor mixing ratio, aerosol backscatter ratio and aerosol extinction. The instrument is a fully automated, self-contained, eye-safe Raman lidar operated at 355 nm. Narrow field-of-view multi-telescope receiver and narrow band detection allow day and night-time vertical profiling of the atmospheric humidity. The rotational-vibrational Raman lidar responses from water vapor and nitrogen are spectrally separated by a high-throughput fiber coupled diffraction grating polychromator. The elastic backscatter and pure-rotational Raman lidar responses (PRR) from oxygen and nitrogen are spectrally isolated by a double grating polychromator and are used to

Wind turbine control applications of turbine-mounted LIDAR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bossanyi, E A; Kumar, A; Hugues-Salas, O

2014-01-01

In recent years there has been much interest in the possible use of LIDAR systems for improving the performance of wind turbine controllers, by providing preview information about the approaching wind field. Various potential benefits have been suggested, and experimental measurements have sometimes been used to claim surprising gains in performance. This paper reports on an independent study which has used detailed analytical methods for two main purposes: firstly to try to evaluate the likely benefits of LIDAR-assisted control objectively, and secondly to provide advice to LIDAR manufacturers about the characteristics of LIDAR systems which are most likely to be of value for this application. Many different LIDAR configurations were compared: as a general conclusion, systems should be able to sample at least 10 points every second, reasonably distributed around the swept area, and allowing a look-ahead time of a few seconds. An important conclusion is that the main benefit of the LIDAR will be to enhance of collective pitch control to reduce thrust-related fatigue loads; there is some indication that extreme loads can also be reduced, but this depends on other considerations which are discussed in the paper. LIDAR-assisted individual pitch control, optimal C p tracking and yaw control were also investigated, but the benefits over conventional methods are less clear

Wind turbine wake visualization and characteristics analysis by Doppler lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Songhua; Liu, Bingyi; Liu, Jintao; Zhai, Xiaochun; Feng, Changzhong; Wang, Guining; Zhang, Hongwei; Yin, Jiaping; Wang, Xitao; Li, Rongzhong; Gallacher, Daniel

2016-05-16

Wind power generation is growing fast as one of the most promising renewable energy sources that can serve as an alternative to fossil fuel-generated electricity. When the wind turbine generator (WTG) extracts power from the wind, the wake evolves and leads to a considerable reduction in the efficiency of the actual power generation. Furthermore, the wake effect can lead to the increase of turbulence induced fatigue loads that reduce the life time of WTGs. In this work, a pulsed coherent Doppler lidar (PCDL) has been developed and deployed to visualize wind turbine wakes and to characterize the geometry and dynamics of wakes. As compared with the commercial off-the-shelf coherent lidars, the PCDL in this work has higher updating rate of 4 Hz and variable physical spatial resolution from 15 to 60 m, which improves its capability to observation the instantaneous turbulent wind field. The wind speed estimation method from the arc scan technique was evaluated in comparison with wind mast measurements. Field experiments were performed to study the turbulent wind field in the vicinity of operating WTGs in the onshore and offshore wind parks from 2013 to 2015. Techniques based on a single and a dual Doppler lidar were employed for elucidating main features of turbine wakes, including wind velocity deficit, wake dimension, velocity profile, 2D wind vector with resolution of 10 m, turbulence dissipation rate and turbulence intensity under different conditions of surface roughness. The paper shows that the PCDL is a practical tool for wind energy research and will provide a significant basis for wind farm site selection, design and optimization.

Calibration of Ground -based Lidar instrument

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villanueva, Héctor; Yordanova, Ginka

This report presents the result of the lidar calibration performed for the given Ground-based Lidar at DTU’s test site for large wind turbines at Høvsøre, Denmark. Calibration is here understood as the establishment of a relation between the reference wind speed measurements with measurement...

Lidar sounding of volcanic plumes

Science.gov (United States)

Fiorani, Luca; Aiuppa, Alessandro; Angelini, Federico; Borelli, Rodolfo; Del Franco, Mario; Murra, Daniele; Pistilli, Marco; Puiu, Adriana; Santoro, Simone

2013-10-01

Accurate knowledge of gas composition in volcanic plumes has high scientific and societal value. On the one hand, it gives information on the geophysical processes taking place inside volcanos; on the other hand, it provides alert on possible eruptions. For this reasons, it has been suggested to monitor volcanic plumes by lidar. In particular, one of the aims of the FP7 ERC project BRIDGE is the measurement of CO2 concentration in volcanic gases by differential absorption lidar. This is a very challenging task due to the harsh environment, the narrowness and weakness of the CO2 absorption lines and the difficulty to procure a suitable laser source. This paper, after a review on remote sensing of volcanic plumes, reports on the current progress of the lidar system.

Lidar investigations of atmospheric aerosols over Sofia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dreischuh, T.; Deleva, A.; Peshev, Z.; Grigorov, I.; Kolarov, G.; Stoyanov, D.

2016-01-01

An overview is given of the laser remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols and related processes over the Sofia area performed in the Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, during the last three years. Results from lidar investigations of the optical characteristics of atmospheric aerosols obtained in the frame of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network, as well as from the lidar mapping of near-surface aerosol fields for remote monitoring of atmospheric pollutants are presented and discussed in this paper.

A user friendly Lidar system based on LabVIEW

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andersson, Mats; Weibring, P.

1996-09-01

Mobile differential absorption lidar (DIAL) systems have been used for the last two decades. The lidar group in Lund has performed many DIAL measurements with a mobile lidar system which was first described in 1987. This report describes how that system was updated with the graphical programming language LabVIEW in order to get a user friendly system. The software controls the lidar system and analyses measurement data. The measurement results are shown as maps of species concentration. New electronics to support the new lidar program have also been installed. The report describes how all supporting electronics and the program work. A user manual for the new program is also given. 19 refs, 79 figs, 23 charts

Further Studies of Forest Structure Parameter Retrievals Using the Echidna® Ground-Based Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Strahler, A. H.; Yao, T.; Zhao, F.; Yang, X.; Schaaf, C.; Wang, Z.; Li, Z.; Woodcock, C. E.; Culvenor, D.; Jupp, D.; Newnham, G.; Lovell, J.

2012-12-01

Ongoing work with the Echidna® Validation Instrument (EVI), a full-waveform, ground-based scanning lidar (1064 nm) developed by Australia's CSIRO and deployed by Boston University in California conifers (2008) and New England hardwood and softwood (conifer) stands (2007, 2009, 2010), confirms the importance of slope correction in forest structural parameter retrieval; detects growth and disturbance over periods of 2-3 years; provides a new way to measure the between-crown clumping factor in leaf area index retrieval using lidar range; and retrieves foliage profiles with more lower-canopy detail than a large-footprint aircraft scanner (LVIS), while simulating LVIS foliage profiles accurately from a nadir viewpoint using a 3-D point cloud. Slope correction is important for accurate retrieval of forest canopy structural parameters, such as mean diameter at breast height (DBH), stem count density, basal area, and above-ground biomass. Topographic slope can induce errors in parameter retrievals because the horizontal plane of the instrument scan, which is used to identify, measure, and count tree trunks, will intersect trunks below breast height in the uphill direction and above breast height in the downhill direction. A test of three methods at southern Sierra Nevada conifer sites improved the range of correlations of these EVI-retrieved parameters with field measurements from 0.53-0.68 to 0.85-0.93 for the best method. EVI scans can detect change, including both growth and disturbance, in periods of two to three years. We revisited three New England forest sites scanned in 2007-2009 or 2007-2010. A shelterwood stand at the Howland Experimental Forest, Howland, Maine, showed increased mean DBH, above-ground biomass and leaf area index between 2007 and 2009. Two stands at the Harvard Forest, Petersham, Massachusetts, suffered reduced leaf area index and reduced stem count density as the result of an ice storm that damaged the stands. At one stand, broken tops were

Triple-Pulse Integrated Path Differential Absorption Lidar for Carbon Dioxide Measurement - Novel Lidar Technologies and Techniques with Path to Space

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Upendra N.; Refaat, Tamer F.; Petros, Mulugeta

2017-01-01

The societal benefits of understanding climate change through identification of global carbon dioxide sources and sinks led to the desired NASA's active sensing of carbon dioxide emissions over nights, days, and seasons (ASCENDS) space-based missions of global carbon dioxide measurements. For more than 15 years, NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) have developed several carbon dioxide active remote sensors using the differential absorption lidar (DIAL) technique operating at the two-micron wavelength. Currently, an airborne two-micron triple-pulse integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar is under development. This IPDA lidar measures carbon dioxide as well as water vapor, the dominant interfering molecule on carbon dioxide remote sensing. Advancement of this triple-pulse IPDA lidar development is presented.

2008 St. Johns County, FL Countywide Lidar

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Airborne terrestrial LiDAR was collected for St. Johns County, FL. System Parameters/Flight Plan. The LiDAR system acquisition parameters were developed based on a...

2015 Oregon Department Forestry Lidar: Northwest OR

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — GeoTerra, Inc. was selected by Oregon Department of Forestry to provide Lidar remote sensing data including LAZ files of the classified Lidar points and surface...

Power curve measurement with a nacelle mounted lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wagner, Rozenn; Friis Pedersen, Troels; Courtney, Michael

2014-01-01

is tested. A pulsed lidar prototype, measuring horizontally, was installed on the nacelle of a multi-megawatt wind turbine. A met mast with a top-mounted cup anemometer standing at two rotor diameters in front of the turbine was used as a reference. After a data-filtering step, the comparison of the 10 min......Nacelle-based lidars are an attractive alternative to conventional mast base reference wind instrumentation where the erection of a mast is expensive, for example offshore. In this paper, the use of this new technology for the specific application of wind turbine power performance measurement...... in wind speed measurements. A lower scatter in the power curve was observed for the lidar than for the mast. Since the lidar follows the turbine nacelle as it yaws, it always measures upwind. The wind measured by the lidar therefore shows a higher correlation with the turbine power fluctuations than...

LIDAR and atmosphere remote sensing [DST Space Science Initiatives

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Venkataraman, S

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Energy Source included in the measurement. Slide 2 © CSIR 2008 www.csir.co.za The observer can control the source Eg. Radar, Lidar, Sodar, Sonar etc. (b) Passive remote sensors. Energy source is not included in the measurement... Instrument Passive Slide 3 © CSIR 2008 www.csir.co.za Active LiDAR Principle • LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) • LiDAR employs a laser as a source of pulsed energy • Lasers are advantageous because – checkbld Monochromatic...

Strong dependence of rain-induced lidar depolarization on the illumination angle: experimental evidence and geometrical-optics interpretation.

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, G; Bissonnette, L R

2001-09-20

Backscatter and depolarization lidar measurements from clouds and precipitation are reported as functions of the elevation angle of the pointing lidar direction. We recorded the data by scanning the lidar beam (Nd:YAG) at a constant angular speed of ~3.5 degrees /s while operating at a repetition rate of 10 Hz. We show that in rain there is an evident and at times spectacular dependence on the elevation angle. That dependence appears to be sensitive to raindrop size. We have developed a three-dimensional polarization-dependent ray-tracing algorithm to calculate the backscatter and the depolarization ratio by large nonspherical droplets. We have applied it to raindrop shapes derived from existing static and dynamic (oscillating) models. We show that many of the observed complex backscatter and depolarization features can be interpreted to a good extent by geometrical optics. These results suggest that there is a definite need for more extensive calculations of the scattering phase matrix elements for large deformed raindrops as functions of the direction of illumination. Obvious applications are retrieval of information on the liquid-solid phase of precipitation and on the size and the vibration state of raindrops.

Evaluating a small footprint, waveform-resolving lidar over coastal vegetation communities

Science.gov (United States)

Nayegandhl, A.; Brock, J.C.; Wright, C.W.; O'Connell, M. J.

2006-01-01

NASA's Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL) is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532 nm) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor records the time history of the return waveform within a small footprint (20 cm diameter) for each laser pulse, enabling characterization of vegetation canopy structure and "bare earth" topography under a variety of vegetation types. A collection of individual waveforms combined within a synthesized large footprint was used to define three metrics: canopy height (CH), canopy reflection ratio (CRR), and height of median energy (HOME). Bare Earth Elevation (BEE) metric was derived using the individual small-footprint waveforms. All four metrics were tested for reproducibility, which resulted in an average of 95 percent correspondence within two standard deviations of the mean. CH and BEE values were also tested for accuracy using ground-truth data. The results presented in this paper show that combining several individual small-footprint laser pulses to define a composite "large-footprint" waveform is a possible method to depict the vertical structure of a vegetation canopy. ?? 2006 American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

2009 Bayfield County Lake Superior Lidar Survey

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The LIDAR survey presents digital elevation data sets of a bald earth surface model and 2ft interval contours covering Bayfield County, Wisconsin. The LIDAR data was...

2007 South Carolina DNR Lidar: Dorchester County

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Woolpert Inc. conducted a LiDAR survey to acquire LiDAR capable of producing a DEM for orthophoto rectification and able to support 2-foot contour specifications....

Compact Multipurpose Mobile Laser Scanning System — Initial Tests and Results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Craig Glennie

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We describe a prototype compact mobile laser scanning system that may be operated from a backpack or unmanned aerial vehicle. The system is small, self-contained, relatively inexpensive, and easy to deploy. A description of system components is presented, along with the initial calibration of the multi-sensor platform. The first field tests of the system, both in backpack mode and mounted on a helium balloon for real-world applications are presented. For both field tests, the acquired kinematic LiDAR data are compared with highly accurate static terrestrial laser scanning point clouds. These initial results show that the vertical accuracy of the point cloud for the prototype system is approximately 4 cm (1σ in balloon mode, and 3 cm (1σ in backpack mode while horizontal accuracy was approximately 17 cm (1σ for the balloon tests. Results from selected study areas on the Sacramento River Delta and San Andreas Fault in California demonstrate system performance, deployment agility and flexibility, and potential for operational production of high density and highly accurate point cloud data. Cost and production rate trade-offs place this system in the niche between existing airborne and tripod mounted LiDAR systems.

2015 OLC FEMA Lidar: Snake River, ID

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Quantum Spatial has collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the Oregon LiDAR Consortium (OLC) Snake River FEMA study area. This study area is located...

2007 South Carolina DNR Lidar: Anderson County

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The LiDAR data acquisition was executed in 5 sessions, from March 7 to March 9, 2007. The airborne GPS (ABGPS) base stations supporting the LiDAR acquisition...

2011 South Carolina DNR Lidar: York County

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Towill Inc. collected LiDAR for over 3,500 square miles in York, Pickens, Anderson, and Oconee Counties in South Carolina. This metadata covers the LiDAR produced...

2012 NRCS-USGS Tupelo, MS Lidar Survey

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LiDAR data is a remotely sensed high resolution elevation data collected by an airborne platform. The LiDAR sensor uses a combination of laser range finding, GPS...

2013-2014 USGS Lidar: Olympic Peninsula (WA)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — TASK NAME: USGS Olympic Peninsula Washington LIDAR LiDAR Data Acquisition and Processing Production Task USGS Contract No. G10PC00057 Task Order No. G13PD00849...

2015 OLC Lidar DEM: Big Wood, ID

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Quantum Spatial has collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for the Oregon LiDAR Consortium (OLC) Big Wood 2015 study area. This study area is located in...

Elevation - LiDAR Survey - Roseau County, Minnesota

Data.gov (United States)

Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, Department of Defense — LIDAR Data for Roseau County Minnesota. This project consists of approximately 87 square miles of LIDAR mapping in Roseau County, Minnesota at two sites: area 1,...

2012-2013 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) Topographic LiDAR: Hoh River Watershed, Washington (Deliveries 1 and 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Watershed Sciences, Inc. (WSI) collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data on the Hoh River watershed survey area for the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium and the...

Detecting wind turbine wakes with nacelle lidars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Held, D. P.; Larvol, A.; Mann, Jakob

2017-01-01

variance is used as a detection parameter for wakes. A one month long measurement campaign, where a continuous-wave lidar on a turbine has been exposed to multiple wake situations, is used to test the detection capabilities. The results show that it is possible to identify situation where a downstream...... turbine is in wake by comparing the peak widths. The used lidar is inexpensive and brings instalments on every turbine within economical reach. Thus, the information gathered by the lidars can be used for improved control at wind farm level....

Dickinson County, MI LIDAR_LAS_1.2

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — TASK NAME:(NRCS) Dickinson County, MI LIDAR LiDAR Data Acquisition and Processing Production Task USGS Contract No. G10PC00057 Task Order No. G12PD00721 Woolpert...

2005 Mississippi Merged LiDAR Data (2005 LiDAR data merged with 2005 Post-Katrina LiDAR data to create a bare-earth product for flood plain mapping in coastal Mississippi).

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Pre- and post-hurricane Katrina LiDAR datasets of Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson Counties, MS, were merged into a seamless coverage by URS. The pre-Katrina LiDAR...

Comparison of Stem Map Developed from Crown Geometry Allometry Linked Census Data to Airborne and Terrestrial Lidar at Harvard Forest, MA

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, F.; Palace, M. W.; Ducey, M. J.; David, O.; Cook, B. D.; Lepine, L. C.

2014-12-01

Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA, USA is the location of one of the temperate forest plots established by the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) as a joint effort with Harvard Forest and the Smithsonian Institute's Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) to characterize ecosystem processes and forest dynamics. Census of a 35 ha plot on Prospect Hill was completed during the winter of 2014 by researchers at Harvard Forest. Census data were collected according to CTFS protocol; measured variables included species, stem diameter, and relative X-Y locations. Airborne lidar data were collected over the censused plot using the high spatial resolution Goddard LiDAR, Hyperspectral, and Thermal sensor package (G-LiHT) during June 2012. As part of a separate study, 39 variable radius plots (VRPs) were randomly located and sampled within and throughout the Prospect Hill CTFS/ForestGEO plot during September and October 2013. On VRPs, biometric properties of trees were sampled, including species, stem diameter, total height, crown base height, crown radii, and relative location to plot centers using a 20 Basal Area Factor prism. In addition, a terrestrial-based lidar scanner was used to collect one lidar scan at plot center for 38 of the 39 VRPs. Leveraging allometric equations of crown geometry and tree height developed from 374 trees and 16 different species sampled on 39 VRPs, a 3-dimensional stem map will be created using the Harvard Forest ForestGEO Prospect Hill census. Vertical and horizontal structure of 3d field-based stem maps will be compared to terrestrial and airborne lidar scan data. Furthermore, to assess the quality of allometric equations, a 2d canopy height raster of the field-based stem map will be compared to a G-LiHT derived canopy height model for the 35 ha census plot. Our automated crown delineation methods will be applied to the 2d representation of the census stem map and the G-LiHT canopy height model. For future work related to this study

NASA ESTO Lidar Technologies Investment Strategy: 2016 Decadal Update

Science.gov (United States)

Valinia, Azita; Komar, George J.; Tratt, David M.; Lotshaw, William T.; Gaab, Kevin M.

2017-01-01

The NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) recently updated its investment strategy in the area of lidar technologies as it pertains to NASA's Earth Science measurement goals in the next decade. The last ESTO lidar strategy was documented in 2006. The current (2016) report assesses the state-of-the-art in lidar technologies a decade later. Lidar technology maturation in the past decade has been evaluated, and the ESTO investment strategy is updated and laid out in this report according to current NASA Earth science measurement needs and new emerging technologies.

2006 South Carolina DNR Lidar: Aiken County

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The LiDAR data acquisition was executed in five sessions, on March 15, 16 & 17, 2006, using a Leica ALS50 LiDAR System. Specific details about the ALS50 system...

Identifying Ancient Settlement Patterns through LiDAR in the Mosquitia Region of Honduras.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher T Fisher

Full Text Available The Mosquitia ecosystem of Honduras occupies the fulcrum between the American continents and as such constitutes a critical region for understanding past patterns of socio-political development and interaction. Heavy vegetation, rugged topography, and remoteness have limited scientific investigation. This paper presents prehistoric patterns of settlement and landuse for a critical valley within the Mosquitia derived from airborne LiDAR scanning and field investigation. We show that (i though today the valley is a wilderness it was densely inhabited in the past; (ii that this population was organized into a three-tiered system composed of 19 settlements dominated by a city; and, (iii that this occupation was embedded within a human engineered landscape. We also add to a growing body of literature that demonstrates the utility of LiDAR as means for rapid cultural assessments in undocumented regions for analysis and conservation. Our ultimate hope is for our work to promote protections to safeguard the unique and critically endangered Mosquitia ecosystem and other similar areas in need of preservation.

Identifying Ancient Settlement Patterns through LiDAR in the Mosquitia Region of Honduras

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández-Diaz, Juan Carlos; Cohen, Anna S.; Neil Cruz, Oscar; Gonzáles, Alicia M.; Leisz, Stephen J.; Pezzutti, Florencia; Shrestha, Ramesh; Carter, William

2016-01-01

The Mosquitia ecosystem of Honduras occupies the fulcrum between the American continents and as such constitutes a critical region for understanding past patterns of socio-political development and interaction. Heavy vegetation, rugged topography, and remoteness have limited scientific investigation. This paper presents prehistoric patterns of settlement and landuse for a critical valley within the Mosquitia derived from airborne LiDAR scanning and field investigation. We show that (i) though today the valley is a wilderness it was densely inhabited in the past; (ii) that this population was organized into a three-tiered system composed of 19 settlements dominated by a city; and, (iii) that this occupation was embedded within a human engineered landscape. We also add to a growing body of literature that demonstrates the utility of LiDAR as means for rapid cultural assessments in undocumented regions for analysis and conservation. Our ultimate hope is for our work to promote protections to safeguard the unique and critically endangered Mosquitia ecosystem and other similar areas in need of preservation. PMID:27560962

Identifying Ancient Settlement Patterns through LiDAR in the Mosquitia Region of Honduras.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Christopher T; Fernández-Diaz, Juan Carlos; Cohen, Anna S; Neil Cruz, Oscar; Gonzáles, Alicia M; Leisz, Stephen J; Pezzutti, Florencia; Shrestha, Ramesh; Carter, William

2016-01-01

The Mosquitia ecosystem of Honduras occupies the fulcrum between the American continents and as such constitutes a critical region for understanding past patterns of socio-political development and interaction. Heavy vegetation, rugged topography, and remoteness have limited scientific investigation. This paper presents prehistoric patterns of settlement and landuse for a critical valley within the Mosquitia derived from airborne LiDAR scanning and field investigation. We show that (i) though today the valley is a wilderness it was densely inhabited in the past; (ii) that this population was organized into a three-tiered system composed of 19 settlements dominated by a city; and, (iii) that this occupation was embedded within a human engineered landscape. We also add to a growing body of literature that demonstrates the utility of LiDAR as means for rapid cultural assessments in undocumented regions for analysis and conservation. Our ultimate hope is for our work to promote protections to safeguard the unique and critically endangered Mosquitia ecosystem and other similar areas in need of preservation.

Fusion of multi-temporal Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) lidar data for mountainous vegetation ecosystems studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferraz, A.; Painter, T. H.; Saatchi, S.; Bormann, K. J.

2016-12-01

Fusion of multi-temporal Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) lidar data for mountainous vegetation ecosystems studies The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed the Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO), a coupled scanning lidar system and imaging spectrometer, to quantify the spatial distribution of snow volume and dynamics over mountains watersheds (Painter et al., 2015). To do this, ASO weekly over-flights mountainous areas during snowfall and snowmelt seasons. In addition, there are additional flights in snow-off conditions to calculate Digital Terrain Models (DTM). In this study, we focus on the reliability of ASO lidar data to characterize the 3D forest vegetation structure. The density of a single point cloud acquisition is of nearly 1 pt/m2, which is not optimal to properly characterize vegetation. However, ASO covers a given study site up to 14 times a year that enables computing a high-resolution point cloud by merging single acquisitions. In this study, we present a method to automatically register ASO multi-temporal lidar 3D point clouds. Although flight specifications do not change between acquisition dates, lidar datasets might have significant planimetric shifts due to inaccuracies in platform trajectory estimation introduced by the GPS system and drifts of the IMU. There are a large number of methodologies that address the problem of 3D data registration (Gressin et al., 2013). Briefly, they look for common primitive features in both datasets such as buildings corners, structures like electric poles, DTM breaklines or deformations. However, they are not suited for our experiment. First, single acquisition point clouds have low density that makes the extraction of primitive features difficult. Second, the landscape significantly changes between flights due to snowfall and snowmelt. Therefore, we developed a method to automatically register point clouds using tree apexes as keypoints because they are features that are supposed to experience little change

NAMMA LIDAR ATMOSPHERIC SENSING EXPERIMENT (LASE) V1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA's Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) system using the DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar) system was operated during the NASA African Monsoon...

LIDAR Wind Speed Measurements of Evolving Wind Fields

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Simley, E.; Pao, L. Y.

2012-07-01

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems are able to measure the speed of incoming wind before it interacts with a wind turbine rotor. These preview wind measurements can be used in feedforward control systems designed to reduce turbine loads. However, the degree to which such preview-based control techniques can reduce loads by reacting to turbulence depends on how accurately the incoming wind field can be measured. Past studies have assumed Taylor's frozen turbulence hypothesis, which implies that turbulence remains unchanged as it advects downwind at the mean wind speed. With Taylor's hypothesis applied, the only source of wind speed measurement error is distortion caused by the LIDAR. This study introduces wind evolution, characterized by the longitudinal coherence of the wind, to LIDAR measurement simulations to create a more realistic measurement model. A simple model of wind evolution is applied to a frozen wind field used in previous studies to investigate the effects of varying the intensity of wind evolution. LIDAR measurements are also evaluated with a large eddy simulation of a stable boundary layer provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Simulation results show the combined effects of LIDAR errors and wind evolution for realistic turbine-mounted LIDAR measurement scenarios.

Processing LiDAR Data to Predict Natural Hazards

Science.gov (United States)

Fairweather, Ian; Crabtree, Robert; Hager, Stacey

2008-01-01

ELF-Base and ELF-Hazards (wherein 'ELF' signifies 'Extract LiDAR Features' and 'LiDAR' signifies 'light detection and ranging') are developmental software modules for processing remote-sensing LiDAR data to identify past natural hazards (principally, landslides) and predict future ones. ELF-Base processes raw LiDAR data, including LiDAR intensity data that are often ignored in other software, to create digital terrain models (DTMs) and digital feature models (DFMs) with sub-meter accuracy. ELF-Hazards fuses raw LiDAR data, data from multispectral and hyperspectral optical images, and DTMs and DFMs generated by ELF-Base to generate hazard risk maps. Advanced algorithms in these software modules include line-enhancement and edge-detection algorithms, surface-characterization algorithms, and algorithms that implement innovative data-fusion techniques. The line-extraction and edge-detection algorithms enable users to locate such features as faults and landslide headwall scarps. Also implemented in this software are improved methodologies for identification and mapping of past landslide events by use of (1) accurate, ELF-derived surface characterizations and (2) three LiDAR/optical-data-fusion techniques: post-classification data fusion, maximum-likelihood estimation modeling, and hierarchical within-class discrimination. This software is expected to enable faster, more accurate forecasting of natural hazards than has previously been possible.

Towards lidar-based mapping of tree age at the Arctic forest tundra ecotone.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, J.; Maguire, A.; Oelkers, R.; Andreu-Hayles, L.; Boelman, N.; D'Arrigo, R.; Griffin, K. L.; Jennewein, J. S.; Hiers, E.; Meddens, A. J.; Russell, M.; Vierling, L. A.; Eitel, J.

2017-12-01

Climate change may cause spatial shifts in the forest-tundra ecotone (FTE). To improve our ability to study these spatial shifts, information on tree demography along the FTE is needed. The objective of this study was to assess the suitability of lidar derived tree heights as a surrogate for tree age. We calculated individual tree age from 48 tree cores collected at basal height from white spruce (Picea glauca) within the FTE in northern Alaska. Tree height was obtained from terrestrial lidar scans (= 3 m), yielding strong predictive relationships between height and age (R2 = 0.86, RMSE 12.21 years, and R2 = 0.93, RMSE = 25.16 years, respectively). The slope coefficient for small and large tree models (16.83 and 12.98 years/m, respectively) indicate that small trees grow 1.3 times faster than large trees at these FTE study sites. Although a strong, predictive relationship between age and height is uncommon in light-limited forest environments, our findings suggest that the sparseness of trees within the FTE may explain the strong tree height-age relationships found herein. Further analysis of 36 additional tree cores recently collected within the FTE near Inuvik, Canada will be performed. Our preliminary analysis suggests that lidar derived tree height could be a reliable proxy for tree age at the FTE, thereby establishing a new technique for scaling tree structure and demographics across larger portions of this sensitive ecotone.

Automatic River Network Extraction from LIDAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Maderal, E. N.; Valcarcel, N.; Delgado, J.; Sevilla, C.; Ojeda, J. C.

2016-06-01

National Geographic Institute of Spain (IGN-ES) has launched a new production system for automatic river network extraction for the Geospatial Reference Information (GRI) within hydrography theme. The goal is to get an accurate and updated river network, automatically extracted as possible. For this, IGN-ES has full LiDAR coverage for the whole Spanish territory with a density of 0.5 points per square meter. To implement this work, it has been validated the technical feasibility, developed a methodology to automate each production phase: hydrological terrain models generation with 2 meter grid size and river network extraction combining hydrographic criteria (topographic network) and hydrological criteria (flow accumulation river network), and finally the production was launched. The key points of this work has been managing a big data environment, more than 160,000 Lidar data files, the infrastructure to store (up to 40 Tb between results and intermediate files), and process; using local virtualization and the Amazon Web Service (AWS), which allowed to obtain this automatic production within 6 months, it also has been important the software stability (TerraScan-TerraSolid, GlobalMapper-Blue Marble , FME-Safe, ArcGIS-Esri) and finally, the human resources managing. The results of this production has been an accurate automatic river network extraction for the whole country with a significant improvement for the altimetric component of the 3D linear vector. This article presents the technical feasibility, the production methodology, the automatic river network extraction production and its advantages over traditional vector extraction systems.

AUTOMATIC RIVER NETWORK EXTRACTION FROM LIDAR DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. N. Maderal

2016-06-01

Full Text Available National Geographic Institute of Spain (IGN-ES has launched a new production system for automatic river network extraction for the Geospatial Reference Information (GRI within hydrography theme. The goal is to get an accurate and updated river network, automatically extracted as possible. For this, IGN-ES has full LiDAR coverage for the whole Spanish territory with a density of 0.5 points per square meter. To implement this work, it has been validated the technical feasibility, developed a methodology to automate each production phase: hydrological terrain models generation with 2 meter grid size and river network extraction combining hydrographic criteria (topographic network and hydrological criteria (flow accumulation river network, and finally the production was launched. The key points of this work has been managing a big data environment, more than 160,000 Lidar data files, the infrastructure to store (up to 40 Tb between results and intermediate files, and process; using local virtualization and the Amazon Web Service (AWS, which allowed to obtain this automatic production within 6 months, it also has been important the software stability (TerraScan-TerraSolid, GlobalMapper-Blue Marble , FME-Safe, ArcGIS-Esri and finally, the human resources managing. The results of this production has been an accurate automatic river network extraction for the whole country with a significant improvement for the altimetric component of the 3D linear vector. This article presents the technical feasibility, the production methodology, the automatic river network extraction production and its advantages over traditional vector extraction systems.

Application of lidar and optical data for oil palm plantation management in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Shafri, Helmi Z. M.; Ismail, Mohd Hasmadi; Razi, Mohd Khairil M.; Anuar, Mohd Izzuddin; Ahmad, Abdul Rahman

2012-11-01

Proper oil palm plantation management is crucial for Malaysia as the country depends heavily on palm oil as a major source of national income. Precision agriculture is considered as one of the approaches that can be adopted to improve plantation practices for plantation managers such as the government-owned FELDA. However, currently the implementation of precision agriculture based on remote sensing and GIS is still lacking. This study explores the potential of the use of LiDAR and optical remote sensing data for plantation road and terrain planning for planting purposes. Traditional approaches use land surveying techniques that are time consuming and costly for vast plantation areas. The first ever airborne LiDAR and multispectral survey for oil palm plantation was carried out in early 2012 to test its feasibility. Preliminary results show the efficiency of such technology in demanding engineering and agricultural requirements of oil palm plantation. The most significant advantage of the approach is that it allows plantation managers to accurately plan the plantation road and determine the planting positions of new oil palm seedlings. Furthermore, this creates for the first time, digital database of oil palm estate and the airborne imagery can also be used for related activities such as oil palm tree inventory and detection of palm diseases. This work serves as the pioneer towards a more frequent application of LiDAR and multispectral data for oil palm plantation in Malaysia.

Forest Biomass Mapping From Lidar and Radar Synergies

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Guoqing; Ranson, K. Jon; Guo, Z.; Zhang, Z.; Montesano, P.; Kimes, D.

2011-01-01

The use of lidar and radar instruments to measure forest structure attributes such as height and biomass at global scales is being considered for a future Earth Observation satellite mission, DESDynI (Deformation, Ecosystem Structure, and Dynamics of Ice). Large footprint lidar makes a direct measurement of the heights of scatterers in the illuminated footprint and can yield accurate information about the vertical profile of the canopy within lidar footprint samples. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is known to sense the canopy volume, especially at longer wavelengths and provides image data. Methods for biomass mapping by a combination of lidar sampling and radar mapping need to be developed. In this study, several issues in this respect were investigated using aircraft borne lidar and SAR data in Howland, Maine, USA. The stepwise regression selected the height indices rh50 and rh75 of the Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor (LVIS) data for predicting field measured biomass with a R(exp 2) of 0.71 and RMSE of 31.33 Mg/ha. The above-ground biomass map generated from this regression model was considered to represent the true biomass of the area and used as a reference map since no better biomass map exists for the area. Random samples were taken from the biomass map and the correlation between the sampled biomass and co-located SAR signature was studied. The best models were used to extend the biomass from lidar samples into all forested areas in the study area, which mimics a procedure that could be used for the future DESDYnI Mission. It was found that depending on the data types used (quad-pol or dual-pol) the SAR data can predict the lidar biomass samples with R2 of 0.63-0.71, RMSE of 32.0-28.2 Mg/ha up to biomass levels of 200-250 Mg/ha. The mean biomass of the study area calculated from the biomass maps generated by lidar- SAR synergy 63 was within 10% of the reference biomass map derived from LVIS data. The results from this study are preliminary, but do show the

Development of a Dynamic Lidar Uncertainty Framework

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Newman, Jennifer [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Clifton, Andrew [WindForS; Bonin, Timothy [CIRES/NOAA ESRL; Choukulkar, Aditya [CIRES/NOAA ESRL; Brewer, W. Alan [NOAA ESRL; Delgado, Ruben [University of Maryland Baltimore County

2017-08-07

As wind turbine sizes increase and wind energy expands to more complex and remote sites, remote-sensing devices such as lidars are expected to play a key role in wind resource assessment and power performance testing. The switch to remote-sensing devices represents a paradigm shift in the way the wind industry typically obtains and interprets measurement data for wind energy. For example, the measurement techniques and sources of uncertainty for a remote-sensing device are vastly different from those associated with a cup anemometer on a meteorological tower. Current IEC standards for quantifying remote sensing device uncertainty for power performance testing consider uncertainty due to mounting, calibration, and classification of the remote sensing device, among other parameters. Values of the uncertainty are typically given as a function of the mean wind speed measured by a reference device and are generally fixed, leading to climatic uncertainty values that apply to the entire measurement campaign. However, real-world experience and a consideration of the fundamentals of the measurement process have shown that lidar performance is highly dependent on atmospheric conditions, such as wind shear, turbulence, and aerosol content. At present, these conditions are not directly incorporated into the estimated uncertainty of a lidar device. In this presentation, we describe the development of a new dynamic lidar uncertainty framework that adapts to current flow conditions and more accurately represents the actual uncertainty inherent in lidar measurements under different conditions. In this new framework, sources of uncertainty are identified for estimation of the line-of-sight wind speed and reconstruction of the three-dimensional wind field. These sources are then related to physical processes caused by the atmosphere and lidar operating conditions. The framework is applied to lidar data from a field measurement site to assess the ability of the framework to predict

GRIP LIDAR ATMOSPHERIC SENSING EXPERIMENT (LASE) V1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The GRIP Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) dataset was collected by NASA's Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) system, which is an airborne...

Linear models for airborne-laser-scanning-based operational forest inventory with small field sample size and highly correlated LiDAR data

Science.gov (United States)

Junttila, Virpi; Kauranne, Tuomo; Finley, Andrew O.; Bradford, John B.

2015-01-01

Modern operational forest inventory often uses remotely sensed data that cover the whole inventory area to produce spatially explicit estimates of forest properties through statistical models. The data obtained by airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) correlate well with many forest inventory variables, such as the tree height, the timber volume, and the biomass. To construct an accurate model over thousands of hectares, LiDAR data must be supplemented with several hundred field sample measurements of forest inventory variables. This can be costly and time consuming. Different LiDAR-data-based and spatial-data-based sampling designs can reduce the number of field sample plots needed. However, problems arising from the features of the LiDAR data, such as a large number of predictors compared with the sample size (overfitting) or a strong correlation among predictors (multicollinearity), may decrease the accuracy and precision of the estimates and predictions. To overcome these problems, a Bayesian linear model with the singular value decomposition of predictors, combined with regularization, is proposed. The model performance in predicting different forest inventory variables is verified in ten inventory areas from two continents, where the number of field sample plots is reduced using different sampling designs. The results show that, with an appropriate field plot selection strategy and the proposed linear model, the total relative error of the predicted forest inventory variables is only 5%–15% larger using 50 field sample plots than the error of a linear model estimated with several hundred field sample plots when we sum up the error due to both the model noise variance and the model’s lack of fit.

Two years of wind-lidar measurements at an Italian Mediterranean Coastal Site

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gullí, D.; Avolio, E.; Calidonna, C. R.

2017-01-01

Reliable measurements of vertical profiles of wind speed and direction are needed for testing models and methodologies of use for wind energy assessment. In particular, modelling complex terrain such as coastal areas is challenging due to the coastal discontinuity that is not accurately resolved...... in mesoscale numerical model. Here, we present a unique database from a coastal site in South Italy (middle of the Mediterranean area) where vertical profiles of wind speed and direction have been collected during a two-year period from a wind-lidar ZEPHIR-300® at a coastal-suburban area. We show an overview...

Evaluating lidar point densities for effective estimation of aboveground biomass

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Zhuoting; Dye, Dennis G.; Stoker, Jason M.; Vogel, John M.; Velasco, Miguel G.; Middleton, Barry R.

2016-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) was recently established to provide airborne lidar data coverage on a national scale. As part of a broader research effort of the USGS to develop an effective remote sensing-based methodology for the creation of an operational biomass Essential Climate Variable (Biomass ECV) data product, we evaluated the performance of airborne lidar data at various pulse densities against Landsat 8 satellite imagery in estimating above ground biomass for forests and woodlands in a study area in east-central Arizona, U.S. High point density airborne lidar data, were randomly sampled to produce five lidar datasets with reduced densities ranging from 0.5 to 8 point(s)/m2, corresponding to the point density range of 3DEP to provide national lidar coverage over time. Lidar-derived aboveground biomass estimate errors showed an overall decreasing trend as lidar point density increased from 0.5 to 8 points/m2. Landsat 8-based aboveground biomass estimates produced errors larger than the lowest lidar point density of 0.5 point/m2, and therefore Landsat 8 observations alone were ineffective relative to airborne lidar for generating a Biomass ECV product, at least for the forest and woodland vegetation types of the Southwestern U.S. While a national Biomass ECV product with optimal accuracy could potentially be achieved with 3DEP data at 8 points/m2, our results indicate that even lower density lidar data could be sufficient to provide a national Biomass ECV product with accuracies significantly higher than that from Landsat observations alone.

Four-wavelength lidar evaluation of particle characteristics and aerosol densities

Science.gov (United States)

Uthe, E. E.; Livingston, J. M.; Delateur, S. A.; Nielsen, N. B.

1985-06-01

The SRI International four-wavelength (0.53, 1.06, 3.8, 10.6 micron) lidar systems was used during the SNOW-ONE-B and Smoke Week XI/SNOW-TWO field experiments to validate its capabilities in assessing obscurant optical and physical properties. The lidar viewed along a horizontal path terminated by a passive reflector. Data examples were analyzed in terms of time-dependent transmission, wavelength dependence of optical depth, and range-resolved extinction coefficients. Three methods were used to derive extinction data from the lidar signatures. These were target method, Klett method and experimental data method. The results of the field and analysis programs are reported in the journal and conference papers that are appended to this report, and include: comparison study of lidar extinction methods, submitted to applied optics, error analysis of lidar solution techniques for range-resolved extinction coefficients based on observational data, smoke/obscurants symposium 9, Four--Wavelength Lidar Measurements from smoke week 6/SNOW-TWO, smoke/obscurants symposium 8, SNOW-ONE-B multiple-wavelength lidar measurements. Snow symposium 3, and lidar applications for obscurant evaluations, smoke/obscurants Symposium 7. The report also provides a summary of background work leading to this project, and of project results.

LIDAR and atmosphere remote sensing

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Venkataraman, S

2008-05-01

Full Text Available using state of the art Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) instrumentation and other active and passive remote sensing tools. First “Lidar Field Campaign” • 2-day measurement campaign at University of Pretoria • First 23-hour continuous measurement... head2rightCirrus cloud morphology and dynamics. Atmospheric Research in Southern Africa and Indian Ocean (ARSAIO) Slide 24 © CSIR 2008 www.csir.co.za Middle atmosphere dynamics and thermal structure: comparative studies from...

Underwater lidar system: design challenges and application in pollution detection

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Pradip; Sankolli, Swati; Chakraborty, A.

2016-05-01

The present remote sensing techniques have imposed limitations in the applications of LIDAR Technology. The fundamental sampling inadequacy of the remote sensing data obtained from satellites is that they cannot resolve in the third spatial dimension, the vertical. This limits our possibilities of measuring any vertical variability in the water column. Also the interaction between the physical and biological process in the oceans and their effects at subsequent depths cannot be modeled with present techniques. The idea behind this paper is to introduce underwater LIDAR measurement system by using a LIDAR mounted on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The paper introduces working principles and design parameters for the LIDAR mounted AUV (AUV-LIDAR). Among several applications the papers discusses the possible use and advantages of AUV-LIDAR in water pollution detection through profiling of Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) in water bodies.

Quantifying TOLNet Ozone Lidar Accuracy During the 2014 DISCOVER-AQ and FRAPPE Campaigns

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lihua; Newchurch, Michael J.; Alvarez, Raul J., II; Berkoff, Timothy A.; Brown, Steven S.; Carrion, William; De Young, Russell J.; Johnson, Bryan J.; Ganoe, Rene; Gronoff, Guillaume;

Improving LiDAR Biomass Model Uncertainty through Non-Destructive Allometry and Plot-level 3D Reconstruction with Terrestrial Laser Scanning

Science.gov (United States)

Stovall, A. E.; Shugart, H. H., Jr.

2017-12-01

Future NASA and ESA satellite missions plan to better quantify global carbon through detailed observations of forest structure, but ultimately rely on uncertain ground measurement approaches for calibration and validation. A significant amount of the uncertainty in estimating plot-level biomass can be attributed to inadequate and unrepresentative allometric relationships used to convert plot-level tree measurements to estimates of aboveground biomass. These allometric equations are known to have high errors and biases, particularly in carbon rich forests because they were calibrated with small and often biased samples of destructively harvested trees. To overcome this issue, a non-destructive methodology for estimating tree and plot-level biomass has been proposed through the use of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS). We investigated the potential for using TLS as a ground validation approach in LiDAR-based biomass mapping though virtual plot-level tree volume reconstruction and biomass estimation. Plot-level biomass estimates were compared on the Virginia-based Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's SIGEO forest with full 3D reconstruction, TLS allometry, and Jenkins et al. (2003) allometry. On average, full 3D reconstruction ultimately provided the lowest uncertainty estimate of plot-level biomass (9.6%), followed by TLS allometry (16.9%) and the national equations (20.2%). TLS offered modest improvements to the airborne LiDAR empirical models, reducing RMSE from 16.2% to 14%. Our findings suggest TLS plot acquisitions and non-destructive allometry can play a vital role for reducing uncertainty in calibration and validation data for biomass mapping in the upcoming NASA and ESA missions.

Assessment and Optimization of Lidar Measurement Availability for Wind Turbine Control: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davoust, S.; Jehu, A.; Bouillet, M.; Bardon, M.; Vercherin, B.; Scholbrock, A.; Fleming, P.; Wright, A.

2014-05-01

Turbine-mounted lidars provide preview measurements of the incoming wind field. By reducing loads on critical components and increasing the potential power extracted from the wind, the performance of wind turbine controllers can be improved [2]. As a result, integrating a light detection and ranging (lidar) system has the potential to lower the cost of wind energy. This paper presents an evaluation of turbine-mounted lidar availability. Availability is a metric which measures the proportion of time the lidar is producing controller-usable data, and is essential when a wind turbine controller relies on a lidar. To accomplish this, researchers from Avent Lidar Technology and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory first assessed and modeled the effect of extreme atmospheric events. This shows how a multirange lidar delivers measurements for a wide variety of conditions. Second, by using a theoretical approach and conducting an analysis of field feedback, we investigated the effects of the lidar setup on the wind turbine. This helps determine the optimal lidar mounting position at the back of the nacelle, and establishes a relationship between availability, turbine rpm, and lidar sampling time. Lastly, we considered the role of the wind field reconstruction strategies and the turbine controller on the definition and performance of a lidar's measurement availability.

Automated integration of lidar into the LANDFIRE product suite

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Birgit; Nelson, Kurtis; Seielstad, Carl; Stoker, Jason M.; Jolly, W. Matt; Parsons, Russell

2015-01-01

Accurate information about three-dimensional canopy structure and wildland fuel across the landscape is necessary for fire behaviour modelling system predictions. Remotely sensed data are invaluable for assessing these canopy characteristics over large areas; lidar data, in particular, are uniquely suited for quantifying three-dimensional canopy structure. Although lidar data are increasingly available, they have rarely been applied to wildland fuels mapping efforts, mostly due to two issues. First, the Landscape Fire and Resource Planning Tools (LANDFIRE) program, which has become the default source of large-scale fire behaviour modelling inputs for the US, does not currently incorporate lidar data into the vegetation and fuel mapping process because spatially continuous lidar data are not available at the national scale. Second, while lidar data are available for many land management units across the US, these data are underutilized for fire behaviour applications. This is partly due to a lack of local personnel trained to process and analyse lidar data. This investigation addresses these issues by developing the Creating Hybrid Structure from LANDFIRE/lidar Combinations (CHISLIC) tool. CHISLIC allows individuals to automatically generate a suite of vegetation structure and wildland fuel parameters from lidar data and infuse them into existing LANDFIRE data sets. CHISLIC will become available for wider distribution to the public through a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service’s Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) and may be incorporated into the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) with additional design and testing. WFAS and WFDSS are the primary systems used to support tactical and strategic wildland fire management decisions.

2015 USGS Lidar: 3DEP Co-Op South Central MS

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Mississippi Coastal QL2 Lidar with 3DEP Extension Lidar 0.7m NPS Lidar Data Acquisition and Processing Production Task USGS Contract No. G10PC00057 Task Order No....

Lightweight Inexpensive Ozone Lidar Telescope Using a Plastic Fresnel Lens

Science.gov (United States)

DeYoung, Russell J.; Notari, Anthony; Carrion, William; Pliutau, Denis

2014-01-01

An inexpensive lightweight ozone lidar telescope was designed, constructed and operated during an ozone lidar field campaign. This report summarizes the design parameters and performance of the plastic Fresnel lens telescope and shows the ozone lidar performance compared to Zemax calculations.

NAMMA LIDAR ATMOSPHERIC SENSING EXPERIMENT (LASE) V1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The NAMMA Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) dataset used the LASE system using the Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system was operated during the NASA...

Methodology for obtaining wind gusts using Doppler lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)