Craig L. Glennie , Luyen K. Bui , Francisco Haces-Garcia , Derek D. Lichti
{"title":"Asynchronous Lidar: Proof-of-concept simulation and demonstration tests","authors":"Craig L. Glennie , Luyen K. Bui , Francisco Haces-Garcia , Derek D. Lichti","doi":"10.1016/j.ophoto.2025.100096","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study proposes an asynchronous airborne lidar design in which the laser transmitter and detectors/receivers are disconnected and carried on separate platforms. This design is more advantageous than conventional synchronous lidar systems operating in monostatic mode because redundant lidar observations can be captured. First, proof-of-concept experiments are conducted based on Monte Carlo simulations assuming a transmitter is combined with different numbers of receivers. In this way, different receiver configurations, i.e., the locations of the transmitter and receivers relative to each other, are tested with both single beam (nadir and slant range) and multi beam transmitters. Networks with the transmitter, receivers, and ground point forming a plane result in very high dilution of precision corresponding to high ground point uncertainties, which are weak configurations and should be avoided. A laboratory demonstration of an asynchronous lidar system is also presented. The results from the lab demo validate the observations made by the simulation studies. Networks with three or four receivers appear to be a reasonable balance between the number of receivers used and the ground point uncertainties. Ground point uncertainties are also dependent on the transmitter and receiver flight altitudes; multi beam simulations of four-receiver networks with varying transmitter/receiver flight heights show that the horizontal uncertainties are almost completely dependent on the transmitter flight altitude, however, both flight altitudes affect the vertical uncertainty with the receiver flight altitude having a greater influence. The best configuration with the lowest uncertainties is obtained by maximizing the ratio of transmitter height to receiver height.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100730,"journal":{"name":"ISPRS Open Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing","volume":"17 ","pages":"Article 100096"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ISPRS Open Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667393225000158","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study proposes an asynchronous airborne lidar design in which the laser transmitter and detectors/receivers are disconnected and carried on separate platforms. This design is more advantageous than conventional synchronous lidar systems operating in monostatic mode because redundant lidar observations can be captured. First, proof-of-concept experiments are conducted based on Monte Carlo simulations assuming a transmitter is combined with different numbers of receivers. In this way, different receiver configurations, i.e., the locations of the transmitter and receivers relative to each other, are tested with both single beam (nadir and slant range) and multi beam transmitters. Networks with the transmitter, receivers, and ground point forming a plane result in very high dilution of precision corresponding to high ground point uncertainties, which are weak configurations and should be avoided. A laboratory demonstration of an asynchronous lidar system is also presented. The results from the lab demo validate the observations made by the simulation studies. Networks with three or four receivers appear to be a reasonable balance between the number of receivers used and the ground point uncertainties. Ground point uncertainties are also dependent on the transmitter and receiver flight altitudes; multi beam simulations of four-receiver networks with varying transmitter/receiver flight heights show that the horizontal uncertainties are almost completely dependent on the transmitter flight altitude, however, both flight altitudes affect the vertical uncertainty with the receiver flight altitude having a greater influence. The best configuration with the lowest uncertainties is obtained by maximizing the ratio of transmitter height to receiver height.