Influence of a target’s inclination on LiDAR waveform and its application

Inclination is one of the important parameters of a target’s surface, which is closely related to the waveform of light detection and ranging. When the target is tilted, the laser spot on the target’s surface changes greatly, and the influence of the target on the echo signal is more complex. Here, the formation process of a laser’s echo signal is explored. On that basis, the spot distribution model in the case of a large incident angle is optimised, and a comparison is made with the conventional method. A simulation system which can produce and display the signal affected by the inclined target is designed. In view of the difficulty in extracting the target's inclination from the echo signal, a method based on waveform analysis is proposed in this article. Then a calculation model is built to retrieve the inclination of the target from the echo signal by data fitting. The maximum measured error is only 0.948°, and the maximum root-mean-squared-error is only 0.45°.