The Future Development Trend of Airborne LiDAR

May 10, 2023

1. Spaceborne LiDAR

Spaceborne LiDAR uses satellites as a platform. It has a high orbit, wide observation range, and fast observation speed. It is less affected by the ground background and sky background. It has the characteristics of high resolution and high sensitivity. It can reach almost every corner of the world. The acquisition of 3D control points and digital ground model provides a new way, which has very important application value and research significance in the fields of national defense or scientific research.

Spaceborne LiDAR also has the ability to observe the entire celestial body, and realize celestial body surveying and mapping, global information collection, global environmental monitoring, agricultural and forestry resource investigation, and measurement of atmospheric structure and composition. In addition, spaceborne LiDAR can also play an important role in the vertical distribution measurement of vegetation, the measurement of sea surface height, the vertical distribution measurement of clouds and aerosols, and the monitoring of special climate phenomena.

At present, the spaceborne LiDAR developed internationally includes: NASA/LaRC spaceborne differential absorption radar in the United States, the Clementine system for lunar observation, the MOLA-2 system for Mars Prospector, the NRL system for observing space asteroids, and the GLAS system for earth observation , Backscatter radar ATLID. Researching and solving the key technologies of spaceborne Li-DAR and establishing its own spaceborne LiDAR system will be an important development direction of my country's LiDAR.

2. Battlefield reconnaissance LiDAR

LiDAR has the potential to become an important reconnaissance tool and method. Install the equipment on airplanes and drones to perform reconnaissance tasks at an altitude of 120-460 meters. The reconnaissance image can be transmitted to the cathode ray tube display on the aircraft in real time or directly sent to the ground receiving station through the data link.

Airborne LiDAR is a remote sensing method with low cost, good effect and wide application range. Feiyan Aviation Remote Sensing Technology Co., Ltd. is equipped with two sets of the most advanced RIEGL VQ-1560i airborne LiDAR measurement system in the world. The airborne LiDAR RIEGL VQ-1560i has a maximum laser emission frequency of up to 2 million Hz, an effective ground measurement speed of 1,330,000 points/second, and can operate at an altitude of up to 4,700 meters. The system is capable of flying operations at different altitudes to obtain large-scale, high-density point clouds. Therefore, it is especially suitable for aerial surveying and mapping of very large areas and complex urban environments. In addition, users can make effective flight plans in complex terrain, improve flight efficiency, and ensure flight safety.