UAV-LiDAR

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David Hildebrand

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Jan 29, 2015, 10:31:34 PM1/29/15
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I am looking for information comparing UAV LiDAR systems and acquisition compared with conventional airborne LiDAR.  The cost of UAVs and small-scale LiDAR systems are making that platform an attractive alternative for generating DEMs for small projects.  I know that conventional airborne LiDAR systems can be quite involved (platform, calibration, etc.), and the software used to process the data can be quite sophisticated.  How would the data quality differ from data collected by a simple UAV-LiDAR system?  Is it simply a matter of accuracy?  If so, what kind of accuracy could I expect from a UAV-LiDAR survey compared to conventional airborne LiDAR?  Is it a matter of power?  Conventional airborne LiDAR surveys are usually carried out at a higher altitude than UAV-LiDAR surveys so I suspect that the latter may not be suitable in mountainous terrain.  If anybody can help me in this discussion I would certainly appreciate the dialog.

Olsen, Richard (RC) (CIV)

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Jan 30, 2015, 4:09:33 AM1/30/15
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for purposes of discussion:

 

the big limiting factor in accuracy seems to be the platform position and pointing (GPS, IMU), not the lidar.  lower altitude helps, because the pointing error is proportional to altitude...

 

rco

 

Richard Christopher Olsen
Professor of Physics & Director, Remote Sensing Center
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA 93943
831-656-2019

SIPR: ols...@nps.navy.smil.mil
JWICS: Richar...@dodiis.ic.gov

From: last...@googlegroups.com [last...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of David Hildebrand [daveandhild...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 7:31 PM
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Cc: David Hildebrand
Subject: [LAStools] UAV-LiDAR

I am looking for information comparing UAV LiDAR systems and acquisition compared with conventional airborne LiDAR.  The cost of UAVs and small-scale LiDAR systems are making that platform an attractive alternative for generating DEMs for small projects.  I know that conventional airborne LiDAR systems can be quite involved (platform, calibration, etc.), and the software used to process the data can be quite sophisticated.  How would the data quality differ from data collected by a simple UAV-LiDAR system?  Is it simply a matter of accuracy?  If so, what kind of accuracy could I expect from a UAV-LiDAR survey compared to conventional airborne LiDAR?  Is it a matter of power?  Conventional airborne LiDAR surveys are usually carried out at a higher altitude than UAV-LiDAR surveys so I suspect that the latter may not be suitable in mountainous terrain.  If anybody can help me in this discussion I would certainly appreciate the dialog.

Terje Mathisen

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Jan 30, 2015, 4:09:47 AM1/30/15
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> --
I've been thinking a bit about this problem, it seems to me that it
should be possible to make pretty good UAV scans of smaller areas, in my
case suitable for local/sprint orienteering maps (i.e. less than a sq
km) with a combination of 4K photo/video frames (i.e. a GoPro or similar
camera) and dense photo matching SW. The resulting 3D model would only
need a fairly small set of calibration spots in order to turn the entire
output into a proper georeferenced scan. For such sprint areas the
amount of dense forest coverage is usually not a problem.

Actual LiDAR scanners are still a bit too costly for a hobby-level
project but they are getting less expensive over time, particularly if
you can exchange absolute scanning precision (RTK GPS, inertial scanning
frame etc.) with more post-processing sw work.

Re mountain scanning: There was a video line a year or two ago showing a
suitcase-sized scanning model plane which was used to make a model of a
mountain area, so the altitude shouldn't be a problem. It is much more a
time (which translates into cost) per sq km issue.

Terje

--
- <Terje.M...@tmsw.no>
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

黄洪宇

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Jan 30, 2015, 5:45:55 AM1/30/15
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The following papers may be relevant:


1. Wallace, L., Lucieer, A., and Watson, C. (2014). Evaluating tree detection and segmentation routines on very high resolution UAV LiDAR data. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 52(12): 7619-7628. doi:10.1109/TGRS.2014.2315649


2. Wallace, L., Musk, R., and Lucieer, A. (2014). An assessment of the repeatability of automatic forest inventory metrics derived from UAV-borne laser scanning data. IEEE Transaction on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 52 (11), 7160-7169. doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2014.2308208 

HH

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主题: RE: [LAStools] UAV-LiDAR

Antoine Cottin

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Jan 30, 2015, 5:48:15 AM1/30/15
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We’ve used the two UAV LiDAR systems that exist on the market, the VUX-1 and the YellowScan. At Carbomap, we consider these two systems as proper UAV LiDAR systems that are suitable for either multi-rotor and fixed-wing, the later being our preferred vector.

I had a talk about these two systems at ELMF 2014 and our views on how well they would fit in a production environment. Here is a link to the slides that may interest you:

The two scanners are very good for forest mapping in term of data quality as well as accuracy.
A quick sum up would be the following:

VUX-1
- engineer grade accuracy
- ‘infinite’ number of returns
- very expensive

YellowScan:
- good accuracy (<10cm) - which is totally ok for forest mapping
- all-in-one device (including power supply)
- only 3 returns per shot
- fairly cheap compare to the VUX-1

Cheers
Antoine



-----------------------
Dr Antoine Cottin
Chief Technology Officer
Carbomap Ltd.
7th Floor, Appleton Tower
11 Crichton Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9LE
@carbomap









Lewis Graham

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Jan 30, 2015, 5:51:47 AM1/30/15
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The LIDAR scanning technology itself is rapidly approaching the sUAS cost realm. It is positioning that remains the problem. Unlike framing imagery, one cannot really tie the points into a relatively accurate geometric cloud without a survey grade positioning system. These are coming down in price as well but you will still spend about 25K (USD) for a useable GNSS/INU( e.g. the Applanix AX-15).

Lewis Graham
GeoCue Group
9668 Madison Blvd., Suite 202
Madison, AL USA 35758
01-256-461-8289
www.geocue.com
www.LP360.com

Lewis Graham

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Jan 30, 2015, 6:15:58 AM1/30/15
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Please note that my below comment assumes you want to maximize the accuracy potential of the laser range finder. If not, then of course less expensive solutions are available. Be warned, however, that it is nearly impossible to get low noise data from multichannel systems (like Velodyne) without a high end positioning system. Even if you only care about 15 cm accuracy, you can easily get 20 cm of "noise" from the multi-channel disparities.

Aaron Reyna

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Mar 24, 2015, 3:49:29 AM3/24/15
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YellowScan:
- good accuracy (<10cm) - which is totally ok for forest mapping
- all-in-one device (including power supply)
- only 3 returns per shot
- fairly cheap compare to the VUX-1

Pros:
80 grand for the YellowScan unit. 
Very low noise level
Low power
Really cool team willing to work with you
40 Pulses per second.

Cons:

Very R&D. I know from experience, I've been in it for a month now.  
No current off boarding capability.
Intensity is not signal strength.
usable FOV is about 12 degrees.

Murray Webster

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Mar 24, 2015, 6:59:22 AM3/24/15
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Hi,

 

I’ve had a search but keep getting Error 503 from http://yellowscan.lavionjaune.com/

 

I would like to look at the technical spec pdf if they have one.

 

Cheers

 

Murray

 

 

ForeSense

Natural Resource Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry

Murray Webster – DIRECTOR

B.Sc. (For) Hons, MIFA

|T: +61 2 4340 4899 | M: 0417 025 946 |

ACN: 156 448 350

 

 

 

From: last...@googlegroups.com [mailto:last...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Aaron Reyna
Sent: Tuesday, 24 March 2015 6:48 PM
To: last...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [LAStools] UAV-LiDAR

 

YellowScan:

Martin Isenburg

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Apr 16, 2015, 7:38:57 PM4/16/15
to LAStools - efficient command line tools for LIDAR processing

Hello,

Just came across this article on a project that seems to match this thread well:

"The purpose of the UAV LIDAR Project, is to complete the development and field testing of an unmanned Aerial Vehicle based LIDAR prototype in the intense jungle environment of Guatemala."

http://www.g-eos.org/2015/04/2015-uav-lidar-project-guatemala.htm

Anyone in this forum know more about this. I am especially curious as I am writing this email from "nearby" Costa Rica ... (-;

Martin @rapidlasso

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