HRQLS II LiDAR SYSTEM Ryan Liiva Space to place QR Code College Park Scholars – Science & Global Change Program Electrical Engineering rjliiva@umd.edu College Park Scholars Academic Showcase, May 5, 2016 Introduction HRQLS II is a single photon LiDAR system capable of generating high-definition multi-level topography maps. Site Information: Sigma Space Corporation 4600 Forbes Blvd. Lanham MD 20706 Ed Leventhal Sigma Space Corporation is an aerospace engineering company providing next-generation LiDAR technologies used to measure, map and monitor the world around us. Diagram of how Single Photon LiDAR (SPL) captures multi-level topography and canopy thickness. (https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28277) Activities: Systems testing on signal processing circuits Data analysis and recovery on fly-overs of Centreville MD Tuning of resonance in processing circuits using various filters Characterization of each HRQLS II response Topography map of forest canopy in Centreville Maryland (http://aemstatic-ww2.azureedge.net/content/dam/lfw/print-articles/2011/09/1109LFWnews04.jpg) Issues Confronting Site: Tuning circuits to respond to a single photon of a single wavelength Reducing noise from random photon scattering Generating data processing procedures to test HRQLS II subsystems Real image overlay of single-pass HRQLS II point cloud (https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2016/ps_6.html) Impact: SPL can be used to map the topography beneath forest, which was previously unachievable. This will have a huge effect both on forestry and infrastructure, as more intelligent decisions about development can be made with more data. Future Work: I am happy to say I am returning to Sigma Space this summer to intern as a systems testing engineer. We will be focused on assembling 5 HRQLS II LiDAR systems. Acknowledgments: A big thank you to Ed Leventhal and Spencer Disque, my on-site supervisors, and Drs. Holtz & Merck, my scholars professors. Thanks also to the University of Maryland and the Scholars Science and Global Change program as a whole. Space to place QR Code