Emerging Technologies… LIDAR MAPPS Summer Conference 11 July 2012

Emerging LIDAR Technologies On the market Multiple-output LIDAR Shallow-water bathymetric LIDAR On the market, but needing development Waveform-capture LIDAR On the market, but not yet in our segment Flash LIDAR Photon-counting LIDAR Automotive LIDAR What else do we need? Higher-speed processing Flexible workflows

On the market now (1/2) Multiple-output LIDAR What it is Two systems in a plane Two scanners in a box Two receivers in a scanner What it does for us High effective pulse rate  high point density, even in fast aircraft or with wide FOV High effective scan rate  tight along- track spacing, even in fast aircraft or with wide FOV

On the market now (2/2) Shallow water bathymetry What it is Standard topographic LIDAR system Switch laser from 1063 nm (infrared) to 532 nm (green) to allow penetration through water Add full-waveform digitizer (bottom returns can be pulses in clear water or “fall-off point” in less clear water) What is does for us High pulse rate compared to deep-water bathymetric LIDAR (up to 100 kHz versus 1 kHz) Low-cost-high-detail mapping in very shallow (<10m deep water)

On the market, but needing further development Waveform-capture LIDAR What it is Digitize intensity in small time slices Process data to derive equivalent discrete pulses (on the fly, post- processed) What it does for us Gets beyond the limitations imposed by laser pulse width  small minimum vertical separation between targets a posteriori detection threshold  see less reflective targets Detection of pulse stretching Indicator of sloped surfaces  aids classification Indicator of “porous” surfaces (e.g., tall grases)  potential to improve accuracy Why further development needed? Some accuracy limitation in on-the-fly firmware Slow processing speeds

On the market, but not yet in our segment (1/3) Flash LIDAR (e.g., Ball AeroSpace, ASC) What it is Broad-area illumination with a single laser pulse LIDAR “focal plane” measures range to all points in the “scene” What it does for us Light weight, small size, low power  low-altitude UAVs?, man-portable LIDAR mapping? BIM? Limitations Short range (~100 m) “Pixel” count (128 x 128 is state of the art)

On the market, but not yet in our segment (2/3) Photon-counting LIDAR (e.g., Lincoln Labs, Sigma Space, Voxtel, etc) What it is Highly-sensitive detector, running in “near constant avalanche mode” Interesting note: Voxtel manufactures arrays up to 256 x 256 What it does for us Low laser power (safety, DC power consumption) Limitations Essentially for night time use only (can’t tell difference between solar photons and laser photons)

On the market, but not yet in our segment (3/3) Automotive LIDAR (e.g., IBEO) What it is Developed for automotive industry Scans limited horizontal “slices” at short range What it does for us (potentially) CHEAP!!! ($250?) Light weight, small size, low power  low-altitude UAVs?, man-portable LIDAR mapping? BIM? Limitations Short range (~30 m for 10% reflector) Poor distance resolution (4 cm) Poor angle resolution (0.25 degree) Poor accuracy (10 cm) Programmed for obstacle avoidance, not for mapping

What else do we need? High-speed point cloud generation LIDAR raw data capture capabilities have grown explosively Pulse rates double roughly every 2 years Software speed has not grown so fast Result: processing hours per flight hour increased over time Processing hardware speed potential has grown 8-core laptops for field processing Multi-core blade computing in-house Point cloud generation touches many aspects of system use Enabling technology for real-time (in- the-air) point cloud generation Flexible processing solutions Enable customized or “vertical market” workflows User control without jumping between GUIs

Summary LIDAR sensor hardware has achieved a high level of productivity Some new technologies enhance productivity and profitability in current “use cases” Some new technologies become “enablers” for: New platforms (e.g., smaller aircraft, UAVs) New markets (high-detail bathymetry, BIM) Additional focus on processing software will allow better exploitation of both today’s and tomorrow’s sensors

Thank you!