Airborne Laser Scan Systems

Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) designates the acquisition of 3D data by means of one or several laser scanners combined with a position and attitude measurement system on a platform to be carried by or included in an aircraft. The aim of ALS is to obtain 3D data from the earth’s surface by taking the following requirements into account:

• time efficient data acquisition over large areas
• automatic registration of 3D data in a common coordinate system
• high resolution and high accuracy of the registered data

In general, an airborne laser scanning system comprises the following parts:

• at least one laser scanner, preferably offering full waveform echo digitization and  providing a 2D line scan mode (e.g. LMS-Q680i)
• an INS/GNSS System which measures the position and attitude of the aircraft within the world geodetic system WGS84. At least one terrestrial GPS master station is mandatory for acquiring high quality GPS data.
• a software used for real time system control and monitoring of coverage (RiACQUIRE)
• a software aimed at merging the geometric profile information (laser scan data) with the position and orientation data of the scanning platform (RiPROCESS)
• a rigid and shock absorbing platform carrying the sensors
• optional synchronized digital photo camera(s), mounted on respectively in the same platform