Radial range, velocity, and acceleration estimation based on the improved photon counting lidar

Abstract

Photon counting lidar based on a single-photon detector has ultrahigh sensitivity and ranging accuracy, and thus it is widely used in remote detection with extremely weak received signal (even less than one photon in each received pulse). In this paper, a novel improved photon counting lidar is proposed and demonstrated. This improved system uses a piecewise statistical method and is able to acquire radial range, velocity, and acceleration of the target without increasing system hardware complexity. An experimental system of principle verification is constructed, and a reflector attached to an electrically controlled transmission belt is used to simulate a moving target. The experimental results show the acquisition of radial range, velocity, and acceleration simultaneously in the case of photon starved scenes.