Three-dimensional range-gated flash LIDAR for land surface remote sensing

Abstract

ABSTRACT Three-dimensional range-gated imaging is a new 3D sensing technique with higher resolution than 3D flash LIDAR, and has great potential in realizing high-resolution real-time 3D imaging to satisfy land surface remote sensing applications. In this paper, three existing approaches of realizing 3D range-gated LIDAR are introduced including their advantages and disadvantages. Among them, the two methods of gain modulation and range-intensity correlation can reconstruct a 3D scene from two gate images, which enable 3D flash imaging. We propose a 3D superresolution range-gated flash LIDAR based on triangular algorithm of range-intensity correlation, and further present a coding method based on triangular algorithm for high depth-to-resolution ratio. Some prototyping experiments and simulations are demonstrated. Keywords: remote sensing, three-dimensional range-gated imaging, range-intensity correlation, range-intensity coding, superresolution depth mapping, 3D flash imaging. 1. INTRODUCTION