Abstract

As an active remote sensor technology, the terrestrial laser scanner is widely used for direct generation of a three-dimensional (3D) image of an object in the fields of geodesy, surveying, and photogrammetry. In this article, a new laser scanner using array avalanche photodiodes, as designed by the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is introduced for rapid collection of 3D data. The system structure of the new laser scanner is first presented, and a mathematical model is further derived to transform the original data to the 3D coordinates of the object in a user-defined coordinate system. The performance of the new laser scanner is tested through a comprehensive experiment. The result shows that the new laser scanner can scan a scene with a field view of $30°\times 30°$ in $\mathrm{0.2}\mathrm{s}$ and that, with respect to the point clouds obtained on the wall and ground floor surfaces, the root mean square errors for fitting the two planes are 0.21 and $0.01\mathrm{cm}$, respectively. The primary advantages of the developed laser scanner include: (i) with a line scanning mode, the new scanner achieves simultaneously the 3D coordinates of 24 points per single laser pulse, which enables it to scan faster than traditional scanners with a point scanning mode and (ii) the new scanner makes use of two galvanometric mirrors to deflect the laser beam in both the horizontal and the vertical directions. This capability makes the instrument smaller and lighter, which is more acceptable for users.

© 2010 Optical Society of America

Three-dimensional imaging laser radar with a photon-counting avalanche photodiode array and microchip laser

Marius A. Albota, Richard M. Heinrichs, David G. Kocher, Daniel G. Fouche, Brian E. Player, Michael E. O’Brien, Brian F. Aull, John J. Zayhowski, James Mooney, Berton C. Willard, and Robert R. Carlson
Appl. Opt. 41(36) 7671-7678 (2002)

Modeling hemispherical reflectance for natural surfaces based on terrestrial laser scanning backscattered intensity data

Kai Tan, Xiaojun Cheng, and Xiaolong Cheng
Opt. Express 24(20) 22971-22988 (2016)

Autofocus technique for three-dimensional imaging, direct-detection laser radar using Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode focal-plane array

Min Seok Oh, Hong Jin Kong, Tae Hoon Kim, and Sung Eun Jo
Opt. Lett. 35(24) 4214-4216 (2010)

Large-scale three-dimensional measurement via combining 3D scanner and laser rangefinder

Jinlong Shi, Zhengxing Sun, and Suqin Bai
Appl. Opt. 54(10) 2814-2823 (2015)

One-mirror and two-mirror three-dimensional optical scanners—position and accuracy of laser beam spot

Petr Pokorny
Appl. Opt. 53(12) 2730-2740 (2014)