A linearly approximated iterative Gaussian decomposition method for waveform LiDAR processing

Abstract Full-waveform LiDAR (FWL) decomposition results often act as the basis for key LiDAR-derived products, for example canopy height, biomass and carbon pool estimation, leaf area index calculation and under canopy detection. To date, the prevailing method for FWL product creation is the Gaussian Decomposition (GD) based on a non-linear Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) optimization for Gaussian node parameter estimation. GD follows a “greedy” approach that may leave weak nodes undetected, merge multiple nodes into one or separate a noisy single node into multiple ones. In this manuscript, we propose an alternative decomposition method called Linearly Approximated Iterative Gaussian Decomposition (LAIGD method). The novelty of the LAIGD method is that it follows a multi-step “slow-and-steady” iterative structure, where new Gaussian nodes are quickly discovered and adjusted using a linear fitting technique before they are forwarded for a non-linear optimization. Two experiments were conducted, one using real full-waveform data from NASA’s land, vegetation, and ice sensor (LVIS) and another using synthetic data containing different number of nodes and degrees of overlap to assess performance in variable signal complexity. LVIS data revealed considerable improvements in RMSE (44.8% lower), RSE (56.3% lower) and rRMSE (74.3% lower) values compared to the benchmark GD method. These results were further confirmed with the synthetic data. Furthermore, the proposed multi-step method reduces execution times in half, an important consideration as there are plans for global coverage with the upcoming Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation LiDAR sensor on the International Space Station.