PEAK DETECTION FROM FULL-WAVEFORM LIDAR DATA

Most airborne LiDAR systems extract the return pulses and intensity signal during data acquisition in realtime; this information is subsequently logged and stored. As full waveform recording is becoming increasingly affordable and, consequently, available in today's state-of-the-art LiDAR systems, there is no practical limitation to the complexity of pulse detection methods that can be applied in post-processing mode. Analyzing the entire return signal, the full waveform, can provide additional geometrical and physical information about the reflecting surfaces. Currently, most LiDAR applications are based on utilizing only the geometry of the point cloud, where the precision and, most importantly, the density of these points primarily depend on the peak detection method used. The objective of this paper is to examine and compare different peak detection algorithms to improve the accuracy of the generated point clouds, and to support better interpretation and classification of backscattering surfaces.