Signal processing on waveform data from the Eyesafe Ladar Testbed (ELT)

The Eyesafe Ladar Test-bed (ELT) is a raster scanning, single-beam, energy-detection ladar with the capability of digitizing and recording the return pulse waveform at 2 GHz in the field for off-line 3D point cloud formation research in the laboratory. The ELT serves as a prime tool in understanding the behavior of ladar waveforms. Signal processing techniques have been applied to the ELT waveform in an effort to exploit the signal with respect to noise reduction, range resolution improvement, and ability to discriminate between two surfaces of similar range. This paper presents a signal processing method used on the ELT waveform. In the processing, three deconvolution techniques were investigated-the Wiener filter, Richardson-Lucy deconvolution, and a new method that synthesizes the surface response using least squares minimization. Range error and range resolution are reported for these methods.

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