LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) directly measures canopy vertical
structures, and provides an effective remote sensing solution to accurate and spatiallyexplicit
mapping of forest characteristics, such as canopy height and Leaf Area Index.
However, many factors, such as large data volume and high costs for data acquisition,
precludes the operational and practical use of most currently available LiDARs for
frequent and large-scale mapping. At the same time, a growing need is arising for realtime
remote sensing platforms, e.g., to provide timely information for urgent
applications. This study aims to develop an airborne profiling LiDAR system, featured
with on-the-fly data processing, for near real- or real- time forest inventory. The
development of such a system involves implementing the on-board data processing and
analysis as well as building useful regression-based models to relate LiDAR
measurements with forest biophysical parameters.
This work established a paradigm for an on-the-fly airborne profiling LiDAR
system to inventory regional forest resources in real- or near real- time. The system was
developed based on an existing portable airborne laser system (PALS) that has been
previously assembled at NASA by Dr. Ross Nelson. Key issues in automating PALS as
an on-the-fly system were addressed, including the design of an archetype for the system
workflow, the development of efficient and robust algorithms for automatic data
processing and analysis, the development of effective regression models to predict forest
biophysical parameters from LiDAR measurements, and the implementation of an
integrated software package to incorporate all the above development. This work exploited the untouched potential of airborne laser profilers for realtime
forest inventory, and therefore, documented an initial step toward developing
airborne-laser-based, on-the-fly, real-time, forest inventory systems. Results from this
work demonstrated the utility and effectiveness of airborne scanning or profiling laser
systems for remotely measuring various forest structural attributes at a range of scales,
i.e., from individual tree, plot, stand and up to regional levels. The system not only
provides a regional assessment tool, one that can be used to repeatedly, remotely
measure hundreds or thousands of square kilometers with little/no analyst interaction or
interpretation, but also serves as a paradigm for future efforts in building more advanced
airborne laser systems such as real-time laser scanners.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2964 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Zhao, Kaiguang |
| Contributors | Popescu, Sorin |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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