Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Paul W Saunders
[ Airborne laser scanning
development and its use in
forestry management: an
introductory review.]
Airborne laser scanning development and its use in forestry management: an introductory
review.
The development of airborne laser scanning over the past four decades has
allowed for the development of a tool that will continue to play a vital role in
forestry management. Advances in the technology were incremental, with each
innovation increasing the utility of the tool. The technology has reached maturity
and anticipated reduction in cost will see a further integration of its use in forest
management.
1. Introduction
The advent of any new technology initiates a period of exploration and adaption. This was
the case for Airborne Laser Scanning, also referred to as ‘Light Detection and Ranging’
(Lidar), which established itself as a tool in various fields through such a process (Measures
1992. Holopainen and Kalliovirta 2006 ch.21, King and O’Hara 2002, Browell et al. 2005,
Coren et al. 2005, Lim et al. 2003). As the technology matured, the range of applications
increased leading to its adoption by various resources based industries. One such area of
adoption occurred in forest management, more specifically its use for the evaluation of forest
structure and species identification (Lim et al. 2005, Evans et al. 2006). Given the potential
for use of Lidar in forest management, a review of its utility as a tool for evaluating existing
forest structure and species composition, as it relates to forest management, was conducted.
The principles of Lidar are introduced, followed by existing and emerging techniques for
its utilization. This is followed by a discussion of limitations of the technology and the
future direction it will take.
2. Discussion
2.1 Lidar principles and development
Weitkamp (2005) provides a list of the five components found in current Lidar systems:
Lidar operates, in the majority of cases, by emitting a pulse of laser light, which strikes
an object and the sensor then detects backscattered radiation. The time to return is recorded
and the distance to the object calculated (Weitkamp 2005). Current systems are a result of
incremental steps in technological innovation which led to the development of lasers,
methods for generating and controlling pulses, sensors capable of recording data digitally, the
ability to measure small time intervals, GPS systems to accurately record position and the
development of faster computer processing. To illustrate this progression a sample of patents
issued in the United States and Canada, related to Lidar, are listed in Table 1.
Critical to the development of a Lidar system for use in forest management was
overcoming the limitations inherit in the early technology. As the technology matured
solutions were found with some of the most significant being [as indicated by issued patents]:
The technology has reached maturity and a movement from science to specific
application has begun (Carter et al. 2001, Hollaus et al. 2007). This has recently been
supported by the addition of conventional imaging and the ability to record the full
backscatter spectrum of reflected lasers, with forestry applications being the first to benefit
(Jonas and Byrne 2003, Maltamo et al. 2007).
Lidar can be used to determine tree height, estimating height growth, monitoring fallen or
cut trees, produce pre-harvest measurement information, trunk location, crown profile and
tree species identification, especially conifer versus deciduous stands (Maltamo 2007, Evans
et al. 2006, Kangas and Maltamo 2006). Evans et al. (2006) extended on this list by
including data on forest structure, especially the vertical placement of understory and
overstory vegetation. This information is needed if wildlife habitat issues are to be
incorporated into forest management plans.
It has been shown that the extraction of forest variable values can be enhanced by
combining Lidar data with other available datasets (Hirata et al. 2004, Hill and Thomson
2005, Waser et al. 2006, Hyde et al. 2006). These techniques provide for the integration of
multispectral data, that is currently absent from most Lidar systems, enhancing the
identification of discreet land cover classes (Lim et al. 2003, Hill and Thomson 2005, Omasa
et al. 2007).
One limitation of Lidar has been highlighted above, namely the lack of target spectral data.
The actual data collected by the receiver is a function of the type of laser utilized in
construction of the system. Lasers come in two forms, pulsed and continuous wave (cw).
Pulse lasers provide light with a very high intensity for a very brief period, as opposed to a
cw laser which provides light with a continuous output but at a much lower intensity. The
lower power of the cw laser limits the usable range of systems that incorporate this type of
laser (Thiel and Wehr 2004). Theil and Wehr (2004) also state that all commercial airborne
laser system currently utilize pulsed lasers and that these systems are the best for use in
forested landscapes.
Given the prevalence of pulse lasers and their current use in forest management, a list of
identified limitations in the technology is contained in table 2. This is followed by a list of
advantages in table 3.
Data fusion will play an increasing role in the utilization of lidar in the future. Integration
with various forms of multispectral data will allow for the characterization of forest attributes
at the stand and individual tree species level (Popescu et al. 2003, Popescu et al. 2004).
These efforts will be enhanced by the development of wide-footprint lidar as an addition to
currently available tools (Hyde et al. 2005, Jonas 2002, Means et al. 1999, Maas 2001).
Utilization of the complete echo waveform and/or the echo intensity for the identification
of individual tree species will continue to be developed (Hollaus et al. 2007, Theil and Wehr
2004, Nordin 2006). This will need to be coupled with improved processing techniques and
classification schemas (Maier et al. 2006, Rossman et al. 2007).
The wide spread use of lidar in forestry is still limited by cost and data quality accuracy
(Jensen et al. 2006). With an anticipated decrease in cost, the technology will become an
integral part of forest management in the future (Popescu et al. 2004)
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Table 1. Lidar related patents for the United States and Canada, 1966 – 2008.