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2008 

  
 
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.

Reviewed articles were selected based on a direct reference to forest


management, Lidar, airborne laser scanning or the delineation of forest
characteristics. The review indicates that airborne laser scanning is currently used
for terrain mapping, forest structure delineation, species identification and pre-
harvest measurements. Cost is also seen as limiting adoption of the technology
but reductions will see the use of the technology to supplement or replace current
ground based techniques, especially in remote areas where access is not possible
or limited. These reductions plus advances in sensors and processing methods,
such as the analysis the full waveform, will increase the future utility of this tool.

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:

1. A transmitter, either a pulsed or continuous wave laser.


2. Transmitter optics, for beam control
3. Receiver optics
4. Detector
5. Data acquisition, processing, evaluation, display and storage system.

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]:

1. Q-switching and pulsed lasers (Koster 1966)


2. Methods for monitoring q-switching lasers (Pearson 1972)
3. A means to detect pulsed radiation (Shepherd 1988)
4. A means to accurately determine aircraft position (Buckreub 1996)
5. Methods to calibrate and measure Lidar accuracy (Feichtner 1998)
6. A means of processing acquired data to provide information for forest management
(Bortolot and McTague 2008)

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).

2.2 Current use of Lidar in forest management

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).

2.3 Limitations of the technology

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.

3. Conclusions and future of Lidar

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)

References:
Bortolot Z. and McTague J.P., 2008, Method for estimating forest inventory. United States
Patent Application Publication, Publication No. US 2008/0046184 A1, USA.

Browell E.V., Grant W. B. and Ismail S., 2006, Airborne lidar systems. In: Laser remote
sensing, Fujii T. and Fukuchi T. (eds), Chapter 8 (CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, FL,
USA).

Burtch R., 2002, Lidar principles and applications. Proceedings: IMAGIN Conference,
Traverse City, MI, USA, April 29 – May 1, 2002.

Buckreub S., 1996, Method and apparatus for finding aircraft position by integrating
accelerations less time averages. United States Patent, Patent Number: 5590044, USA.

Carter W., Shrestha R., Tuell G., Bloomquist D. and Sartori M., 2001, Airborne laser swath
mapping shines new light on Earth’s topography. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical
Union, 82, pp. 549-555.

Coren F., Visintini D., Prearo G. and Sterzai P., 2005, Integrating LIDAR intensity measures
and hyperspectral data for extracting of cultural heritage, Workshop Italy-Canada 2005,
Padova 17-18 maggio 2005.

Evans D.L., Roberts S.D. and Parker R.C., 2006, LiDar-A new tool for forest measurements?
The Forest Chronicle, 82, pp. 211-218.

Feichtner J.D., 1998, Calibration system and method for Lidar systems, United States Patent,
Patent Number: 5825464, USA.

Hill R.A. and Thomson A.G., 2005, Mapping woodland species composition and structure
using airborne spectral and LiDAR data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 26, pp.
3763-3779.

Hirata Y., Sato K., Kuramota S. and Sakai A., 2004, Extracting forest patch attributes at the
landscape level using new remote sensing techniques – An integrated approach of high-
resolution satellite data, airborne lidar data and GIS data for forest conservation. EFI
Proceedings, 2004, 51, pp. 359-367.

Hollaus M. and Wagner W., 2007, Operational use of airborne laser scanning for forestry
applications in complex mountainous terrain. Grazer Schriften der Geographie und
Raumforschung, 43, pp.19-26.

Hollaus M., Wagner W., Maier B. and Schadauer K., 2007, Airborne laser scanning of forest
stem volume in a mountainous environment. Sensors 2007, 7, pp. 1559-1577.
Holopainen M. and Kalliovirta J., 2006, Modern data acquisition for forest inventories. In:
Managing forest ecosystems. Forest Inventory. Methodology and applications, ch. 21,
Editors; Kangas A. and Maltamo M., Springer, Dordrecht. The Netherlands.

Hyde P., Dubayah R., Walker W., Blair J.B., Hofton M. and Hunsaker C., 2006, Mapping
forest structure for wildlife habitat analysis using multi-sensor (LiDAR, SAR/InSAR, ETM+,
Quickbird) synergy. Remote Sensing of Envirment, 102, pp. 63-73.

Hyde P., Dubayah R., Peterson B., Blair J.B., Hofton M., Hunsaker C., Knox R. and Walker
W., 2005, Mapping forest structure for wildlife habitat analysis using waveform lidar:
Validation of montane ecosystems. Remote Sensing of Environment, 96, pp. 427-437.

Jenkins L.G., 2006, Key drivers in determining LiDAR sensor selection. ISPRS Commission
VII Mid-term Symposium ‘Remote Sensing: From Pixels to Processes’, Enschede, the
Netherlands, May 8-11, 2006.

Jensen J.L.R., Humes K.S., Conner T., Williams C.J. and DeGroot J., 2006, Estimation of
biophysical characteristics for highly variable mixed-conifer stands using small-footprint
lidar. Canadian Journal of Forest Resources, 36, pp. 1129-1138.

Jonas D., 2002, Airborne laser scanning: developments in intensity and beam divergence.
Proceedings: 11th Australasian Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Conference, Brisbane,
Australia, September, 2002.

Jonas, D.A., and Byrne, P.M., 2003, Airborne laser scanning: Beyond its formative
years. Conference Proceedings of the Inaugural National Conference of the Spatial
Sciences Institute, Canberra 22-26 September 2003.

Jupp D.L.B., Culvenor D., Lovell J.L. and Newnham G., 2005, Evaluation and validation of
canopy laser radar (LIDAR) systems for native and plantation forest inventory. CSIRO
Marine and Atmospheric Research Papers, Number 020, 150 pages.

King R.L. and O’Hara C.G., 2002, A synthesis of remote sensing applications for
environmental assessment. Integrated remote sensing at the global, regional and local scale
ISPRS Comission I Mid-Term symposium in conjunction with Pecora 15/Land Satellite
Information IV Conference , Denver, CO USA, 10-15 November 2002.

Koster C.J., 1966, Mode-selective Q-switching laser structure. United States Patent Office,
Patent Number: 5590044, USA.

Lim K., Treitz P., Wulder M., St-Onge B. and Flood M., 2003, LiDar remote sensing of
forest structure. Progress in physical geography, 27, pp. 88-105.
Maas H.G., 2001, The suitability of airborne laser scanner data for automatic 3D object
reconstruction. Proceedings: Thrid International Workshop on Automatic Extraction of
Man-Made Objects from Aerial and Space Images, Ascona, Switzerland, June 10-15, 2001.

Maier B., Tiede D. and Dorren L., 2006, Assessing mountain forest structure using airborne
laser scanning and landscape metrics. Proceedings: 1st International Conference on Object-
based Image Analysis (OBIA 2006), Salzburg, Austria, July 4 - 5, 2006.

Maltamo M., Packalen P., Peuhkurinen J., Suvanto A., Pesonen A. and Hyyppa J., 2007,
Experiences and possibilities of ALS based forest inventory in Finland. Proceedings: ISPRS
workshop on laser scanning 2007 and Silvilaser 2007, Espoo, Finland, September 12-14,
2007.

Means J.E., Acker S.A., Harding D.J., Blair J.B., Lefsky M.A., Cohen W.B., Harmon M.E.
and McKee W.B., 1999, Using large-footprint scanning airborne lidar to estimate forest
stand characteristics in the Western Cascades of Oregon. Remote Sensing of Environment,
67, pp. 298-308.

Measures R.M., 1992, Laser remote sensing. Fundamentals and applications. John Wiley
and Sons, Inc., New York, USA, 524 pages.

Nordin L., 2006, Analsis of waveform data from airborne laser scanner systems. Masters
Thesis, Lulea University of Technology, Lulea, Sweden.

Omasa K., Hosoi F. and Konishi A., 2007, 3D lidar imaging for detecting and understanding
plant responses and canopy structure. Journal of Experimental Botany, 58, pp. 881-898.

Pearson D.J., 1972, Laser Q-switching monitoring method and apparatus. United States
Patent, Patent Number: 3678411, USA.

Popescu S.C., Wynne R.H. and Nelson R.F., 2003, Measuring individual tree crown
diameter with lidar and assessing its influence on estimating forest volume and biomass.
Canadian Journal of Remote sensing, 29, pp. 564-577.

Popescu S.C., Wynne R.H. and Scrivani J.A., 2004, Fusion of small-footprint lidar and
multispectral data to estimate plot-level volume and biomass in deciduous and pine forests in
Virginia, USA. Forest Science, 59, pp. 551-565.

Rossmann J., Schluse M. and Bucken A., 2007, Bringing laser –scanning into the forest:
New approaches to single-tree delineation as a support tool for forestry management
applications. Proceedings: Annual Conference 2007, Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry
Society, Newcastle upon Tyne, September 11-14, 2007.
Rossmann J., Schluse M., Bucken A. and Krahwinkler P., 2007, Using airborne laser
scanner data in forestry management: A novel approach to single tree delineation.
Proceedings: ISPRS workshop on laser scanning 2007 and Silvilaser 2007, Espoo, Finland,
September 12-14, 2007.

Shepherd O., 1988, Pulsed radiation detection system. United States Patent, Patent Number:
4757200, USA.

Theil K.H. and Wehr A., 2004, Performance capabilities of laser scanners –An overview and
measurement principle analysis. International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote
Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XXXVI – 8/W2.

US Army Corps of Engineers, 2002, Engineering and Design, Photogrammetric Mapping,


Engineer Manual, EM 1110-1-1000. Department of the Army, US Army Corps of
Engineers, Washington, D.C., USA,

Waser L.T., Ecker K., Ginzler C., Kuchler M., Schwarz M. and Thee P., 2006, Extraction of
forest parameters in a mire environment using airborne spectral data and digital surface
models. Proceedings: Workshop on 3D Sensing in Forestry, Session 1, Vienna, Austria,
February 14-15, 2006.

Weitkamp C., 2005, Lidar: introduction. In: Laser remote sensing, Fujii T. and Fukuchi T.
(eds), Chapter 1 (CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, FL, USA,).
Table 1. Lidar related patents for the United States and Canada, 1966 – 2008.

Date Patent Number Title


October 25, 1966 US 3281712 Mode-selective Q-switching laser structure
February 21, 1967 US 3305633 Laser optical system
December 26, 1967 US 3360793 Airborne detection and display system
September 8, 1970 US 3527533 Method and apparatus for deriving and processing topographical information
January 21, 1971 US 3555178 Optical imaging and ranging system
July 18, 1972 US 3678411 Laser Q-switching monitoring method and apparatus
August 8, 1972 US 3682553 Apparatus for acquiring and laying real time 3-D information
September 10, 1974 US 3834795 Direct vision laser range gate system
July 29, 1975 US 3897150 Scanned laser imaging and ranging system
April 19, 1983 US 4380391 Short pulse CO2 laser for ranging and target identification
July 12, 1988 US 4757200 Pulsed radiation detection system
May 15, 1990 US 4926050 Scanning laser based system and method for measurement of distance to a target
April 9, 1991 US 5006721 Lidar scanning system
July 27, 1993 US 5231401 Imaging lidar system
July 16, 1996 CA 2029767 Laser scanning system for use in laser imaging
December 31, 1996 US 5590044 Method and apparatus for finding aircraft position by integrating accelerations less
time averages
August 4, 1998 CA 2038924 Lidar scanning system
September 15, 1998 US 5808916 Method for monitoring the environment
October 20, 1998 US 5825464 Calibration system and method for lidar systems
November 3, 1998 US 5831719 Laser scanning system
December 16, 2003 US 6664529 B2 3D multispectral lidar
September 21, 2004 US 6792684 Method for determination of stand attributes and associated computer program
December 6, 2007 US 2007/0279615 A1 Scanner/optical system for three-dimensional lidar imaging and polarimetry
January 31, 2008 US 2008/0024484 Seamless image integration into 3D models
February 14, 2008 US 2008/0040076 A1 Geospatial modeling system for separating foliage data from building data based upon
noise filtering operations and related methods
February 21, 2008 US 2008/0046184 A1 Method for estimating forest inventory
March 4, 2008 US 7340380 Method and device for the exchange and processing of data into fusion data
Table 2. Limitations of airborne laser scanning and references.

Limitation Consequence of Limitation Supporting Reference


Complete record of return data not Data loss, limits the accuracy of 3D models Theil and Wehr (2004)
available
Error evaluation methods not fully Difficult and cost prohibitive to measure error Jensen et al. 2006
developed over a large area without extensive ground Jupp et al. 2005
references
Data points per m2 may not match Flexibility in the scanner will help in avoiding Waser et al. 2006
objectives issues surrounding point densities Rossman et al. 2007
Jenkins 2006
Tree species identification not Differentiation between conifer and deciduous Maltamo et al. 2007
possible at all times currently possible but individual species
contained in either group difficult
Affected by cloud cover, haze, soot Limits use of the technology to clear US Army Corps of Engineers 2002
or other particulate matter atmospheric conditions Burtch 2002
Cost for system may be prohibitive The initial cost for systems could approach Burtch 2002
CND $1000000.00 which places it out of reach Maltamo et al. 2007
for most organizations Jensen et al. 2006
Table 3. Advantages of Lidar for use in forestry management.

Advantages Benefit Supporting Reference


Active sensor Not affected by sun angle or shadows and can be Maier et al. 2006
used at night
Mobile Able to scan large remote areas not accessible by Hollaus and Wagner 2007
ground
Multi-pulse laser In forested areas allows for delineation of 3D Hollaus et al. 2007
vegetation structure
Single tree delineation Facilitates pre-harvest volume information Maltamo et al. 2007
Popescu et al. 2003
Canopy penetration Laser beams are able to penetrate the canopy of Jonas 2002
forested areas allowing for the creation of 3d
models of the underlying terrain

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