title: Geometric calibration and radiometric correction of LiDAR data and their impact on the quality of derived products.
abstract: LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) systems are capable of providing 3D positional and spectral information (in the utilized spectrum range) of the mapped surface. Due to systematic errors in the system parameters and measurements, LiDAR systems require geometric calibration and radiometric correction of the intensity data in order to maximize the benefit from the collected positional and spectral information. This paper presents a practical approach for the geometric calibration of LiDAR systems and radiometric correction of collected intensity data while investigating their impact on the quality of the derived products. The proposed approach includes the use of a quasi-rigorous geometric calibration and the radar equation for the radiometric correction of intensity data. The proposed quasi-rigorous calibration procedure requires time-tagged point cloud and trajectory position data, which are available to most of the data users. The paper presents a methodology for evaluating the impact of the geometric calibration on the relative and absolute accuracy of the LiDAR point cloud. Furthermore, the impact of the geometric calibration and radiometric correction on land cover classification accuracy is investigated. The feasibility of the proposed methods and their impact on the derived products are demonstrated through experimental results using real data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geomatics Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada. ahabib@ucalgary.ca
authors.forename: Ayman F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Habib
authors.forename: Ana P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Kersting
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shaker
authors.forename: Wai-Yeung
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D008027:Light; D011874:Radiometry