Introduction to TLS Applications Presentation
- 1. Introduction to Terrestrial Laser Scanning: Mechanisms and Research Applications Christopher Crosby (UNAVCO)
- 4. Support Resources • Instrumentation • Field engineering • Data processing • Training • Data archiving & dissemination Community Building • Workshops • Inter-Agency collaborations & partnerships Education and Outreach • Training courses • Field courses GSA 2012 UNAVCO TLS short course, Charlotte, NC TLS Community Support
- 5. Scanners funded by the National Science Foundation UNAVCO TLS Instrument Pool Riegl VZ-2000 Riegl VZ-1000 Riegl VZ-400 Riegl Z620 Leica C10 Laser wavelength Near infrared 532 nm (green) Effective range 2050 m 1400 m 500 m 2000 m 150 m High-speed meas. rate 396,000 pts/sec 122,000 pts/sec 125000 pts/sec 11,000 pts/sec 50,000 pts//sec Precision 5 mm 5 mm 5 mm 10 mm 4 mm Accuracy 8 mm 8 mm 5 mm 10 mm 6 mm Field of view 100°x 360° 100°x 360° 100°x 360° 80°x 360° 270°x 360° Dimensions 308 mm x 196 mm 308 mm x 180 mm 308 mm x 180 mm 463 mm x 210 mm 238 mm x 395 mm Weight 9.9 kg 9.8 kg 9.8 kg 16 kg 13 kg
- 6. • Campaign and RTK GPS, tripods, various power supply options • Instrument validation range • License server with access to RiScan Pro, Cyclone, Polyworks, ArcGIS, Quick Terrain Modeler, MatLab, etc Related resources Photo Nathan Niemi
- 7. Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) • Accurate distance measurements with a laser rangefinder • Distance is calculated by measuring the two-way travel time of a laser pulse. • Near IR (1550nm) or green (532nm) Photo Bruce Douglas
- 8. Time of flight Time it takes for emitted pulse to reflect off object and return to scanner. Phase shift By measuring the phase shift of a pulse, distance is calculated along a sinusoidally modulated laser pulse. How is range measured?
- 9. Advantages and disadvantages Time of flight • Range ~ 100–6000m • Accuracy ~ 1 mm • < 300,000 pts/s • Slower, larger Phase shift • Range ~ 0–100m • Accuracy ~ 1 micron • > 1,000,000 pts/s • Noise in data
- 10. A Suite of Lidar Platforms NASA
- 11. Similar technology, different platforms: Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) - Also called ground based lidar or T-lidar. Laser scanning moving ground based platform = Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS). Laser scanning from airborne platform = Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS). Light Detection and Ranging (lidar)
- 12. System: Spaceborne (e.g. GLAS) High Altitude (e.g. LVIS) Airborne (ALS) Terrestrial (TLS) Altitude: 600 km 10 km 1 km 1 m Footprint: 60 m 15 m 25 cm 1–10 cm Vertical Accuracy 15cm to 10m depends on slope 50/100 cm bare ground/ vegetation 20 cm 1–10 cm Depends on range, which is few meters to 2 km or more Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) GLAS/ICESAT
- 13. Discrete pulse = binary yes- or-no return Full waveform = digitized backscatter waveform Benefits of full waveform? • More resolution between pulse width ambiguity • Spectral property information • Improved fitting of geometrically defined targets. Discrete pulse and full waveform
- 15. Using Terrestrial and Airborne Lidar J. Oldow, UTD California Study Area Los Angeles County
- 16. San Gabriel Mountain 1-m DEM from airborne lidar J. Oldow, UTD Using Terrestrial and Airborne Lidar
- 17. J. Oldow, UTD Using Terrestrial and Airborne Lidar
- 18. J. Oldow, UTD Using Terrestrial and Airborne Lidar
- 19. J. Oldow, UTD Using Terrestrial and Airborne Lidar
- 20. J. Oldow, UTD Using Terrestrial and Airborne Lidar
- 21. J. Oldow, UTD Using Terrestrial and Airborne Lidar
- 22. J. Oldow, UTD Using Terrestrial and Airborne Lidar
- 23. J. Oldow, UTD Using Terrestrial and Airborne Lidar
- 24. Showcase Video for TLS
- 25. TLS Research Applications • Project: 2011 Japan Tsunami measurements • PI: Hermann Fritz (Georgia Tech) • NSF RAPID project
- 28. Site 4 (Trimble scanner) •1 day •4 scan pos; 5 target pos. •~13 million pts •0.03 km2, 450 pts/m2 Scarp Erosion, 2010
- 30. • Project Highlight: Precariously balanced rock (PBR) near Echo Cliffs, southern California. • PI: Ken Hudnut, USGS. • Goal: generate precise 3D image of PBR in order to calculate PBR’s center of gravity for ground motion models useful for paleoseismology, urban planning, etc. (Hudnut et al., 2009) Precariously Balanced Rocks, PBRs
- 31. Four Mile Fire Erosion (Moody, Tucker)
- 32. • 10–15 Antarctic and Arctic projects per year • Remote locations, challenging logistics (helicopter, icebreaker, backpack) • Extreme environmental conditions: -35C to +15C, 20–65 knot winds Science: • Geomorphology: Frost polygons and ancient lake beds • Glaciology: Glacier melt and ablation • Biology/Ecology: Weddell Seal volume; Microtopology of tundra in Alaska • Archaeology: Human impact of climate change Scanning in Polar Environments
- 33. Mount Erebus, Antarctica • Lava lake scanned 2008–2013, revealing behaviors invisible to naked eye • Inner crater scan used to augment and truth 2003 aerial scans Lava Lake Time (hr) Relativelakeheight(m) • Scans of ice caves and ice towers help determine thermal / energy budget of volcano Scanning in Polar Environments
- 34. Using TLS to Obtain Volumetric Measurements of Weddell Seals in the McMurdo Sound Seal body mass = proxy for availability of marine food resources Scanning in Polar Environments
- 36. • Scanning to measure biomass in Everglades National Park (PI: Wdowinski). Everglades Biomass, Wdowinski
- 38. • Indiana University, University of Houston, University of Michigan, UCSC TLS in Field Education
Editor's Notes
- #2: Photo by Chris Crosby [UNAVCO]
- #3: UNAVCO has provided the material for this field module. So what’s UNAVCO? This video is a three- minute introduction to what UNAVCO is!
- #4: You’ve seen from the video that geodesy encompasses many types of data and data collection. Here are examples from four of the geodetic imaging areas UNAVCO works in: airborne/spaceborne InSAR, terrestrial radar, airborne/spaceborne lidar, and the focus of today’s presentation and this field module, terrestrial lidar. Images from UNAVCO
- #5: TLS is supported by UNAVCO in a variety of ways; PIs can use instrumentation, have field engineers come with them to conduct a survey, etc. UNAVCO also leads workshops and short courses and participates in many collaborations with other agencies. UNAVCO also has an Education and Community Engagement department for activities pertaining to geodesy education.
- #6: UNAVCO has seven TLS instruments. Six of them are Riegl scanners similar to the ones that you will use in this course. The seventh is a Leica scanner with a slightly smaller maximum range (distance to feature of interest). UNAVCO also has all the supporting equipment needed for a TLS survey such as GPS, tripods, etc., and also has access to a server with licenses for the software one uses to explore and process the data.
- #8: Light detection and ranging or lidar works by measuring the distance between a scanner and any object in its field of view by emitting a laser pulse and measuring the time it takes to return and be recorded by a receiver.
- #9: There are two ways that this range between the object and the scanner is measured. The first is time of flight, which is what the Riegl scanner you’ll use utilizes. the calculated time is based on the time it takes a signal to be returned. Phase shift measures the phase shift of a pulse and uses that to calculate the distance.
- #10: Advantages exist for both systems. Time of flight has a larger maximum range, which means it can be used in sites where the area of interest may or may not be directly accessible. Phase shift is more accurate and can collect more points per second. Time of flight is a slower and larger system, whereas phase shift data can be noisy and only collected when one is close to the feature of interest.
- #11: Lidar data can be collected using many platforms: tripod (what you learn in this module), drone, helicopter, airborne, satellite, and even off the top of a car. Images (clockwise from upper left): https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2015/11/11/23/31/sky-1039395__180.jpg (CC) http://www.opentopography.org/blog/opentopography-rides-along-airborne-lidar-survey-ncalmhttp://www.opentopography.org/sites/opentopography.org/files/images/news_items/plane_thumb.jpg (public domain) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar#/media/File:Mapping_van_tomtom_with_five_lidars.jpg (public domain) http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/hqlibrary/documents/o55480866.pdf (public domain) By Cargyrak - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48685015 (CC)
- #12: Read slide. Don’t need to spend a lot of time on this one! Images: UNAVCO and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar#/media/File:Mapping_van_tomtom_with_five_lidars.jpg
- #13: Because of all these different platforms, we can collect data using lidar over a huge range of scales. Images NASA public domain
- #14: The vast majority of scanners are discrete pulse Lidar can record data in one of two ways: discrete pulse or full waveform. Full waveform is preferred because it has better resolution and fits targets better, but discrete pulse can be used for a lower resolution scan. This also depends on the scanner being used. Image: Kate Shervais
- #15: In geoscience, we are very interested in the topography of the earth but not always so interested in the vegetation. (space bar) When you use lidar in general you are able to actually de-vegetate the view because of the multiple returns we just discussed. This is Highway 1 and Fort Ross in California. Red line is the rupture of the 1906 earthquake, as mapped in the 1906 official report on the earthquake. What geologists tend to think of as noise (vegetation) may be something someone else could be very interested in. So you could also analyze the height of the vegetation (space bar).
- #16: TLS can be used as an addition to airborne lidar (the platform used to collect the data on the previous slide) or on its own. This study area in the San Gabriel Mountains has a 1-m DEM of the study area. This study was focused on analyzing the impact of the 2009 Station Fire in the San Gabriel Mountains.
- #17: It looks great/very high resolution from this view; at this scale you could do some kind of watershed analysis.
- #18: To understand how it looks in 3D…
- #19: The research area of interest, however, is the area highlighted by the circle
- #20: If we zoom to this area, the resolution is no longer so great.
- #21: However, if you’re interested in exactly how the fire has affected the slope, you may want to bring a TLS to do a detail scan like this one to show the characteristics of the slope.
- #22: All the little nubs on this slide are actually tree stumps!
- #23: Here’s the airborne lidar again
- #24: Compared to this view of the TLS data. The fire de-vegetated the hillslope. TLS allows you to capture the landscape at the scale at which the process is happening. You can even see small gullies running down the side of the hill!
- #25: Play embedded video. This demonstrates applications of TLS for research.
- #26: TLS has a number of research applications. The following slides will demonstrate the wide range of research that has been conducted using UNAVCO instrumentation and support. Image: UNAVCO
- #27: In this project run by Georgia Tech and sponsored by NSF RAPID, PIs used TLS to document the effects of the 2011 Japan tsunami soon after it happened. This slide shows the scan positions Images: UNAVCO
- #28: While this slide shows the resultant scan, projected using the elevation of the data. Images: UNAVCO
- #29: Fault scarps also erode with time, as shown by this study analyzing the elevation change on one fault scarp. Image: Austin Elliot
- #30: Paleoseismologists dig trenches into fault scarps to track the number of events that have occurred on that fault and their relative age to calculate recurrence intervals and do other analyses. TLS allows researchers to record the trench, because trenches usually stay open for a short time interval.
- #31: Precariously balanced rocks are used in paleoseismology to help constrain the ground shaking during past events, as the rocks would fall if the shaking reached a certain level. TLS helps researchers create accurate models based on the 3D scan of the PBR.
- #32: Geomorphologists also use TLS. In this example, researchers studied the erosion related to the four mile fire. Image: UNAVCO
- #33: TLS is extremely useful for a variety of applications in polar research settings. UNAVCO works on 10–15 of these projects a year, and they range from geomorphology to glaciology to biology/ecology to archaeology. Images: UNAVCO
- #34: One example of a polar TLS project is Mount Erebus, Antarctica. Scans show the thermal and energy budget of the volcano. Images: UNAVCO
- #35: Another example is seal body mass, used as an analog for availability of marine food resources. (How does the seal stay still? Is this done just on dead seals?) Images: UNAVCO
- #36: In non-polar settings, Lidar has been used to record dinosaur footprints. Images: UNAVCO
- #37: Another application of TLS is outside of the field of geoscience: forestry researchers also use TLS to scan their area of interest and then measure features like the volume of the tree trunk after returning to the lab.
- #38: An example of forestry work on the Everglades biomass. Emmanuel Luciano
- #39: Finally, we use TLS to teach students like you about geodesy!
- #40: Image: UNAVCO