Multiple-return laser radar for three-dimensional imaging through obscurations

Abstract

A compact imaging laser radar was constructed and tested to investigate phenomenological issues in targeting, especially cases involving imaging through obscurations such as foliage and camouflage netting. The laser radar employs a Nd:YAG microchip laser that operates at a wavelength of 1.06 µm and produces pulses of 1.2-ns duration at a 3-kHz rate. The detector is a commercial indium gallium arsenide avalanche photodiode. A single computer controls the scanning mirrors and performs the digitization of the returning signal at 2 giga samples/s. A detailed description of the laser radar is presented as well as results from field experiments that examined its range accuracy capability and its ability to image a target through camouflage. Results of data collected from deciduous tree lines are also discussed to characterize the presence and quantity of multiple returns.

© 2002 Optical Society of America

Three-dimensional single-photon imaging through obscurants

Rachael Tobin, Abderrahim Halimi, Aongus McCarthy, Martin Laurenzis, Frank Christnacher, and Gerald S. Buller
Opt. Express 27(4) 4590-4611 (2019)

Detection probabilities for photon-counting avalanche photodiodes applied to a laser radar system

Markus Henriksson
Appl. Opt. 44(24) 5140-5147 (2005)

Three-dimensional imaging laser radar with a photon-counting avalanche photodiode array and microchip laser

Marius A. Albota, Richard M. Heinrichs, David G. Kocher, Daniel G. Fouche, Brian E. Player, Michael E. O’Brien, Brian F. Aull, John J. Zayhowski, James Mooney, Berton C. Willard, and Robert R. Carlson
Appl. Opt. 41(36) 7671-7678 (2002)

Gated viewing and high-accuracy three-dimensional laser radar

Jens Busck and Henning Heiselberg
Appl. Opt. 43(24) 4705-4710 (2004)

Autofocus technique for three-dimensional imaging, direct-detection laser radar using Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode focal-plane array

Min Seok Oh, Hong Jin Kong, Tae Hoon Kim, and Sung Eun Jo
Opt. Lett. 35(24) 4214-4216 (2010)