SLAM-Aided Stem Mapping for Forest Inventory with Small-Footprint Mobile LiDAR

Forests

Jian Tang⁵  Yuwei Chen¹  Antero Kukko¹  Harri Kaartinen¹  Anttoni Jaakkola¹  Ehsan Khoramshahi¹  Teemu Hakala¹  Juha Hyyppä¹  Markus Holopainen²  Hannu Hyyppä⁴  Joanne C. White³ 

[1] Department of Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute FGI, Geodeetinrinne 2, Kirkkonummi FI-02431, Finland;Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Yliopistonkatu 4, Helsinki FI-00100, Finland;;GNSS Research Centre, Wuhan University, No.129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, ChinaDepartment of Real Estate, Planning and Geoinformatics, Aalto University, P.O. Box 11000, Espoo, FI-00076, Finland;GNSS Research Centre, Wuhan University, No.129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, China;

关键词: mobile laser scanning;    IMU;    GNSS;    forest inventory;    SLAM;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f6124390

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Accurately retrieving tree stem location distributions is a basic requirement for biomass estimation of forest inventory. Combining Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) with Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is a commonly used positioning strategy in most Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) systems for accurate forest mapping. Coupled with a tactical or consumer grade IMU, GNSS offers a satisfactory solution in open forest environments, for which positioning accuracy better than one decimeter can be achieved. However, for such MLS systems, positioning in a mature and dense forest is still a challenging task because of the loss of GNSS signals attenuated by thick canopy. Most often laser scanning sensors in MLS systems are used for mapping and modelling rather than positioning. In this paper, we investigate a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)-aided positioning solution with point clouds collected by a small-footprint LiDAR. Based on the field test data, we evaluate the potential of SLAM positioning and mapping in forest inventories. The results show that the positioning accuracy in the selected test field is improved by 38% compared to that of a traditional tactical grade IMU + GNSS positioning system in a mature forest environment and, as a result, we are able to produce a unambiguous tree distribution map.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.