LiDAR Receivers

doi:10.1117/3.2518254.ch6

LiDAR Receivers

Book: LiDAR Technologies and Systems

Author(s): Paul F. McManamon

Published: 2019

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.2518254.ch6

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

A good way to calculate LiDAR range is to use the equations in Chapter 3 to calculate how many photons are received in each detector given a certain emitted laser power, a certain aperture diameter, certain atmospheric conditions, etc. In this chapter, we calculate how many photons are required to detect a target in that detector, or pixel. Various detector technologies and approaches can change the required number of photons for detection in a pixel. The level of change can be orders of magnitude. While there are limits to how few photons are needed for detection, it is instructive to compare various technology approaches with respect to the required number of photons for detection. There is a push to do photon counting, using one (or, on average, less than one) photon for detection. The required energy to 3D map a given area may also be calculated to compare various technology approaches. A number of different detection approaches are currently in use and are compared in this chapter.