Title :
Active laser radar for high-performance measurements
Author :
Hancock, John ; Langer, Dirk ; Hebert, Martial ; Sullivan, Ryan ; Ingimarson, Darin ; Hoffman, Eric ; Mettenleiter, Markus ; Froehlich, Christoph
Author_Institution :
Robotics Inst., Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Abstract :
Laser scanners, or laser radars (ladar), have been used for a number of years for mobile robot navigation and inspection tasks. Although previous scanners were sufficient for low speed applications, they often did not have the range or angular resolution necessary for mapping at the long distances. Many also did not provide an ample field of view with high accuracy and high precision. In this paper we will present the development of state-of-the-art, high speed, high accuracy, 3D laser radar technology. This work has been a joint effort between CMU and K2T and Z+F. The scanner mechanism provides an unobstructed 360° horizontal field of view, and a 70° vertical field of view. Resolution of the scanner is variable with a maximum resolution of approximately 0.06 degrees per pixel in both azimuth and elevation. The laser is amplitude-modulated, continuous-wave with an ambiguity interval of 52 m, a range resolution of 1.6 mm, and a maximum pixel rate of 625 kHz. This paper will focus on the design and performance of the laser radar and will discuss several potential applications for the technology. It reports on performance data of the system including noise, drift over time, precision, and accuracy with measurements. Influences of ambient light, surface material of the target and ambient temperature for range accuracy are discussed. Example data of applications will be shown and improvements will also be discussed
Keywords :
automatic optical inspection; computerised navigation; mobile robots; noise; optical radar; 625 kHz; active laser radar; ambient light; ambient temperature; ambiguity interval; amplitude-modulated continuous-wave laser; angular resolution; high-performance measurements; inspection tasks; ladar; laser scanners; mobile robot navigation; noise; state-of-the-art high-speed high-accuracy 3D laser radar technology; surface material; target; Azimuth; Inspection; Laser noise; Laser radar; Mobile robots; Navigation; Noise measurement; Optical design; Radar applications; Radar measurements;
Conference_Titel :
Robotics and Automation, 1998. Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Leuven
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4300-X
DOI :
10.1109/ROBOT.1998.677311