Maximum likelihood point cloud acquisition from a mobile platform

This paper describes an approach to acquire locally consistent range data scans from a moving sensor platform. Data from a vertically mounted rotating laser scanner and odometry position estimates are fused and used to estimate maximum likelihood point clouds. An estimation algorithm is applied to reduce the accumulated error after a full rotation of the range finder. A configuration consisting of a SICK laser scanner mounted on a rotational actuator is described and used to evaluate the proposed approach. The data sets analyzed suggest a significant improvement in point cloud consistency, even over a short travel distance.