Error Analysis of Pulse Location Estimates for Simulated Bathymetric Lidar Returns

摘要

A Poisson count simulator has been exercised to generate precision and offset results for the estimated temporal location of quantum limited laser pulses. Pulse sizes, shapes, and charge integration times are varied over appropriate ranges. A number of location estimators including variations on peak, centroid, and threshold detectors are examined. Comparisons with experimental results are presented. Hardware and software design parameters for an airborne lidar hydrography system are discussed.