KEYWORDS: Target detection, LIDAR, 3D modeling, Atmospheric modeling, Sensors, 3D applications, 3D acquisition, Backscatter, Atmospheric propagation, Point clouds
ONERA – The French Aerospace Lab – develops new concepts of 3D-LiDAR imaging systems including new sensor technologies such as detector for photon counting and, associated data processing. The rising complexities and costs of high performance systems, and the shrinking time to design drove the ONERA approach. The home-grown MATLIS software has been evolving for the past decade. It allows both linear mode LiDAR and single photon electro-optical systems simulation (both GmAPD and SPL) embedded on dynamic platforms (eg. UAVs, Aircrafts). The static or dynamic 3D scene is fully described both in terms of geometry and optical properties (eg. reflectance, background illumination, and atmosphere). The scanning system and the platform motion are taken into account. Laser propagation is fully modelled including atmospheric effects such as turbulence, absorption, and backscattering in the forward and backward directions. Target interaction is angle dependent (temporal broadening and directional backscattering). Optical full-wave-form signal is computed in the focal plane of the imaging system. A 3D point cloud is generated using sensor models (including but not limited to APD, GmAPD, SiPM…). Here, we describe our end-to-end MATLIS software and present validation cases. Then, we apply a complete performance analysis study to design a novel and original concept of low-SWaP 3D-LiDAR to detect non-cooperative targets from a stratospheric surveillance platform.
ONERA – The French Aerospace Lab – develops new concepts of 3D-LiDAR imaging systems including new sensor technologies and data processing. Here, we present a more efficient strategy than existing solutions to numerically enhance the lateral resolution of low photon 3D-LiDAR operating in Geiger mode. Our pipeline makes it possible to reconstruct 3D-images with an unprecedented lateral-resolution, simultaneously at low photon count and Hertz level framerates. It is applied on simulated GmAPD 3D-LiDAR signals. Signals acquired using this category of sensors are unsuitable for direct applications of Compressive Sensing algorithms. Our contribution focuses on a more efficient strategy for waveform denoising and reconstruction. For each pixel, we reconstruct sub-pixels by using a Compressive Sensing approach. Compressive Sensing has already been used for single-photon applications with single-pixel cameras. In our pipeline, we extend this method to focal plane arrays in Geiger-mode. This process can be summarized as a set of signal processing techniques to enhance the incoming signal and to improve the Compressive Sensing reconstruction. Our goal is to recover a complete noise-free waveform. We distinguish two main parts: a reconstruction part which compensates the low dynamic range of the signal induced by the Geiger mode; a denoising part which uses a new denoising strategy based on statistical comparisons. This pipeline can be parallelized on GPU, as each pixel in the focal plane array is independent from the others. In this paper, we will detail the pipeline and then demonstrate its applicability on realistic simulated data.
To address the issues of maritime border surveillance or long range UAV identification, we develop two laser imagers (a 2D and a 3D system) with long range (LR) capacities to improve significantly the performances in terms of scope of monitoring and persistence of functions (e.g. H24, degraded visibility...). These systems are based on a new generation of focal plane arrays (FPA) with Avalanche PhotoDiode (APD) and are combined with high-performance image processing ("real-time") devoted to superresolution or tracking. In this paper, we first present the results of several maritime surveillance or Counter- Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) demonstrations respectively conducted on a coastal site and a sensitive area. Comparisons between passive and active sensors are shown. The measurements obtained on various maritime targets are completed by end to end modelling in order to assess the systems performances in various atmospheric environments.
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