Asian Surveying & Mapping
Breaking News
Australia’s Gilmour Space Technologies ready to launch maiden Eris Test flight the nation’s first orbital launch in over 50 years
Gilmour Space Technologies is the leading launch services company...
Korea’s space agency seeks revision of plan to modify next-gen rockets into reusable system
South Korea's aerospace agency said on Thursday that it...
UAE Space Agency Signs Agreement With Technology Innovation Institute to Execute the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt’s Lander Project
In the presence of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin...
Private Japanese lunar lander enters orbit around moon ahead of a June touchdown
A private lunar lander from Japan is now circling the moon, with...
Indian astronaut to travel soon to ISS as part of ISRO-NASA Mission
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said by 2040, an Indian’s...
China issues regulatory framework to support direct-to-device satellite services
HELSINKI — China has released comprehensive regulations for direct-to-device...
Astranis clinches $115 million Taiwan deal despite satellite setback
TAMPA, Fla. — Astranis has signed a $115 million...
UAE and Egypt Strengthen Space Collaboration with New MoU
In a milestone development for Arab space collaboration, the...
Seoul launches 4th spy satellite to boost North Korea surveillance
South Korea’s military now operates an increasingly integrated cluster...
Indonesia seeks space defense cooperation with Japan’s military
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Defense of Indonesia...

April 16th, 2007
New Zealand Aerial Mapping commences operation of a new Optech ALTM Waveform Digitiser

The company has operated laser scanners for some time. Normally, these systems operate by returning the time light takes to travel from the sensor to its target. In an airborne sensor, this almost always means from the aircraft to the ground.

As the laser scans from side to side, this information makes it possible to calculate the distance from the aircraft to many thousands of spots on the ground. In this way, a laser scanner builds up a picture of the shape of the Earth under the plane.

An extension of this idea is to measure the intensity of the return. Customers like this facility, because it makes it possible to infer something about the surface at that point.

Capturing the entire waveform is simply an extension of this idea, although it is much more difficult to do.

Software algorithms are required to analyse the data. They makes it possible to discriminate targets in very close proximity provided they generate different waveforms. Also, it is possible to recover data about the roughness of the target or the slope of the terrain.

This may be beneficial when ranging to extended targets or through complex structures such as vegetation.

Visit www.nzam.com for more information.

Headlines