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Laser Altimetry and 3D Mapping in Planetary Exploration: Methods and Applications

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Satellite Missions for Earth and Planetary Exploration".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 12590

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yusheng Xu

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany
Interests: spaceborne photogrammetry; LiDAR; point cloud processing; 3D reconstruction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Huan Xie

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Rd., Shanghai 200092, China
Interests: hyperspectral remote sensing; validation of remote sensing data and products
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the past decades, from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) and Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) to the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) and the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA), laser altimeters have played vital roles in planetary mapping and exploration, providing accurate, abundant, and accessible 3D measurements. Unlike image-based photogrammetry, laser altimetry can overcome the lack of illumination in planetary observation, and provide relatively accurate vertical measurements in comparison to radarmetry with cost-effective instruments and platforms, which is desirable for mapping permanently shadowed regions (PSRs).

Beyond planetary exploration, laser altimeters and LiDAR are also employed in the exploration and mapping of asteroids. For example, the NEAR Laser Rangefinder (NLR) and OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) were introduced to map the shape of the asteroids. For the missions of Hayabusa 1 and 2, LiDAR systems were also equipped for navigation in the touch-down phase and employed in the 3D shape mapping of the asteroids. Laser altimeters also achieved considerable success in investigating Earth’s polar regions, monitoring forestry and deforestation, assessing the mass balance of the cryosphere, and inspecting the changes in sea levels. Although the complex space/earth environment sets great challenges and restricts the use of laser altimeters in many desired tasks, there are plenty of brilliant and elegant data-processing methods and techniques (e.g., photon-counting mode) that have been proposed and developed. All of these accelerate our advances in planetary mapping and reclaim our vision of space exploration. 

This Special Issue will highlight the methods and applications of laser-altimetry-based 3D mapping in planetary exploration. Specifically, for using laser altimeter in planetary mapping and exploration, recent advances in deep learning methods, the fusion of multimodal datasets, the calibration of sensors, and semantic and topographic interpretation of the site/scene are covered in this Special Issue, embracing the scope of the section Satellite Missions for Earth and Planetary Exploration of Remote Sensing.

Papers are welcomed which concern, among other subjects, recent developments in laser altimeter calibration, laser altimeter data processing, laser altimeter data fusion,  LiDAR-based space navigation, photon-counting LiDAR, and laser-altimeter-based planetary/asteroids mapping. We also invite papers on new methods and applications in related fields using LiDAR, satellite laser altimetry, radar altimetry, and multiple sensors.

Dr. Yusheng Xu
Prof. Dr. Huan Xie
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Spaceborne laser altimetry
  • Planetary and asteroids mapping
  • Laser altimeter and LiDAR calibration
  • Laser altimeter and LiDAR data processing
  • Laser-altimeter- and LiDAR-based navigation
  • Photon-counting LiDAR

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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21 pages, 4468 KiB  
Article
Biases Analysis and Calibration of ICESat-2/ATLAS Data Based on Crossover Adjustment Method
by Tao Wang, Yong Fang, Shuangcheng Zhang, Bincai Cao and Zhenlei Wang
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(20), 5125; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14205125 - 13 Oct 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1963
Abstract
The new-generation photon-counting laser altimeter aboard the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) has acquired unprecedented high-density laser data on the global surface. The continuous analysis and calibration of potential systematic biases in laser data are important for generating highly accurate data [...] Read more.
The new-generation photon-counting laser altimeter aboard the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) has acquired unprecedented high-density laser data on the global surface. The continuous analysis and calibration of potential systematic biases in laser data are important for generating highly accurate data products. Current studies mainly calibrate the absolute systematic bias of laser altimeters based on external reference data. There are few studies that focus on the analysis and calibration of relative systematic biases in long-term laser data. This paper explores a method for systematic biases analysis and calibration of ICESat-2 laser data based on track crossovers for the first time. In the experiment, the simulated data and ICESat-2 data were used to verify the algorithm. The results show that, during the three-year period in orbit, the standard deviation (STD) and bias of the crossover differences of the ICESat-2 terrain data were 0.82 m and −0.03 m, respectively. The simulation validation well demonstrate that the crossover adjustment can calibrate the relative bias between different beams. For ICESat-2 data, the STD of the estimated systematic bias after crossover adjustment was 0.09 m, and the mean absolute error (MAE) was 0.07 m. Compared with airborne lidar data, the bias and root mean square error (RMSE) of the ICESat-2 data remained basically unchanged after adjustment, i.e., −0.04 m and 0.38 m, respectively. This shows that the current ICESat-2 data products possess excellent internal and external accuracy. This study shows the potential of crossover for evaluating and calibrating the accuracy of spaceborne photon-counting laser altimeter data products, in terms of providing a technical approach to generate global/regional high-accuracy point cloud data with consistent accuracy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Altimetry and 3D Mapping in Planetary Exploration: Methods and Applications)
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16 pages, 4022 KiB  
Article
A Compensation Method of Saturated Waveform for Space-Borne Laser Altimeter
by Shaoning Li, Xiufang Fan, Hongbo Pan and Qifan Yu
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(13), 3158; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14133158 - 1 Jul 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1859
Abstract
Due to the difference in surface reflectivity, the laser measurement waveform data recorded in full waveform have a saturation phenomenon. When the signal is saturated, the echo waveform produces peak clipping and pulse spreading, which seriously restrict the accuracy of laser measurement results [...] Read more.
Due to the difference in surface reflectivity, the laser measurement waveform data recorded in full waveform have a saturation phenomenon. When the signal is saturated, the echo waveform produces peak clipping and pulse spreading, which seriously restrict the accuracy of laser measurement results and the usability of data. Therefore, we conducted a ranging investigation on the “peak clipping” phenomenon of the saturated waveform and found a nonlinear time delay in the range, which is between the two extreme cases of saturated “dead time” and Gaussian fitting peak time as pulse signal reception time. Subsequently, based on the consistent relationship between the geometric characteristics of the high- and low-gain channels of the space-borne laser altimeter, we constructed a laser waveform saturation compensation model, namely, the laser pulse flight time delay compensation and the laser waveform peak intensity compensation, and carried out the data saturation compensation and validation with the dual-channel measurement data from the GaoFen-7 (GF-7) satellite. The experimental results showed that the saturation compensation model (SCM) proposed in this paper could restore the features of the saturated waveform signal and effectively improve the accuracy of the laser ranging. The accuracy of the laser waveform fitting result after saturation compensation improved from 0.7 ns (0.11 m) to 0.14 ns (0.02 m), which greatly improved the usability of the saturated laser measurement waveform data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Altimetry and 3D Mapping in Planetary Exploration: Methods and Applications)
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18 pages, 4494 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of the Emissions State of a Satellite Laser Altimeter Based on Laser Footprint Imaging
by Jiaqi Yao, Haoran Zhai, Shuqi Wu, Zhen Wen and Xinming Tang
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(4), 1025; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14041025 - 20 Feb 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2111
Abstract
The GaoFen-7(GF-7) satellite is equipped with China’s first laser altimeter for Earth observation; it has the capability of full waveform recording, which can obtain global high-precision three-dimensional coordinates over a wide range. The laser is inevitably affected by platform tremors, random errors in [...] Read more.
The GaoFen-7(GF-7) satellite is equipped with China’s first laser altimeter for Earth observation; it has the capability of full waveform recording, which can obtain global high-precision three-dimensional coordinates over a wide range. The laser is inevitably affected by platform tremors, random errors in the laser pointing angle, laser state, and other factors, which further affect the measurement accuracy of the laser footprint. Therefore, evaluation of the satellite laser launch state is an important process. This study contributes to laser emission state evaluations based on the laser footprint image in terms of two main two aspects: (1) Monitoring changes in the laser pointing angle—laser pointing is closely related to positioning accuracy, which mainly results from monitoring the change in the laser spot centroid. We propose a threshold constraint algorithm that extracts the centroid of an ellipse-fitting spot. (2) Analysis of the energy distribution state—directly obtaining the parameters used in the traditional evaluation method is a challenge for the satellite. Therefore, an index suitable for evaluating the laser emissions state of the GF-7 satellite was constructed according to the data characteristics. Based on these methods, long time-series data were evaluated and analyzed. The experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively evaluate the emissions state of the laser altimeter, during which the laser pointing angle changes monthly by 0.434″. During each continuous operation of the laser, the energy state decreased gradually, with a small variation range; however, both were generally in a stable state. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Altimetry and 3D Mapping in Planetary Exploration: Methods and Applications)
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22 pages, 37582 KiB  
Article
Influence of Atmospheric Scattering on the Accuracy of Laser Altimetry of the GF-7 Satellite and Corrections
by Jiaqi Yao, Xinming Tang, Guoyuan Li, Jiyi Chen, Zhiqiang Zuo, Bo Ai, Shuaitai Zhang and Jinquan Guo
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(1), 129; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14010129 - 29 Dec 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2688
Abstract
Satellite laser altimetry can obtain sub-meter or even centimeter-scale surface elevation data over large areas, but it is inevitably affected by scattering caused by clouds, aerosols, and other atmospheric particles. This laser ranging error caused by scattering cannot be ignored. In this study, [...] Read more.
Satellite laser altimetry can obtain sub-meter or even centimeter-scale surface elevation data over large areas, but it is inevitably affected by scattering caused by clouds, aerosols, and other atmospheric particles. This laser ranging error caused by scattering cannot be ignored. In this study, we systematically combined existing atmospheric scattering identification technology used in satellite laser altimetry and observed that the traditional algorithm cannot effectively estimate the laser multiple scattering of the GaoFen-7 (GF-7) satellite. To solve this problem, we used data from the GF-7 satellite to analyze the importance of atmospheric scattering and propose an identification scheme for atmospheric scattering data over land and water areas. We also used a look-up table and a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) model to identify and correct atmospheric scattering, for which the availability of land and water data reached 16.67% and 26.09%, respectively. After correction using the MLP model, the availability of land and water data increased to 21% and 30%, respectively. These corrections mitigated the low identification accuracy due to atmospheric scattering, which is significant for facilitating satellite laser altimetry data processing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Altimetry and 3D Mapping in Planetary Exploration: Methods and Applications)
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12 pages, 51149 KiB  
Technical Note
Topographic Correction of the SELENE MI Images with the LOLA DEM around Shackleton Crater
by Xiaoxue Ke, Chao Wang, Jinhuan Du, Yuting Yuan, Xiong Xu, Yongjiu Feng, Huan Xie, Shijie Liu and Xiaohua Tong
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(19), 4739; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14194739 - 22 Sep 2022
Viewed by 2002
Abstract
Due to the complicated terrain and extreme illumination condition in the lunar south polar region, topography has an impact on the reflectance of the area. This may result in the misinterpretation of the properties of the lunar surface. Therefore, an image obtained across [...] Read more.
Due to the complicated terrain and extreme illumination condition in the lunar south polar region, topography has an impact on the reflectance of the area. This may result in the misinterpretation of the properties of the lunar surface. Therefore, an image obtained across Shackleton Crater by the Multi-band Imager (MI) onboard the first Japanese lunar orbiter SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) was utilized to evaluate the topographic effect on the reflectance of the polar region. Three methods—i.e., b correction, C correction, and Minnaert correction—were applied to the MI image to reduce the topographic effect. It was found that the reflectance result of C correction suffers from overcorrection. The topographic effect is enlarged, rather than suppressed, in the reflectance derived with Minnaert correction. Comparatively, b correction is the more appropriate method for the topographic correction of the MI image across the study area. The reflectance of the sunlit slope of the crater wall in the study area decreased by ~60%. The reflectance of the area outside of the crater, with a gentler slope compared to the crater wall, decreased by ~20%. Meanwhile, according to the correlation of the cosine of the local solar incidence angle and the corrected reflectance, the topographic effect was seemingly not completely eliminated in the MI image. However, by analyzing the spectral absorption features of the 1250 nm band, we can attribute this “residual” effect to the different compositions inside and outside of Shackleton Crater, most likely caused by a high concentration of plagioclase. Topographic correction of the MI images over NASA candidate landing regions was also conducted. The results suggest that the topographic effect can contribute significantly to the reflectance of the sunlit slopes, and should not be neglected in the analysis of the reflectance images. This study highlights the topographic impact on the reflectance of the lunar south pole’s surface. In addition, our results also suggest that the compositional differences under various terrains should be considered in the evaluation of the topographic correction of specific regions, such as Shackleton Crater’s inner walls. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Altimetry and 3D Mapping in Planetary Exploration: Methods and Applications)
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