Research on the Range Noise in Threedimensional (3-D) Images from Laser Radar
H-J. Jiang, J-C. Lai, C-Y. Wang and Z-H. Li
Based on the principle of “time-of-flight radar,” a numerical model is developed to investigate the noise properties in the range images obtained by the laser radar, which can easily take the influences of system and environmental parameters into account. After a controlled experiment to verify the correctness of the model, numerical calculations are executed to analyse the distribution of range noise in three-dimensional (3-D) images obtained by the laser imaging radar. The results show that with the decreasing of signal to noise ratio (SNR), the distribution of range noise obviously deviates from normal distribution and which is an asymmetrical distribution with a rapid rising edge and relatively slower falling edge. Once the SNR is larger than 7.2, the distribution of range noise approximately obeys the normal distribution and the laser radar works in a better condition.
Keywords: Laser radar, range noise, three-dimensional (3-D) images, noise distribution, normal distribution