Estimating wood quality attributes from dense airborne LiDAR point clouds

Mapping individual tree quality parameters from high-density LiDAR point clouds is an important step towards improved forest inventories.We present a novel machine learning-based workflow that uses individual tree point clouds from drone laser scanning to predict wood quality indicators in standing trees.Unlike object reconstruction methods,our approach is based on simple metrics computed on vertical slices that summarize information on point distances,angles,and geometric attributes of the space between and around the points.Our models use these slice metrics as predictors and achieve high accuracy for predicting the diameter of the largest branch per log (DLBs) and stem diameter at different heights (DS) from survey-grade drone laser scans.We show that our models are also robust and accurate when tested on suboptimal versions of the data generated by reductions in the number of points or emulations of suboptimal single-tree segmentation scenarios.Our approach provides a simple,clear,and scalable solution that can be adapted to different situations both for research and more operational mapping.

Building Facade Point Clouds Segmentation Based on Optimal Dual-Scale Feature Descriptors

To address the current issues of inaccurate segmentation and the limited applicability of segmentation methods for building facades in point clouds, we propose a facade segmentation algorithm based on optimal dual-scale feature descriptors. First, we select the optimal dual-scale descriptors from a range of feature descriptors. Next, we segment the facade according to the threshold value of the chosen optimal dual-scale descriptors. Finally, we use RANSAC (Random Sample Consensus) to fit the segmented surface and optimize the fitting result. Experimental results show that, compared to commonly used facade segmentation algorithms, the proposed method yields more accurate segmentation results, providing a robust data foundation for subsequent 3D model reconstruction of buildings.

Building 3D CityGML models of mining industrial structures using integrated UAV and TLS point clouds

Mining industrial areas with anthropogenic engineering structures are one of the most distinctive features of the real world.3D models of the real world have been increasingly popular with numerous applications,such as digital twins and smart factory management.In this study,3D models of mining engineering structures were built based on the CityGML standard.For collecting spatial data,the two most popular geospatial technologies,namely UAV-SfM and TLS were employed.The accuracy of the UAV survey was at the centimeter level,and it satisfied the absolute positional accuracy requirement of creat-ing all levels of detail(LoD)according to the CityGML standard.Therefore,the UAV-SfM point cloud dataset was used to build LoD 2 models.In addition,the comparison between the UAV-SfM and TLS sub-clouds of facades and roofs indicates that the UAV-SfM and TLS point clouds of these objects are highly consistent,therefore,point clouds with a higher level of detail and accuracy provided by the integration of UAV-SfM and TLS were used to build LoD 3 models.The resulting 3D CityGML models include 39 buildings at LoD 2,and two mine shafts with hoistrooms,headframes,and sheave wheels at LoD3.

Study on the LAI Single Tree Model Based on Terrestrial Laser Scanning

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key parameter for studying global terrestrial ecology and environment and has great ecological significance. How to accurately measure and calculate structural parameters of trees has become an urgent matter. This paper reports the use of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) as a measurement tool to achieve accurate LAI estimation through point cloud preprocessing measures, the LeWos algorithm, and voxel methods. The accuracy and feasibility of this indirect measurement method were explored. It is found that the single wood structure parameters extracted from TLS have a good linear relationship with manual measurement, and the extraction errors meet the requirements of real-scene conversion. The study also found when the voxel size is consistent with the minimum distance of the point cloud set by TLS instrument, it has a strong correlation with the measured value of canopy analyser. These results lay the foundation for conveniently and quickly obtaining structural parameters of trees, tree growth state detection, and canopy ecological benefit assessment.

Research on 3D Laser Scanning Reconstruction of Ancient Buildings Combined with BIM Technology

After more than 30 years of scientific and social development, surveying and mapping technology by leaps and bounds, engineering surveying technology has undergone tremendous changes. In the process of protecting ancient buildings, it is necessary to obtain the precise dimensions of architectural details. In this study, the path of 3D laser scanning combined with BIM technology is explored. Taking the observation and protection of the ancestral hall of the Liu family as an example, this study aims to draw drawings that reflect the relevant information about the ancient buildings, the accurate three-dimensional model of ancient buildings is established with BIM technology, which provides new methods and ideas for the research and protection of ancient buildings. .

Indoor Space Modeling and Parametric Component Construction Based on 3D Laser Point Cloud Data

In order to enhance modeling efficiency and accuracy,we utilized 3D laser point cloud data for indoor space modeling.Point cloud data was obtained with a 3D laser scanner and optimized with Autodesk Recap and Revit software to extract geometric information about the indoor environment.Furthermore,we proposed a method for constructing indoor elements based on parametric components.The research outcomes of this paper will offer new methods and tools for indoor space modeling and design.The approach of indoor space modeling based on 3D laser point cloud data and parametric component construction can enhance modeling efficiency and accuracy,providing architects,interior designers,and decorators with a better working platform and design reference.

Application of Three-Dimensional Laser Scanning and Surveying in Geological Investigation of High Rock Slope

The appearance of 3D laser scanning technology is one of the most important technology revolutions in surveying and mapping field. It can be widely used in many interrelated fields, such as engineering constructions and 3D measurements, owing to its prominent characteristics of the high efficiency and high precision. At present its application is still in the initial state, and it is quite rarely used in China, especially in geotechnical engineering and geological engineering fields. Starting with a general introduction of 3D laser scanning technology, this article studies how to apply the technology to high rock slope investigations. By way of a case study, principles and methods of quick slope documentation and occurrence measurement of discontinuities are discussed and analyzed. Analysis results show that the application of 3D laser scanning technology to geotechnical and geological engineering has a great prospect and value.

Filtering of Airborne Lidar Point Clouds for Complex Cityscapes

为激光雷达点云的一个新奇过滤算法被介绍，它能为复杂都市风景工作很好。没有以前的三角测量或 rasterization，它的主要特征基于未加工的激光雷达点云正在过滤。3D 在点之中的拓扑的关系被用来在断绝的顶寻找边点，它是关键信息认出赤裸的地球点和大楼点。实验结果证明建议算法能在赤裸的地球中保存不连续的特征并且没有尺寸的影响和大楼的形状。

Seamless integration of above-and undercanopy unmanned aerial vehicle laser scanning for forest investigation

Background:Current automated forest investigation is facing a dilemma over how to achieve high tree-and plotlevel completeness while maintaining a high cost and labor efficiency.This study tackles the challenge by exploring a new concept that enables an efficient fusion of aerial and terrestrial perspectives for digitizing and characterizing individual trees in forests through an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)that flies above and under canopies in a single operation.The advantage of such concept is that the aerial perspective from the above-canopy UAV and the terrestrial perspective from the under-canopy UAV can be seamlessly integrated in one flight,thus grants the access to simultaneous high completeness,high efficiency,and low cost.Results:In the experiment,an approximately 0.5 ha forest was covered in ca.10 min from takeoff to landing.The GNSS-IMU based positioning supports a geometric accuracy of the produced point cloud that is equivalent to that of the mobile mapping systems,which leads to a 2–4 cm RMSE of the diameter at the breast height estimates,and a 4–7 cm RMSE of the stem curve estimates.Conclusions:Results of the experiment suggested that the integrated flight is capable of combining the high completeness of upper canopies from the above-canopy perspective and the high completeness of stems from the terrestrial perspective.Thus,it is a solution to combine the advantages of the terrestrial static,the mobile,and the above-canopy UAV observations,which is a promising step forward to achieve a fully autonomous in situ forest inventory.Future studies should be aimed to further improve the platform positioning,and to automatize the UAV operation.

A Novel Airborne 3D Laser Point Cloud Hole Repair Algorithm Considering Topographic Features

Hole repair processing is an important part of point cloud data processing in airborne 3-dimensional(3D)laser scanning technology.Due to the fragmentation and irregularity of the surface morphology,when applying the 3D laser scanning technology to mountain mapping,the conventional mathematical cloud-based point cloud hole repair method is not ideal in practical applications.In order to solve this problem,we propose to repair the valley and ridge line first,and then repair the point cloud hole.The main technical steps of the method include the following points:First,the valley and ridge feature lines are extracted by the GIS slope analysis method;Then,the valley and ridge line missing from the hole are repaired by the mathematical interpolation method,and the repaired results are edited and inserted to the original point cloud;Finally,the traditional repair method is used to repair the point cloud hole whose valley line and ridge line have been repaired.Three experiments were designed and implemented in the east bank of the Xiaobaini River to test the performance of the proposed method.The results showed that compared with the direct point cloud hole repair method in Geomagic Studio software,the average repair accuracy of the proposed method,in the 16 m buffer zone of valley line and ridge line,is increased from 56.31 cm to 31.49 cm.The repair performance is significantly improved.

Assessment of handheld mobile terrestrial laser scanning for estimating tree parameters

Sustainable forest management heavily relies on the accurate estimation of tree parameters.Among others,the diameter at breast height(DBH) is important for extracting the volume and mass of an individual tree.For systematically estimating the volume of entire plots,airborne laser scanning(ALS) data are used.The estimation model is frequently calibrated using manual DBH measurements or static terrestrial laser scans(STLS) of sample plots.Although reliable,this method is time-consuming,which greatly hampers its use.Here,a handheld mobile terrestrial laser scanning(HMTLS) was demonstrated to be a useful alternative technique to precisely and efficiently calculate DBH.Different data acquisition techniques were applied at a sample plot,then the resulting parameters were comparatively analysed.The calculated DBH values were comparable to the manual measurements for HMTLS,STLS,and ALS data sets.Given the comparability of the extracted parameters,with a reduced point density of HTMLS compared to STLS data,and the reasonable increase of performance,with a reduction of acquisition time with a factor of5 compared to conventional STLS techniques and a factor of3 compared to manual measurements,HMTLS is considered a useful alternative technique.

Automated registration of wide-baseline point clouds in forests using discrete overlap search

Forest is one of the most challenging environments to be recorded in a three-dimensional(3D)digitized geometrical representation,because of the size and the complexity of the environment and the data-acquisition constraints brought by on-site conditions.Previous studies have indicated that the data-acquisition pattern can have more influence on the registration results than other factors.In practice,the ideal short-baseline observations,i.e.,the dense collection mode,is rarely feasible,considering the low accessibility in forest environments and the commonly limited labor and time resources.The wide-baseline observations that cover a forest site using a few folds less observations than short-baseline observations,are therefore more preferable and commonly applied.Nevertheless,the wide-baseline approach is more challenging for data registration since it typically lacks the required sufficient overlaps between datasets.Until now,a robust automated registration solution that is independent of special hardware requirements has still been missing.That is,the registration accuracy is still far from the required level,and the information extractable from the merged point cloud using automated registration could not match that from the merged point cloud using manual registration.This paper proposes a discrete overlap search(DOS)method to find correspondences in the point clouds to solve the low-overlap problem in the wide-baseline point clouds.The proposed automatic method uses potential correspondences from both original data and selected feature points to reconstruct rough observation geometries without external knowledge and to retrieve precise registration parameters at data-level.An extensive experiment was carried out with 24 forest datasets of different conditions categorized in three difficulty levels.The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using various accuracy criteria,as well as based on data acquired from different hardware,platforms,viewing perspectives,and at different points of time.The proposed method achieved a 3D registration accuracy at a 0.50-cm level in all difficulty categories using static terrestrial acquisitions.In the terrestrial-aerial registration,data sets were collected from different sensors and at different points of time with scene changes,and a registration accuracy at the raw data geometric accuracy level was achieved.These results represent the highest automated registration accuracy and the strictest evaluation so far.The proposed method is applicable in multiple scenarios,such as 1)the global positioning of individual under-canopy observations,which is one of the main challenges in applying terrestrial observations lacking a global context,2)the fusion of point clouds acquired from terrestrial and aerial perspectives,which is required in order to achieve a complete forest observation,3)mobile mapping using a new stop-and-go approach,which solves the problems of lacking mobility and slow data collection in static terrestrial measurements as well as the data-quality issue in the continuous mobile approach.Furthermore,this work proposes a new error estimate that units all parameter-level errors into a single quantity and compensates for the downsides of the widely used parameter-and object-level error estimates;it also proposes a new deterministic point sets registration method as an alternative to the popular sampling methods.

Intelligent virtualization of crane lifting using laser scanning technology

Background This paper presents an intelligent path planner for lifting tasks by tower cranes in highly complex environments,such as old industrial plants that were built many decades ago and sites used as tentative storage spaces.Generally,these environments do not have workable digital models and 3 D representations are impractical.Methods The current investigation introduces the use of cutting edge laser scanning technology to convert real environments into virtualized versions of the construction sites or plants in the form of point clouds.The challenge is in dealing with the large point cloud datasets from the multiple scans needed to produce a complete virtualized model.The tower crane is also virtualized for the purpose of path planning.A parallelized genetic algorithm is employed to achieve intelligent path planning for the lifting task performed by tower cranes in complicated environments taking advantage of graphics processing unit technology,which has high computing performance yet low cost.Results Optimal lifting paths are generate d in several seconds.

An Algorithm to Recognize the Target Object Contour Based on 2D Point Clouds by Laser-CCD-Scanning

For a vision measurement system consisted of laser-CCD scanning sensors, an algorithm is proposed to extract and recognize the target object contour. Firstly, the two-dimensional（2D） point cloud that is output by the integrated laser sensor is transformed into a binary image. Secondly, the potential target object contours are segmented and extracted based on the connected domain labeling and adaptive corner detection. Then, the target object contour is recognized by improved Hu invariant moments and BP neural network classifier. Finally, we extract the point data of the target object contour through the reverse transformation from a binary image to a 2D point cloud. The experimental results show that the average recognition rate is 98.5% and the average recognition time is 0.18 s per frame. This algorithm realizes the real-time tracking of the target object in the complex background and the condition of multi-moving objects.

Methodology for Extraction of Tunnel Cross-Sections Using Dense Point Cloud Data

Tunnel deformation monitoring is a crucial task to evaluate tunnel stability during the metro operation period.Terrestrial Laser Scanning(TLS)can collect high density and high accuracy point cloud data in a few minutes as an innovation technique,which provides promising applications in tunnel deformation monitoring.Here,an efficient method for extracting tunnel cross-sections and convergence analysis using dense TLS point cloud data is proposed.First,the tunnel orientation is determined using principal component analysis(PCA)in the Euclidean plane.Two control points are introduced to detect and remove the unsuitable points by using point cloud division and then the ground points are removed by defining an elevation value width of 0.5 m.Next,a z-score method is introduced to detect and remove the outlies.Because the tunnel cross-section’s standard shape is round,the circle fitting is implemented using the least-squares method.Afterward,the convergence analysis is made at the angles of 0°,30°and 150°.The proposed approach’s feasibility is tested on a TLS point cloud of a Nanjing subway tunnel acquired using a FARO X330 laser scanner.The results indicate that the proposed methodology achieves an overall accuracy of 1.34 mm,which is also in agreement with the measurements acquired by a total station instrument.The proposed methodology provides new insights and references for the applications of TLS in tunnel deformation monitoring,which can also be extended to other engineering applications.

基于点云切片算法的铁路钢桁拱桥线形分析

铁路桥梁线形测量对于桥梁健康检测与确保铁路安全运营具有重要作用。为提高运营铁路钢桁拱桥线形测量效率,以某3跨钢桁拱桥为例,运用地面激光扫描(TLS)技术对桥梁杆件进行整体化扫描,从桥梁线形测量精度、扫描完整性、点云个数等3方面,分析出最佳的桥梁扫描测站数为10个。运用3DNDT点云配准算法将各测站一一配准,桥梁点云配准精度为2 mm,将桥梁点云投影至xoy平面,用半径滤波器进行噪声点的去除,得到完整“纯净”的桥梁点云模型。提出点云等距切片与点云平面切片算法提取桥梁线形,并将线形点云数据导出在AutoCAD中拾取坐标。将点云切片法提取的TLS测量值、全站仪法测量结果与原始成桥线形做比较分析,结果表明:在桥面线形分析中,两方法均在跨中处A5点测量出最大变形,分别为12.69 mm、10.29 mm,两方法的最大相互较差R为2.4 mm,相关系数优于99.93%;在拱轴线线形分析中,点云切片法与全站仪法在主桁上弦跨中B4点位测量的最大变形为6.2 mm、3.9 mm,在主桁下弦跨中B10点位测量的最大变形为5.9 mm、3.5 mm,两方法的最大互相较差R为3.2 mm,相关系数优于99.87%,验证了点云切片算法的有效性与TLS测量的高精度性。拱轴线横向线形未出现明显侧移,点云等距切片得到的19个吊杆垂直度保持良好,未发生扭转与偏移。该成果对于运营铁路钢桁拱桥的线形分析与点云处理方法可提供相应的思路和参考,具有重要的实用价值。

地面激光扫描点云与无人机影像点云融合应用

通过建立高精度的桥梁三维点云模型,检查桥梁病害情况并拟合绘制出桥梁线形。首先以无人机近景摄影、环绕飞行、井字飞行获取某双线特大桥梁主体与细部纹理数据,然后将不同航线采集的数据在Context Capture软件里面进行三维重建,将桥梁主体与细部影像融合生成完整桥梁点云1。运用Trimble SX12仪器完成对桥梁一体化扫描,获得完整桥梁点云2。提出基于双向KD-tree优化的ICP(Iterative Closest Point)算法对无人机航摄桥梁点云1与地面激光扫描桥梁点云数据2进行配准融合,加密后的桥梁点云用于建立运营铁路双线特大桥精细化三维实景建模。提出基于KD-tree的PCA(Principal Component Analysis)算法完整提取出桥梁吊索点云,运用最小二乘法拟合出桥梁拱轴线线形、RANSAC算法拟合出桥面线形。通过与单一无人机、单一地面激光扫描精度及完整性对比分析,以验证融合建模的有效性。研究结果表明:融合建模的模型水平精度1.71 cm、垂直方向精度1.25 cm,较单一无人机建模精度在水平与竖直方向分别提升16.59%与20.89%;融合建模的完整性为98.17%,纹理效果更加真实,并检查出桥墩存在蜂窝麻面、渗水等病害,拱肋存在涂装锈蚀、破裂等病害。该研究可为桥梁三维点云模型应用研究提供思路参考,具有较好的应用前景。

基于车载三维激光扫描的城市道路竣工测量探讨

车载三维激光扫描系统融合了多种传感器和数据源,可以自动、迅速地获取道路的全方位信息。其扫描速度迅捷、数据信息丰富、精确度高、采集过程安全简单,并能节省人力。此技术显著提高了外业生产效率,并降低了生产成本。对车载三维激光扫描技术在道路工程竣工测量中的内外业处理流程的研究结果表明:该技术的精度可达到1∶500测图精度要求,满足城市高架路竣工规划测绘的精度需求。该技术方案是切实可行的,且能高效地提高生产效率。

基于三维激光扫描的高陡边坡勘查与支护设计

以广东清远银湖城复杂高陡边坡为依托,采用三维激光扫描技术,查明边坡的空间展布形态、优势结构面的空间分布特征,为边坡设计提供依据。基于三维激光扫描调查和边坡稳定性评价结果,对挖方土岩组合高边坡,上部土体采用“放坡+锚杆格构梁”,中下部岩体采用“削坡+马道挡石墙”的治理措施;对填方边坡,采用“强夯加固+扶壁式或重力式挡墙直立式支挡+坡率加筋土+坡面浆砌石格构梁防护相结合”的治理措施。生态修复效果良好,经济效益显著。