A Quantitative Analysis of the Fusion of 3-D Scanning LIDAR Systems and 2-D Imaging Systems

Abstract

This research will demonstrate the feasibility of fusing the superior spatial resolution of a 2-D imaging system with the precise range to target information of a 3-D imaging system to create a LIDAR imaging system that can accurately find what and where a target is. The 3-D imaging system will use a scanning method as opposed to a flash method that has been used in similar research. The goal of this research is to improve performance of scanning LIDAR so it has better spatial resolution. The research in this thesis proves that incorporating 2-D imaging data into 3-D scanning LIDAR data improves the spatial resolution of the LIDAR system, at least for simplistic environments. This idea is introduced to improve LIDAR systems for missile seekers. Incorporating this system in missile seekers will allow improved target tracking compared to a 3-D scanning system alone

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