You have requested a machine translation of selected content from our databases. This functionality is provided solely for your convenience and is in no way intended to replace human translation. Neither SPIE nor the owners and publishers of the content make, and they explicitly disclaim, any express or implied representations or warranties of any kind, including, without limitation, representations and warranties as to the functionality of the translation feature or the accuracy or completeness of the translations.
Translations are not retained in our system. Your use of this feature and the translations is subject to all use restrictions contained in the Terms and Conditions of Use of the SPIE website.
2 May 2009Low-cost compact ladar sensor for ground robots
The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is researching a short-range ladar imager for small unmanned ground vehicles for
navigation, obstacle/collision avoidance, and target detection and identification. To date, commercial ladars for this
application have been flawed by one or more factors including, low pixelization, insufficient range or range resolution,
image artifacts, no daylight operation, large size, high power consumption, and high cost. The ARL conceived a
scanned ladar design based on a newly developed but commercial MEMS mirror and a pulsed Erbium fiber laser. The
desired performance includes a 6 Hz frame rate, an image size of 256 (h) × 128 (v) pixels, a 60° × 30° field of regard, 20
m range, eyesafe operation, and 40 cm range resolution (with provisions for super-resolution or accuracy). The ladar will
be integrated on an iRobot PackBot. To date, we have built and tested the transceiver when mounted in the PackBot armmounted
sensor head. All other electronics including the data acquisition and signal processing board, the power
distribution board, and other smaller ancillary boards are built and operating. We are now operating the ladar and
working on software development. This paper will describe the ladar design and progress in its development and
performance.
The alert did not successfully save. Please try again later.
Barry L. Stann, John F. Dammann, Mark M. Giza, Richard R. Gregory, Pey-Schuan Jian, William B. Lawler, "Low-cost compact ladar sensor for ground robots," Proc. SPIE 7323, Laser Radar Technology and Applications XIV, 73230X (2 May 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.818135