Study of airborne LiDAR error based on flight simulation in atmospheric disturbance

Abstract The airborne LiDAR uses the aircraft as the observation platform, requiring the aircraft to keep a uniform speed and a straight-line cruise state, to obtain more accurate ranging information and a uniform laser foot point distribution cloud picture. Atmospheric turbulence is the main atmospheric disturbance that affects the aircraft movement in the cruise state, which can lead to a serious decrease in radar ranging accuracy and the distortion of cloud point distribution. In this paper, the motion error caused by atmospheric turbulence during flight is studied. The real-time simulation method based on the six degrees of freedom flight mechanics equation is used to establish the motion law of the carrier under atmospheric turbulence. The method’s reliability is verified by comparing it with flight test data. Then, the foot point distribution cloud image and ranging error of airborne LiDAR under different wind field intensities are simulated by real-time simulation of six degrees of freedom. The error law of radar motion affected by atmospheric turbulence is obtained.