Tetrahedron Distance Transform and Distance Sequence Matching for Point Cloud Creation in Angular‐Measurement‐Free Laser Scanning

This paper unprecedentedly presents a new method of angular‐measurement‐free laser scanning using distance sequence. In order to create point cloud only by distance measurements, distance transform is developed, and thereafter the homologous distances searching for an established tetrahedron are transformed into distance sequence matching. Considering distance monotony and error influence, baseline scaling and distance sequence unification are presented. Simulation results verify the reliability of our approach. Exact homologous distances are obtained through distance transform with baseline scaling. Subsequently, the point cloud is restored using the tetrahedron equation system. A majority selection criterion of distance offset with respect to all scale parameters is developed. It is demonstrated that there is a typical scale parameter from 0.17 to 0.22 which contributes the maximum similarity of the distance sequence and the correct distance combination. The actual experiment shows that the precision of point cloud creation using distance sequence is 0.01 m in the X and Y axes and 0.05 m in the Z axis approximately.