Abstract
Light detection and ranging (LiDAR), also known as laser detection and ranging (LaDAR) or optical radar, is an active remote sensing technique which uses electromagnetic energy in the optical range to detect an object (target), determine the distance between the target and the instrument (range), and deduce physical properties of the object based on interaction of the radiation with the target through phenomena such as scattering, absorption, reflection, and fluorescence. LiDAR has many applications in the scientific, engineering, and military fields. LiDAR sensors have been deployed at fixed terrestrial stations, in mobile surface and subsurface vehicles, lighter-than-air crafts, fixed and rotary wing aircraft, satellites, interplanetary probes, and planetary landers and rovers. This chapter provides a high-level overview of the principles of operation of LiDAR technology and its main applications performed from space-based platforms such as satellite altimetry, atmospheric profiling, and on-orbit imaging and ranging.
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Fernandez Diaz, J.C., Carter, W.E., Shrestha, R.L., Glennie, C.L. (2013). Lidar Remote Sensing. In: Pelton, J.N., Madry, S., Camacho-Lara, S. (eds) Handbook of Satellite Applications. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7671-0_44
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