Abstract.
A wide-angle airborne laser ranging system (WA-ALRS) is developed at the Institut Géographique National (IGN), France, with the aim of providing a new geodesy technique devoted to large (100 km2) networks with a high density (1 km−2) of benchmarks. The main objective is to achieve a 1-mm accuracy in relative vertical coordinates from aircraft measurements lasting a few hours. This paper reviews the methodology and analyzes the first experimental data achieved from a specific ground-based experiment. The accuracy in relative coordinate estimates is studied with the help of numerical simulations. It is shown that strong accuracy limitations arise with a small laser beam divergence combined with short range measurements when relatively few simultaneous range data are produced. The accuracy is of a few cm in transverse coordinates and a few mm in radial coordinates. The results from ground-based experimental data are fairly compatible with these predictions. The use of a model for systematic errors in the vehicle trajectory is shown to be necessary to achieve such a high accuracy. This work yields the first complete validation of modelization and methodology of this technique. An accuracy better than 1 mm and a few mm in vertical and horizontal coordinates, respectively, is predicted for aircraft experiments.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received: 19 June 1997 / Accepted: 17 February 1998
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bock, O., Kasser, M., Thom, C. et al. Study of a wide-angle laser ranging system for relative positioning of ground-based benchmarks with millimeter accuracy. Journal of Geodesy 72, 442–459 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001900050184
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001900050184