Calibration of placement angle errors of airborne bathymetric LiDAR without field control

doi:10.11947/j.AGCS.2025.20240185

Abstract

Abstract:

Airborne LiDAR bathymetry (ALB) system is highly effective in acquiring integrated topographic data both land and underwater, making them particularly suitable for rapid exploration of complex terrains such as shallow water islands and reefs. However, the presence of misalignment errors between the laser bathymetric radar and the inertial measurement unit (IMU) can lead to uncertainty in the water depth measurements obtained from the bathymetric process. Aiming at the problems that there are no calibration control points on site in coastal areas and the sparse bathymetric radar point cloud makes it difficult to identify the features with the same name, this paper proposes a calibration algorithm for the placement angle error of airborne bathymetric LiDAR without on-site control. Initially, by constructing an optical zero error correction model that considers the distance differences of corresponding corners, optical zero deviations of internal code devices in the ALB system are corrected, laying the groundwork for installation angle calibration. Subsequently, a calibration model for installation angle deviations is established based on plane feature constraints, combined with random sample consensus (RANSAC) and the least squares adjustment method. The pitch angle error is calibrated with the minimum distance between the two planes in a single flight strip as a constraint; the roll angle error is calibrated with the minimum angle between the normal vectors of the two planes in a two-way flight strip as a constraint; the heading angle error is calibrated with the minimum distance between the centers of the spires of the characteristic buildings in a two-way flight strip as a constraint. Two ALB dataset captured from Mapper 20KU are utilized to verify effectiveness. Experimental results demonstrate that the root mean square errors (RMSE) of land points (compared to RTK-measured land points) and seabed points (compared to single-beam shipborne depth measurements) accuracy are 8.1 cm and 13.4 cm, respectively. The bathymetric result can satisfy the requirements of the “Marine Engineering Topographic Survey Specifications”. The proposed method can effectively reduce installation angle deviations of ALB, not only providing technical support for the refined processing of airborne LiDAR bathymetry data but also offering high-precision data for underwater topographic measurements in coastal areas. Consequently, this work promotes research and application development in marine science and hydrographic surveying fields.

Key words: airborne LiDAR bathymetry, ALB bathymetric point position recalculation, optical zero error calibration, installation angle error calibration

CLC Number:

P229

Dianpeng SU, Bin WANG, Xiaozheng MAI, Huang MENG, Chao QI, Fanlin YANG. Calibration of placement angle errors of airborne bathymetric LiDAR without field control[J]. Acta Geodaetica et Cartographica Sinica, 2025, 54(6): 1042-1053.

Figures/Tables 12

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方法	对比同名点数	最大值/cm	最小值/cm	MAE/cm	RMSE/cm
本文算法（无控制点）	150	7.1	0.1	2.4	4.2
有控制点算法	150	6.8	0.1	2.2	4.1

精度对比	对比同名点数	方法	最大值/cm	最小值/cm	MAE/cm	RMSE/cm
陆地点云（与RTK对比）	493	有控制点算法本文算法（无控制点）	18.3	0.1	6.2	8.0
陆地点云（与RTK对比）	493	有控制点算法本文算法（无控制点）	17.9	0.1	6.5	8.1
水下点云（与SBES对比）	197	有控制点算法本文算法（无控制点）	27.1	0.1	11.2	13.2
水下点云（与SBES对比）	197	有控制点算法本文算法（无控制点）	27.6	0.1	11.5	13.4