Calculation method of the overlap factor and its enhancement for airborne lidar

We present an airborne lidar overlap factor calculation method based on laser intensity distribution and ray-tracing method. It is a comparatively simpler solution than analytical-based methods, and can be applied to any special laser intensity distribution. In this paper, we emphatically analyze the relationship among lidar overlap factor, flight speed and scanning mirror rotating speed. The parametric simulation results of our airborne lidar indicate that the lidar overlap factor is sensitive to the scanning mirror rotating speed but insensitive to the flight speed. The overlap factor is enhanced by inserting a field lens in the focal plane of telescope, and then optimal geometry parameters of the field lens are discussed. The final simulation results prove that this enhancement approach is elegant and effective.