Feature Based Modeling and Mapping of Tree Trunks and Natural Terrain Using 3D Laser Scanner Measurement System

This paper presents a novel approach to measure tree trunks and to model the ground using a 3D laser scanner. The 3D scanner, self-build using two 2D Sick scanners on a rotating base, measures each scan line approximately at 45° angle towards the ground and the trees. Single scan lines are segmented to find ground and tree returns. 3D point clouds from the surrounding forest are recorded while the measuring vehicle is moving. Sequential scan lines are joined together as the pose changes are reduced from the older buffered measurements. Laser odometry and inertial measurements are used to measure the pose changes. The ground is modeled by fitting a 1m grid to 3D point cloud extracted using a ground return detector. Tree trunks are searched from the 3D point cloud using a histogram approach to segment measurements into separate point clouds for each tree trunk. Tree trunks are modeled using ten circle features one on the other using the extracted point cloud. Instead of using the whole point cloud, mapping is done only for the extracted features and the travelled path to save computation time. Our method can detect nearly all tree trunks and measure them on short ranges of less than 8m with errors less than 4cm in diameter.