Online waveform processing for demanding target situations

RIEGL LIDAR instruments are based on echo digitization and provide point cloud data by online waveform processing or full waveform data for external full waveform analysis or both. The advantages of online waveform processing of being fast and highly accurate for most typical target situation are made up by full waveform processing for demanding echo signal shapes when employing sophisticated algorithms. It is investigated how online waveform processing performs in turbid media and where the limitations are by analyzing experimental results when measuring in a fog chamber. An algorithm is proposed to determine the visibility range from the echo waveforms return of the medium.