Image stitching for Airborne Staring LIDAR by vertical range-gated registration

A simulation process for Airborne Staring LIDAR is introduced. Factors are taken into account such as illumination distribution, shot noise, flying route and pose, and so on. Target intensity image is calculated firstly, and the range image is figured out by method of dual-gain modulation. Errors caused by slant will influence the image match for multi-frame average which is helpful for increasing S/N ratio. A vertical range-gated strategy for registration is proposed, which is able to correct such error and stitch up all range images seamlessly. Simulation Results with this method show a high accuracy in image stitching and good noise immunity.