LiDAR can be considered an acronym for Light Detection and Ranging. It is a remote sensing
technology that's used to measure distances, and it doesn't act on its own. It actually
-- LIDAR typically includes three independently operating technologies. There's LiDAR, which
is essentially a giant laser ranging device. The laser-ranging device sends out millions
of pulses. Today, they can send out over 400,000 pulses in one second. That technology gives
you the distance or the range to the target and there are two other technologies: GPS,
which is Global Positioning System, or global navigations system that gives you the location
of the instrument that's holding that LiDAR sensor. The third technology is the initial
measurement unit, which is an IMU system and that system is used to measure the pitch,
roll, and heading of, for example, an airborne platform.
It can also be installed on a mobile platform
like a car or vehicle on the road, or it can be a terrestrially mounted LiDAR system such as those mounted
on a tripod. The reason why sometimes LiDAR is the preferred technology to use is that
it can map the bare earth beneath vegetation better than most other technologies can.