Motion error analysis of the 3D coordinates of airborne lidar for typical terrains

A motion error model of 3D coordinates is established and the impact on coordinate errors caused by the non-ideal movement of the airborne platform is analyzed. The simulation results of the model show that when the lidar system operates at high altitude, the influence on the positioning errors derived from laser point cloud spacing is small. For the model the positioning errors obey simple harmonic vibration whose amplitude envelope gradually reduces with the increase of the vibration frequency. When the vibration period number is larger than 50, the coordinate errors are almost uncorrelated with time. The elevation error is less than the plane error and in the plane the error in the scanning direction is less than the error in the flight direction. Through the analysis of flight test data, the conclusion is verified.