LiDAR Processing

3D point cloud processing for volumetric measurement and mapping.

Technology Overview

LiDAR Sensor Specifications

Specification	Typical Value
Points per second	240,000+
Range	Up to 200m
Accuracy	±2 cm
Field of View	360° × 90°
Weight	~1 kg

Primary Use Cases

Volumetric Calculation (Use Case #10)

Measuring stockpile volumes for sand, materials, waste:

Workflow:

1. Collect point cloud of stockpile area
2. Generate digital terrain model (DTM)
3. Define measurement boundary
4. Calculate volume relative to base plane
5. Compare to previous measurements

Accuracy: ±2-5% depending on material and conditions

Construction Progress (Use Case #6)

Tracking construction site changes:

• Earthworks volume tracking
• Structure completion monitoring
• Site layout verification
• Progress comparison against plan

3D Asset Mapping

Creating digital twins of facilities:

• Pipeline routing verification
• Infrastructure documentation
• As-built documentation
• Change detection

Processing Pipeline

┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐
│  Raw Point  │ →  │    Point    │ →  │     Ground      │
│    Cloud    │    │  Filtering  │    │ Classification  │
└─────────────┘    └─────────────┘    └─────────────────┘
                                               │
┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐    ┌────────▼────────┐
│   Volume    │ ←  │     DTM     │ ←  │     Surface     │
│ Calculation │    │  Generation │    │    Modeling     │
└─────────────┘    └─────────────┘    └─────────────────┘

Quality Factors

Factor	Impact	Mitigation
Vegetation	Volume interference	Ground filtering algorithms
Water	Absorption/reflection	Exclude water surfaces
Dust	Point scatter	Density filtering
Movement	Distortion	Motion compensation

Multi-Sensor Correlation

Correlation	Benefit
LiDAR + RGB	Colorized point cloud
LiDAR + GPS	Georeferenced model
LiDAR + Historical	Change detection
LiDAR + CAD	As-built vs. design

Use Cases Addressed

#	Use Case	LiDAR Role
6	Construction progress	Primary
10	Volumetric calculation	Primary
12	Road/access anomalies	Supporting

Output Formats

Format	Use
LAS/LAZ	Standard point cloud
GeoTIFF	Elevation raster
OBJ/PLY	3D mesh
PDF Report	Volume summary