How G&H Overcomes Lidar And Sensing Challenges To Make Remote Sense Of Earth And Space

Lidar (light detection and ranging) is pushing the boundaries of how we analyze, interpret, and understand both earth and space environments from afar – and G&H’s lidar solutions already underpin many international remote sensing projects and programs. In practice, lidar is one subset of numerous sensing application areas in which we at G&H are active. These include distributed fiber sensing, which enables optical fiber to be used as a continuous, real-time sensing medium to detect temperature, pressure, and vibration disturbances over long distances – for example in linear assets such as border fences and walls, oil and gas pipelines, and power and utilities networks. However, lidar, with its ability not only to locate the exact position of these disturbances, but to sense remotely, rather than in situ, is gaining significantly in traction, and it’s a trend that is likely to continue. 

As recent research from experts at the universities of Colorado and Delft asserts, ‘The role of lidar will be increasingly important in the future. Although there are many potentials for new lidar technology advancements, lidar activities are gradually shifting from technology developments to applications.’ These applications can be anything from wind turbine calibration to spectroscopic analysis of space gases and mineral deposits – and much more besides. But as the application types and environments proliferate, so too does the scrutiny of the underlying technology and its design. How stable is it? How powerful? How accurate? How sensitive? How susceptible to signal noise, extreme temperatures, shock and vibration?