Asynchronous Multi-transmitter Multi-aperture Synthetic 3D Imaging System

Traditional active 3D imaging systems, such as airborne and terrestrial lidar scanners, use a transmitter and receiver typically co-located on the same platform and connected in synchronous communications. However, recent advances in laser, detector, and airborne systems technology have opened the door to smaller, higher-performance and significantly lower-cost airborne lidar systems in which it is possible to decouple the transmitter and receiver functions of a lidar system. By relaxing the physical coupling and communication constraints on conventional active-imaging systems, it is possible to establish in-situ cooperation of independently-mobile discrete active-imaging components for the development of new revolutionary active-imaging-system architectures. To advance the possibilities of revolutionary active-imaging-system architectures, in this effort, Voxtel will develop bi-static lidar-system designs and concepts of operations (CONOPS) that allow one or more laser transmitters and one or more receivers to be disconnected and operating independently of each other while providing high-resolution 3D image capture. Our approach integrates the most recent advances in lasers, highly sensitive detector arrays, custom readout integrated circuits (ROICs), and advanced processing capabilities.