RIEGL RiUNITE

Description

It facilitates the four main tasks required for accurate point cloud generation.

- Extraction of echo signals from recorded waveform data
Depending on the model, RIEGL V-Line scanners provide Online Waveform Processed (OWP) targets, additional smart waveforms, or full waveforms. With RiUNITE waveform analysis can be disabled, to keep OWP targets only. For enhanced results Gaussian Pulse Fitting (GPF) is applied to the smart or full waveforms in addition to the OWP targets.
For RIEGL Q-series scanners the echo extraction is performed by a full waveform analysis via the GPF method. RiUNITE supports GPU processing on CUDA (3.2 and above) enabled graphics cards.

- Resolution of Multiple-Time-Around (MTA) range ambiguities
In order to correctly determine the range to a target with a LiDAR instrument using time-of-flight measurements with short laser pulse intervals, it is necessary to correctly determine the correlation of each received echo pulse to its causative emitted laser pulse. Today’s RIEGL LiDAR instruments provide extremely high measurement rates as well as long measurement ranges. In such cases, target echoes received may not necessarily be associated with the immediately preceding laser pulse emitted. Instead they may be associated with any of the previous laser pulses emitted. RiUNITE provides several built-in MTA resolution methods adopted to the various RIEGL laser scanner engines & systems.

-Transformation of extracted echoes from the local instrument coordinate system to a global coordinate reference system
Kinematic laser scanning systems provide data acquired by one or more laser scanners (scan data) and a coupled INS/GNSS system (trajectory).
RiUNITE transforms the scan data into the coordinate system of the trajectory, typically WGS84 (World Geodetic System). It thus provides the scan data of the object's surfaces within a Earth-Centered and Earth-Fixed (ECEF) coordinate system for further processing. In order to transform the scan data with high accuracy, RiUNITE takes the definite geometrical system descriptions (system calibration, boresight information) into account. All coordinate reference systems are based on the definitions in the RIEGL GeoSysManager database, to support use of the various positioning services available worldwide.

- Efficient organization of massive point cloud data for fast data storage and retrieval
With a more than 100 times surge of the pulse repetition rate over the last 20 years, typical LiDAR projects experienced an outstanding increase in data volume. To cope with these challenges, RIEGL developed a native point cloud storage format, the RIEGL DataBase (RDB). RDB serves as the central storage format for georeferenced spatial data throughout the entire RIEGL software portfolio (e.g RiPROCESS, RiSCAN PRO, RiMINING, RiSOLVE,...). In the context of kinematic LiDAR, the current second generation version of this data format provides a flexible and fast method for not only storing point cloud and waveform sample data, but also mission critical components of a LiDAR project, e.g trajectories, registration datasets (plane patches, voxels) and laser pulse direction vectors. RiUNITE reads from and writes to RDB2 data files.