MULTI-TARGET DETECTION FROM FULL-WAVEFORM AIRBORNE LASER SCANNER USING PHD FILTER

Abstract. We propose a new technique to detect multiple targets from full-waveform airborne laser scanner. We introduce probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter, a type of Bayesian filtering, by which we can estimate the number of targets and their positions simultaneously. PHD filter overcomes some limitations of conventional Gaussian decomposition method; PHD filter doesn’t require a priori knowledge on the number of targets, assumption of parametric form of the intensity distribution. In addition, it can take a similarity between successive irradiations into account by modelling relative positions of the same targets spatially. Firstly we explain PHD filter and particle filter implementation to it. Secondly we formulate the multi-target detection problem on PHD filter by modelling components and parameters within it. At last we conducted the experiment on real data of forest and vegetation, and confirmed its ability and accuracy.