DWEL: A Dual-Wavelength Echidna Lidar for ground-based forest scanning

The Dual-Wavelength Echidna® Lidar (DWEL), a ground-based, full-waveform lidar scanner designed for automated retrieval of forest structure, uses simultaneously-pulsing, 1064 nm and 1548 nm lasers to separate scattering by leaves from scattering by trunks, branches, and ground materials. Leaf hits are separated from others by a reduced response at 1548 nm due to water absorption by leaf cellular contents. By digitizing the full return-pulse waveform (full-width half maximum, 1.5 m) at 7.5 cm intervals, the scanner can identify the type of scattering event, as well as identify and separate multiple scattering events along the pulse path to reconstruct multiple hits at distances of up to 100 m from the scanner. Scanning covers zenith angles of 0–119° and 360 azimuth with pulse centers spaced at 4, 2, and 1 mrad intervals, providing spatial resolutions of 4–40, 2–20, and 1–10 cm respectively at 10 and 100 m distances. The instrument is currently undergoing integration and testing for field deployment in July–August, 2012.