A real-time three-dimensional coherent ladar demonstration: System structure, imaging processing, and experiment result.

A new real-time, high-precision three-dimensional (3D) laser radar with a coherent system is presented. A self-designed arbitrary waveform generator (AWG), an electro-optic modulator, and an optical filter are proposed to generation a linear frequency modulated continuous waveform (FMCW) with a bandwidth of 2.4 GHz and pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 100kHz. The heterodyne coherent detection and Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) scanner are implemented with high sensitivity and fast 3D imaging. At the same time, multi-phase FFT algorithm is proposed to realize the frequency calculation with real-time. In this paper, we present the system structure, signal processing, and the experimental results in detail. The system achieves static 3D target and dynamic target imaging verification, and the experiment result validates the performance of system for real-time 3D imaging. It acquires 3D imaging at 40 frames per second (fps), which can satisfy the demand of high imaging speed requirements for special situation. • A new real-time, high-precision three-dimensional (3D) laser radar with a coherent system is presented. • Multi-phase FFT algorithm is proposed to realize the frequency calculation with real-time. • The experiment result validates the performance of system for realtime 3D imaging. • The system acquires 3D imaging at 40 frames per second (fps), which can satisfy the demand of high imaging speed requirements for special situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]