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Review
. 2024 Mar 4;24(5):1669.
doi: 10.3390/s24051669.

Multispectral Light Detection and Ranging Technology and Applications: A Review

Narges Takhtkeshha  1   2 , Gottfried Mandlburger  2 , Fabio Remondino  1 , Juha Hyyppä  3
Affiliations
Review

Multispectral Light Detection and Ranging Technology and Applications: A Review

Narges Takhtkeshha et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a well-established active technology for the direct acquisition of 3D data. In recent years, the geometric information collected by LiDAR sensors has been widely combined with optical images to provide supplementary spectral information to achieve more precise results in diverse remote sensing applications. The emergence of active Multispectral LiDAR (MSL) systems, which operate on different wavelengths, has recently been revolutionizing the simultaneous acquisition of height and intensity information. So far, MSL technology has been successfully applied for fine-scale mapping in various domains. However, a comprehensive review of this modern technology is currently lacking. Hence, this study presents an exhaustive overview of the current state-of-the-art in MSL systems by reviewing the latest technologies for MSL data acquisition. Moreover, the paper reports an in-depth analysis of the diverse applications of MSL, spanning across fields of "ecology and forestry", "objects and Land Use Land Cover (LULC) classification", "change detection", "bathymetry", "topographic mapping", "archaeology and geology", and "navigation". Our systematic review uncovers the potentials, opportunities, and challenges of the recently emerged MSL systems, which integrate spatial-spectral data and unlock the capability for precise multi-dimensional (nD) mapping using only a single-data source.

Keywords: hyperspectral LiDAR; intensity; multispectral laser scanning; point clouds; sensors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of the current state-of-the-art in MSL technology. This paper focuses on the left side of the figure, highlighted in red.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Aerial optical image (left) versus MSL-based false-color image (right), Optech Titan LiDAR [16].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of employed MSL systems in the literature—based on Table A1.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Operational mechanism of multispectral LiDAR data acquisition by the “HeliALS-TW” MSL system.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Multispectral versus monochromatic LiDAR data.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Percentage of the used MSL data type among the reviewed studies presented in Table A1.
Figure 7
Figure 7
MSL benchmark datasets: (a) ISPRS WG III/5 dataset [101]; (b) IEEE GRSS MSL dataset [102].
Figure 8
Figure 8
Subdivision of conducted research on MSL per application—based on Table A1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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