Dr. Helen Fricker is a Professor of Geophysics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, one of the world's most important centers for global earth science research and education. Prior to her current role, Dr. Fricker was a science team member for NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat); she is currently the science team lead for ICESat-2, and Principle Investigator (PI) for NASA's Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer (EDGE) mission. In this episode, we pick Helen’s brain about spaceborne lidar altimetry missions, some of the amazing science and research projects they support, and what’s over the horizon from a development perspective.
-------- Â
46:57
--------
46:57
#22 - Angus Pacala
Angus Pacala is CEO and co-founder of Ouster, a major lidar supplier based in San Francisco. The company made headlines in 2023 when it merged with arch-competitor Velodyne. Speaking from the company’s offices in Edinburgh, Scotland (home of Sense Photonics, an Ouster acquisition in 2021), Angus addresses the company’s technical developments and the status of its forthcoming L4 and Chronos solid-state components and their likely effect on the product portfolio. He explains how the company addresses the four verticals into which it has divided the market and where UAV-lidar fits in. Ouster’s software portfolio is covered too.Â
-------- Â
49:03
--------
49:03
#21 - John Adler
Dr. John Adler is a geographer and remote sensing professional with a diverse career in academia, government, and ecological research. He serves as the Lead Airborne Sensor Operator for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) where he conducts airborne surveys across the nation during periods of peak vegetation greenness, contributing to large-scale ecological data collection efforts. In this episode, Austin chats with John about the ins-and-outs of collecting airborne lidar data in concert with RGB + hyperspectral sensors over NEON sites from Alaska to Puerto Rico. They close with a discussion of what the future may hold for NEON data collection and upload.Â
-------- Â
37:17
--------
37:17
#20 - James Rush
In this episode, Stewart speaks with James Rush, Lidar Subject Matter Expert, Allen & Company, about his employer and his personal journey into lidar management. Allen & Company has roots in conventional land surveying, but its offerings today include extensive services in laser scanning of buildings, producing deliverables such as BIMs and digital twins. To this end, it has a subsidiary, Allen3D. James discusses some of the projects on which Allen is working and examines how the specifications are reached in discussion with clients, paying appropriate attention to published standards. He also describes an initiative at Tucker Ranch, near the company’s headquarters in Winter Garden, Florida, in which he arranged for 17 collections of lidar point clouds of a small area, to provide a most unusual reference data set for many purposes.
-------- Â
40:47
--------
40:47
#19 - Ralph Dubayah
Dr. Ralph Dubayah is a Distinguished Professor of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is the Principal Investigator for NASA’s Global Ecosystems Dynamics Investigation Lidar (GEDI) – a full waveform lidar onboard the International Space Station (ISS). In this episode we hear from Dr. Dubayah about the ins and outs of GEDI as well as an upcoming spaceborne lidar mission that’s under preparation. We wrap up with a discussion of Dr. Dubayah’s dream for airborne laser scanning (ALS) from space!
The LIDAR Magazine podcast, hosted by Dr. Stewart Walker, brings measurement, positioning and imaging technologies to light for today's geospatial professional. Since 2012, we've addressed all aspects of lidar: including airborne topographic and bathymetric; terrestrial; mobile; close range; underwater and others. Join us as we map the lidar revolution! Generously sponsored by LAStools LiDAR Processing.
Ireland