A Field Study on LiDAR Sensor for Unmanned Ground Vehicle Navigation Application in Precision Agriculture

Abstract

LiDAR sensor’s mapping and detection abilities make these sensors an important tool for research on navigation and object detection for robots and vehicles. This study used a ground robot and LiDAR sensor to collect navigational data sets from North Dakota State University Research Extension Center agricultural test plots in Carrington, ND. Three different height and angle combinations were used to study the factors that could potentially affect object detection. Three trials were run for each sensor placement and recorded the distance the laser pulse traveled and the intensity of the laser. The analysis results showed that the data did not have a normal distribution. However, statistical analysis showed a relationship between the return intensity of the laser pulse from the sensor and the distance the object was from the sensor. Thus, this study showed that LiDAR sensors could be a navigation tool for UGV applications in precision agriculture.