The recent several years we developed the Scheimpflug lidar method. We combined an invention from the 19^th century with modern optoelectronics such as diode lasers and CMOS array from the 21^st century. The approach exceeds expectations of background suppression, sensitivity and resolution beyond known from time-of-flight lidars. We accomplished multiband elastic atmospheric lidars for resolving single particles and aerosol plumes from 405 nm to 1550 nm. We pursued hyperspectral differential absorption lidar for molecular species. We demonstrated a simple method of inelastic hyperspectral lidar for profiling aquatic environments and vegetation structure. Not least, we have developed polarimetric Scheimpflug lidar with multi-kHz sampling rates for remote modulation spectroscopy and classification of aerofauna. All these advances are thanks to the Scheimpflug principle. Here we give a review of how far we have come and shed light on the limitations and opportunities for future directions. In particular, we show how the biosphere can be resolved with unsurpassed resolution in space and time, and share our expectation on how this can revolutionize ecological analysis and management in relation to agricultural pests, disease vectors and pollinator problematics.

Date Published: 30 August 2017
PDF: 17 pages
Proc. SPIE 10406, Lidar Remote Sensing for Environmental Monitoring 2017, 104060I (30 August 2017); doi: 10.1117/12.2272939

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10406:
Lidar Remote Sensing for Environmental Monitoring 2017
Upendra N. Singh, Editor(s)