[OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 2, No. 4 (1995) 289-291]
Experimental Determination of the Useful Reflection Coefficient of Non-Cooperative Targets for a Time-of-Flight Laser Rangefinder
Thierry BOSCH1 and Marc LESCURE2
1Ecole des Mines de Nantes, 3 rue Marcel Sembat, 44049 Nantes Cedex 04 France, 2ENSEEIHT, LEN7, 2 rue Carmichel, 31071 Toulouse Cedex 03 France
(Received September 27, 1994; Accepted May 9, 1995)
An experimental verification of the reflection properties of non-cooperative targets for a time-of-flight laser rangefinder is proposed. Indeed, knowing the light scattering physical properties of usual targets is necessary to determine the optical power budget of such a device. The useful reflection coefficient (RC) is contained at between 0.6 and 0.7 at the wavelength λ (=820 nm), polar diagrams presenting almost a lambertian shape for incident angles lower than 60E. The useful RC thus corresponds to the value of the lambertian RC increased by the contribution of the specular RC.
Key words : optical distance measurement, rangefinders, scattering, laser applications, optical sensing, instrumentation, laser ranging