As many of you may know, lidar sensors detecting range suffers under strong sunlight or/and reflective surfaces. It seems that some products handles strong sunlight better than others. I did a quick comparison between a TeraRanger Evo 60m and a Lightware LW20. The TeraRanger Evo 60m stop detecting objects over 18 meters, while the LW20 have no problem.
I find out, that 60m is only possible under very week sunlight and no reflections. I think that 99.9% of our flights does no match this scenario. TeraBee also provide data during test with strong sunlight. The detecting range drop significant.
My test, red=TeraRanger Evo60m, green=Lightware LW20:
I think the arducopter wiki should updated with a quick note, that the detecting range could be much lower than listed in the technical data. I bought the sensor due to the technical data who doesn’t mach to the reality…
What is your experience with rangefinders under strong sunlight?
We are sorry to hear from you that our sensor does not match your expectations.
We have made a Test report which is published on the website since the launch of our sensors with the purpose to explain the behaviour and performances under multiple surfaces and weather conditions. Our sensors are used in multiple applications and one of them is altimeter. In fact, when customers ask about our sensors for this application, we always explain the performances and insist on reading the Test result report. We don’t recommend using them without clear knowledge of their performances.
Terabee’s recommended approach is to combine the usage for its sensors for altimeters up to 20 m with satellite sensors (GPS, Galileo, etc.) that provide more accurate and reliable data at a higher altitude. As most of the drones have GPS/Galileo sensors, we believe that range finders find their best use in helping for approaching maneuvers to land.
We take note of your comment, and we will include a note in the Ardupilot wiki which explains this better.
