One challenge with developing tools for analyzing and using lidar data is sharing and developing code or finding data that you can use to test new ideas. So to help people find the software and data they need, we’ve launched a site on openlidar.net where people can share links to open-source code and datasets. See www.openlidar.net/resources for details. If you would like to contribute but don’t have a clue where to begin, we can help!
We just got accepted for an oral presentation at the Wind Energy Science Conference 2017 where we want to show how the OpenLidar concept can be applied to the development of a lidar. Within the German national funded research project ANWIND, the University of Stuttgart will enhance their existing lidar scanner and integrate a new scanner module into a robust lidar. This is the perfect opportunity to test the OpenLidar concept within a lidar development process, which means that we want to apply the module concept, define interfaces, and think about if and how it will be feasible to share details of the development without exposing or infringing intellectual property rights.
If you want to know more, come visit our presentation on Tuesday 27th of June, 13:20 at the WESC in Copenhagen and talk to us! The abstract of the presentation can be downloaded here.
One very easy way to get involved in OpenLidar without spending money is to get students working on topics that are interesting for the community, and to publish the results on the OpenLidar platform. Potential topics could be:
The topics could be either purely academic or also industry-led. Our idea is that you can share the topic, get in contact with the community and exchange topics and information about available students. We will link to theses through the website. In Stuttgart we will be starting a Masters thesis to analyse the reliability of our scanning lidar, and how it could be improved – see also next section!
If you have ideas for a thesis, already have (or need) a student or intern, please get in touch and we would be happy to help get the news out. You could also comment below.
In December 2016 the General Meeting of the IEA Task 32 Wind Lidar Systems for Wind Energy Deployment took place in Glasgow and we used this opportunity to present the OpenLidar concept to the lidar community and to get feedback. The presentation can be downloaded here. We also introduced the idea of an OpenLidar starter kit. The current starter kit was developed by a lidar manufacturer and has the following main specifications:
This starter kit is essentially a lidar box comprising the main modules: power, photonics, optics, and control. As we (and also the manufacturer) were curious if people were actually interested in starting to play with such a device, we came up with a cell phone survey during the meeting. Here are some of the results:
We concluded from the survey that there is definitely interest from the community and we will proceed with the OpenLidar concept in the following months.
Since we are interested in getting more feedback from the community, please express your opinion or ask questions in the comment section below.
OpenLidar was successully introduced at the ISARS 2016 conference in Varna, Bulgaria in June. The presentation “OpenLidar – Towards an Open Source Wind Lidar Platform” is available for download.
