Comparison and Evaluation of 2D and 3D Range Sensors

TL;DR

This paper compares the accuracy of various 2D and 2.5D range sensors used in outdoor mobile robotics, analyzing how their precision varies with distance and angle to inform sensor selection.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive evaluation of multiple range sensors' accuracy in different conditions, highlighting their strengths and limitations for outdoor robotic applications.

Findings

2D sensors perform well at short ranges but decline at longer distances.

3D sensors provide more accurate data in unstructured outdoor environments.

Sensor precision varies significantly with incidence angle and range.

Abstract

For mobile robots range sensors are important to perceive the environment. Sensors that can measure in a 3D volume are especially significant for outdoor robotics, because this environment is often highly unstructured. The quality of the data gathered by those sensors influences all algorithms relying on it. In this paper thus the precision of several 2D and 2.5D sensors is measured at different ranges and different incidence angles. The results of all tests are presented and analyzed.