ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background on the development path and the fundamentals of laser technology before introducing the basic principles and techniques of topographic laser profiling and scanning. All laser ranging, profiling, and scanning operations are based on the use of some type of laser-based ranging instrument—usually described as a laser ranger or laser rangefinder—that can measure distance to a high degree of accuracy. The word laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. In general terms, lasers are usually classified according to the type of material that is being used as the radiation source. The laser ranger or rangefinder is the device or instrument that is used to measure the slant range or distance to a reflective object such as the ground, a building, or a tree—that is often referred to in rather abstract terms as a “non-cooperative target.”.
