Over the forty years since the invention of the laser, optical and electronic technology has made great strides, enabling the practical use of lidar in many fields. As lidar technology moves from being an object of research to providing data for other types of researchers to use, it becomes increasingly important to have a resource that explains the topic simply, yet thoroughly.

Intended as a handbook for researchers, graduate students, and lidar users, Elastic Lidar: Theory, Practice, and Analysis Methods bridges a twenty-year gap in the lidar literature and brings its subject into the twenty-first century.

Focusing on elastic lidars, the most common type of lidars in use today, the authors, both researchers in the field, provide a comprehensive discussion of practical elastic lidar methodology and inversion techniques, data analysis methods, and the construction of elastic lidars.

The book provides lidar professionals and students alike with clear and simple explanations of:

• How lidars work
• Data inversion techniques
• Construction of elastic lidars
• How to extract information from the data lidars provide

Based on their own professional experience, the authors provide readers with a straightforward explanation of what lidar technology can and cannot do with the methods currently available, while providing alternate viewpoints so that readers can draw their own conclusions.