Deciduous-coniferous Tree Classification Using Difference between First and Last Pulse Laser Signatures

In this paper, a deciduous-coniferous tree classification mechanism is proposed, tested and analyzed using solely laser scanner data. The data were acquired under leaf-off conditions by Toposys II system. Under such circumstance, sources of last pulse hits of deciduous and coniferous are different, which allows concise discrimination between these two species. Tree positions were located from first pulse DSM, species were identified by the difference between two pulse data and field measurements were used for validation. The classification results demonstrate that first-last pulse laser data, under leaf-off condition, is ideal for deciduous and coniferous trees classification; and also indicate that the data collected for high accuracy DEM production is also suitable for forest investigation. * Corresponding author.