Automated low-cost terrestrial laser scanner for measuring diameters at breast height and heights of plantation trees.

A terrestrial laser scanner is a fast, high-precision data acquisition device, which has been applied more and more to the research area of forest inventory. In this study, a type of automated low-cost terrestrial laser scanner was designed and implemented based on a SICK LMS-511 two-dimensional laser scanning sensor and a stepper motor. The new scanner was named BEE(developed by the department of Electronic Engineering, Beijing Forestry University), which can scan the forest trees in three dimensions.