Ground LiDAR
Ground-based LiDAR systems are very similar, only that an IMU is not required as the LiDAR is usually mounted on a tripod which the LiDAR sensor rotates 360 degress around. The pulsed laser beam is reflected from objects such as building fronts, lamp posts, vegetation, cars and even people.
The return pulses are recorded and the distance between the sensor and the object is calculated.
The data produced is in a 'point cloud' format, which is a 3-dimensional array of points, each having x, y and z positions relative to a chosen coordinate system.