Empirically modeling effect of fog on LiDAR data

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions for simulating an effect of fog on a Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) sensor that, when loaded into a processor and executed, cause the processor to perform steps:

• (a) determining whether a target is present within the field-of-view (FOV) of the LiDAR sensor;
• (b) determining a fog probability density function (PDFfog) vs range;
• (c) modifying, if a target is present within the FOV, the PDFfog to account for the target;
• (d) calculating a cumulative density function (CDF) for the PDFog;
• (e) randomly sampling the CDF to determine a plurality of ranges and additively plotting a predetermined Gaussian distribution centered on each range;
• and
• (f) identifying a peak value of the additive plot and reporting the range associated with the peak value as the strongest return of the LiDAR sensor.

A system for simulating an effect of fog on a Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) sensor, comprising:

• a processor communicatively coupled to the LiDAR sensor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the processor and comprising instructions that, when loaded into the processor and executed, cause the processor to perform steps:
• (a) determining whether a target is present within the field-of-view (FOV) of the LiDAR sensor;
• (b) determining a fog probability density function (PDFfog) vs range;
• (c) modifying, if a target is present within the FOV, the PDF fog to account for the target;
• (d) calculating a cumulative density function (CDF) for the PDFog;
• (e) randomly sampling the CDF to determine a plurality of ranges and additively plotting a predetermined Gaussian distribution centered on each range;
• and
• (f) identifying a peak value of the additive plot and reporting the range associated with the peak value as the strongest return of the LiDAR sensor.