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Compute the pulse penetration ratio for LASfiles

Source: R/get_penetration.R
get_penetration.Rd

get_penetration() computes approximate pulse penetration ratios for LASfiles using information stored in the header. Only header data are read; point data are not loaded.

Usage

get_penetration(path, full.names = FALSE)

Arguments

path

Character vector specifying one or more paths to:

  • LAS/LAZ/COPC files

  • Directories containing LAS/LAZ/COPC files (non-recursive)

  • Virtual Point Cloud files (.vpc) referencing LASfiles

full.names

Logical. If TRUE, return full file paths in the filename column. If FALSE (default), only the base file names are returned.

Value

A data.frame with one row per input file and the following columns:

filename

File name or full path of the LASfile

single

Proportion of pulses with exactly one return

two

Proportion of pulses with exactly two returns

three

Proportion of pulses with exactly three returns

four

Proportion of pulses with exactly four returns

five

Proportion of pulses with exactly five returns

six

Proportion of pulses with exactly six returns

multiple

Proportion of pulses with two or more returns

Details

The function estimates the proportion of pulses that resulted in exactly one return, two returns, three returns, up to six returns, as well as the proportion of pulses with multiple returns (two or more).

Pulse penetration ratios are derived from the “Number of points by return” field in the LAS header. Because only header information is used, results are approximate.

For small files or spatially clipped tiles, pulses may be split at tile boundaries, which can lead to biased penetration ratios. Consequently, values should be interpreted as indicative rather than exact.

Examples

folder <- system.file("extdata", package = "managelidar")
las_files <- list.files(folder, full.names = T, pattern = "*20240327.laz")

las_files |> get_penetration()
#>                             filename single    two three  four  five   six
#>                               <char>  <num>  <num> <num> <num> <num> <num>
#> 1: 3dm_32_547_5724_1_ni_20240327.laz  0.951  0.000 0.025 0.020 0.004 0.000
#> 2: 3dm_32_547_5725_1_ni_20240327.laz  0.601 -0.160 0.122 0.315 0.120 0.001
#> 3: 3dm_32_548_5724_1_ni_20240327.laz  0.417 -0.067 0.138 0.349 0.153 0.009
#> 4: 3dm_32_548_5725_1_ni_20240327.laz  0.610 -0.105 0.147 0.234 0.111 0.004
#>    multiple
#>       <num>
#> 1:    0.049
#> 2:    0.399
#> 3:    0.583
#> 4:    0.390