Lidar systems are complex, dynamic devices involving both optical, mechanical, and electronic components that must work together while interacting reliably with a widely varying external environment. It is the optical part of the system that interacts with the environment, and so it is through optical modeling that we can gain a crucial insight into expected performance under varying conditions.
In this paper, we will take a brief look at how illumination ray tracing software can be used by engineers to gain these insights into expected lidar system performance before building expensive prototype systems.
