EcoLiDAR: An economical LiDAR scanner for ecological research

Despite recent popularization and widespread use in modern electronic devices, LiDAR technology remains expensive for research purposes, in part due to the very high performance offered by commercially available LiDAR scanners. However, such high performance is not always needed, and the expensive price ends up making LiDAR scanners inaccessible for research projects with reduced budget, such as those in developing countries. Here we designed and built a simple ground-based LiDAR scanner, with performance sufficient to fulfil the requirements for a variety of ecological research projects, while being cheap and easy to build. We managed to assemble a LiDAR scanner under 400 USD (as of 2021), and it is simple enough to be built by personnel with minimal engineering background. We also demonstrated the quality of the resulting point clouds by scanning a test site and producing some common LiDAR products. Although not adequate for mapping large area due to its limited range, our LiDAR design is open, customizable, and can produce adequate results while costing [~]1% of "low-cost" scanners available in the market. As such, our LiDAR scanner opens a world of new opportunities, particularly for projects in developing countries.