In order to improve the data quality of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) piggyback light detection and ranging (LiDAR)

a comparative experiment is designed using a long-range

high-precision LiDAR system.By adopting different flight altitudes

laser pulse frequencies

and side overlap rates

combining with the analysis of the point cloud density and elevation accuracy

the impacts of these 3 parameters on the quality of the data is investigated.The results indicate that flight altitude is negatively correlated with point cloud density

but has no significant effect on elevation accuracy;increasing the laser pulse frequency will raise the density of point cloud

however

a high frequency can cause energy attenuation and ranging ambiguity;a higher side overlap rate will increase the density of point cloud and ensure the data completeness

but has no significant effect on elevation accuracy.Based on the experimental results

the quantitative parameter settings for UAV LiDAR in scenarios with different vegetation coverage and different terrain types are proposed.