A deep neural network based on U-Net for classifying airborne LiDAR data
Abstract
LiDAR point cloud classification has always been a difficult task. Deep learning (DL) models have recently been widely used in computer vision studies, thanks to rapid advances in machine learning technology. In recent years, deep neural networks (DNN) have been used for classification and segmentation of LiDAR point clouds. We proposed a Fully Convolutional Network (FCN) architecture that can classify LiDAR data. This workflow is built around converting a three-dimensional (3D) LiDAR point cloud to a single two-dimensional (2D) multi-channel image. We tested the performance of our neural network model on the DALES airborne LiDAR dataset. The results showed that our network model performed well when compared to the LAStools software, with an average F1 score of 86% for our best model across all three classes.
Keywords
References
- Axelsson, P. (2000). DEM generation from laser scanner data using adaptive TIN models. International archives of photogrammetry and remote sensing, 23 (B4), 110–117.
- Bello, S. A., Yu, S., Wang, C., Adam, J. M., & Li, J. (2020). Review: Deep learning on 3D point clouds. Remote Sensing, 12(11), 1729. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12111729
- Hacibeyoglu, M. & Ibrahim, M. H. (2018). Human Gender Prediction on Facial Mobil Images using Convolutional Neural Networks. International Journal of Intelligent Systems and Applications in Engineering, 3(6), pp. 203–208. https://doi.org/10.18201/ijisae.2018644778
- Hu, X. & Yuan, Y. (2016). Deep-learning-based classification for DTM extraction from ALS point cloud. Remote Sensing, 8(9), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8090730
- Hu, Q., Yang, B., Xie, L., Rosa, S., Guo, Y., Wang, Z., ... & Markham, A. (2021). Learning semantic segmentation of large-scale point clouds with random sampling. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 44(11), 8338-8354. https://doi.org/10.1109/TPAMI.2021.3083288
- Jiang, T., Wang, Y., Liu, S., Cong, Y., Dai, L., & Sun, J. (2022). Local and Global Structure for Urban ALS Point Cloud Semantic Segmentation with Ground-Aware Attention. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 60, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2022.3158362
- Kraus, K., and Pfeifer, N., (1998). Determination of terrain models in wooded areas with airborne laser scanner data. ISPRS journal of photogrammetry and remote sensing, 53 (4), 193–203.
- LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436-444. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539
Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Artificial Intelligence (Other)
Journal Section
Research Article
Publication Date
March 25, 2026
Submission Date
September 5, 2025
Acceptance Date
November 7, 2025
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Volume: 8