Patent ID: 7187452

Claim:
A ground-based method of determining the spatial statistics of fragmented and spatially variably dispersed objects in a transmissive medium, said method including: generating a plurality of pulsed beams of laser energy, said beams having selectively variable width and shape; selectively varying the width and shape of said beams; directing said beams toward the dispersed objects; selectively varying the range and/or angle of scanninig; measuring the time and/or phase and intensity of signals returned by the dispersed objects, and calculating the apparent reflectance of the dispersed objects as a function of the range of the dispersed objects for each beam width and beam shape; whereby the effects of object orientation are taken into account, and if the method surveys a forest and measures the spatial structure and cover of vegetation canopies in the forest, the effect of clumping of foliage and the effect of the angle of distribution of foliage are taken into account.