The purpose of this study was to investigate produced Laser data from the new national height model's airborne laser scanning in Sweden, what quality it has and whether it can be used for forest management planning. From airborne laser scanning one can obtain information on forest variables such as tree species, height, diameter and basal area. Norra skogsägarna is the principal employer of this project and they wanted know to the quality of the Laser data which needs to cope with their standards. If the Laser data the quality required it can replace some of the operations performed by field planners. To examine the quality of the produced Laser data a control tax assessment has been performed in 30 forest departments. This was done in an objective manner.

To make it easier for forestry planning the forest owners needs data which describe characteristics of the forest. Such data you usually get from some type of inventory. A relatively new technology which probably is getting more important in the future, is laser scanning because of lower costs. But because the laser technology is relatively new you need to compare it with conventional inventory technologies to get better understanding of the possibilities the laser technology gives. This work intends to estimate field measured characteristics of the forest from Laser data with help of regression analysis and then see which of the field measured properties that best could be estimated and which laser variables that gave the best results. This study shows that heights has the best estimates, but biomass, diameter and volume also gives good estimates.

Thinning is one of the most important silvicultural activities in middle aged forests, partly to minimize damages and partly because it leads to earlier harvesting revenues and increases the value of the remaining trees. There are many different indices used to describe stand density and thereby the need of thinning in forests today. Studies have shown that forest variables can be estimated with high accuracy using airborne laser scanning and it is likely that the method could also be used to estimate forest density indices. In this study, the possibility of using the forest density index ?H² to determine and map priorities for thinning operations for a forest area was examined.

The thesis mission is to investigate whether the swiveling laser that Vectura (former Vägverket Konsult) has in use to measure the road areas and straddle measuring can be used to detect differences in the reflective road markings function. This is to increase use of the swiveling laser and get rid of the manual measurements performed today.Currently, the measurement of road markings reflective function is performed with both mobile and handheld measuring instruments. The purpose of this thesis is to develop better methods for determination of road markings? reflective function, in order to facilitate the description and suggestions for improvements of the maintenance of road markings reflective function.The questions that the thesis has been to start with are:Can the swiveling laser detect differences in longitudinal and transverse road markings reflective function?The accuracy of measurement has been sweeping the laser over the reference instrument (LTL-2000)Is it necessary with a conversion factor for swiveling Laser data against the reference instrument data?To answer the question 2 and 3, there has been a field work in Värnamo where a road stretch with longitudinal road markings and zebra crossing (transverse road markings) has been investigated with a swiveling laser and LTL-2000.The formulas and calculations contained in the thesis are drawn from scientific reports that are produced by VTI in Linköping. The same formula that was used to calculate the optical measurement data was also used for the swiveling Laser data.

Bergvik Skog is one of the leading forest companies in Sweden who use airborne laser scanning for forestry information. They utilize Laser data retrieved by the Swedish National Land Survey to describe the forest holdings and facilitate planning for thinning and final felling operations. However, the possibility to identify stands with clearing needs by using laser scanning data has not been tested in a large scale. The data used in the current study are field data from The Swedish National Forest Inventory in combination with Laser data from the Swedish National Land Survey acquired in 2009. The collected data is used to find one or several laser variables that best describe the relationship of the field measured samples with clearing needs.

Data retrieved from airborne laser scanning represents a new source of forest data. Today, the technology has matured so that it can function in an operational environment. The aim of this study was to compile areas of application of laserdata in forestry. Moreover to analyze costs and accessibility of laserdata. The goal was to provide private forest owners information to support assessments of possible benefits of laserdata.

This master?s thesis is a remote sensing study of an area-based method used to detect forest in need of thinning by use of Laser data and field samples. Only pine-dominated forest has been included in the study and height limits were set to match empirical restrictions. The study area was in the municipality of Älvsbyn (Latitude 65° 40´ N, Longitude 21° 00´ E), in northern Sweden.The Swedish authority Lantmäteriet is currently laser scanning most parts of Sweden, providing new opportunities and applications. The primary aim of the national laser scanning is to create a new elevation model, useful in consequence analysis of climate changes.

The requirements for operative planning activities are increasing. The forest industry wants to gain better control over wood flow. A felling that is more market adjusted is desirable. However, this causes problems in the operative planning process because of the data collection methods used today. Data about timber assortments and data about the distribution of the tree diameter, etc., are often lacking. Airborne laser scanning is used to a greater extent than before for estimation of forest variables and should perhaps be used to the same extent in operative planning activities as well.

Today Holmen Skog finds and selects suitable thinning stands using data on upper height and basal area. These figures are often based on basic forest data that has been updated with the help of growth prediction models. The problem is that these figures are not always correct. The aim of this study was to investigate if a combination of data from a profiling laser and a digital camera for low elevation photography, can be used for collecting data on number of stems per ha, tree species mixture as well as basal area weighted mean height and upper height for stands. The possibility to use these data to assess the need for thinning cutting was also investigated.Laser data and aerial photographs were collected from a helicopter operating at an approximate height of 100 meters.

This master thesis includes a description of how a number of sensors are put together in a sensor platform. It also gives a description of how localization and mapping has been performed with data collected from the sensor platform. Localization is a prerequisite for most of the tasks that can be requested from an autonomous mobile robot. In many situations the GPS signal is not available and hence an additional localization system is required. One approach is to apply localization based on landmarks extracted from the robots surrounding.

Booth for operational planning of harvesting and for long term planning, data is today collected manually. Intensive objective field inventories are usually too expensive. To enhance optimisation of timber flow from forest to industry Moore efficient methods for measuring tree stems of standing trees are needed. The performance of terrestrial laser scanners have improved and these could possibly be used within forestry in the future. The objective of this study was to validate how a terrestrial laser scanner could be used to measure stem diameter, and to test how the errors depend on distance from the scanner and tree species. Two plots (one pine and one spruce) were used for this study.

Data retrieved from airborne laser scanning represents a new source of forest data. Today, the technology has matured so that it can function in an operational environment. The aim of this study was to compile areas of application of laserdata in forestry. Moreover to analyze costs and accessibility of laserdata. The goal was to provide private forest owners information to support assessments of possible benefits of laserdata.

Sweden?s forestry legislation was updated in 2010 and a new definition of forest land was introduced. This definition was adapted to the one used by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for international statistics on the state of the world's forests. It is in short based on the lands ability to grow forest that reaches 5 meters, 10 % canopy closure and has a continuous distribution, according to FAO at least 0.5 hectares. A country-wide laser scanning is now carried out for the production of a new national elevation model; the Laser data also provides information on forest height and density.

This degree project has been carried out in cooperation with Enertech AB in Ljungby and is pilot study to automating all current manual soldering. The soldering process accounts for a large part of the processing cost in the production of a heat pump. The process is also a quality risk and has a major impact on the lifetime of the final product.The Main task of this project has been to evaluate automation of the soldering process, to develop automation solutions and a principle layout, to draw the design changes required for the automation and to calculate the supposed solution.This pilot study has resulted in a suggested automation solution using laser as a heat source for soldering. Calculations of the solution show that a automating a laser soldering cell is very profitable..

Laser for material processing possesses a number of advantages which mean that it has been and will be an important component for a wide range of industries' future development. Cutting materials processing is the dominant use of laser technology and has revolutionized the manufacturing industry. The aim of this thesis is to describe the principles of metal cutting by laser, how laser cutting is applied in practice and to identify how Swedish companies are using laser cutting. For the theoretical and technical description of laser cutting literature studies are the primary source of information. The empirical basis for the mapping of the Swedish industry for laser cutting is grounded on a survey; this includes Swedish companies that use laser cutting in their production.