Laser Scanning in Industry: A Review of LiDAR, Terrestrial and Handheld Systems and Their Industrial Applications
Keywords:
LiDAR, Terrestrial laser scanning, Handheld SLAM scanner, Point cloud, Digital twinAbstract
Laser scanning has evolved from a specialised surveying technique into a core reality-capture technology underpinning the digital transformation of industry. By emitting laser pulses and recording the coordinates of millions of surface points per second, LiDAR systems generate dense point clouds that describe complex objects rapidly and without contact. This review provides an integrated overview of the laser-scanning family, airborne, mobile, terrestrial (TLS) and handheld simultaneous-localisation-and-mapping (SLAM) scanners, and their industrial applications. The physical principles of laser ranging, the nature of point-cloud data, and the metrics governing accuracy are summarised, and the main platform classes are compared by range, accuracy, throughput and typical use. A generic processing pipeline is described, spanning scan planning, registration, filtering, segmentation and modelling for reverse engineering and CAD, together with the growing role of deep learning for automated point-cloud interpretation. Industrial applications are then reviewed in manufacturing metrology, process plants, automotive production, and asset management. The review shows that laser scanning is a key enabler of as-built documentation, quality control and digital-twin creation, while occlusion, data volume, registration error and the absence of standardised performance evaluation remain persistent challenges. Directions for future work, including tighter integration with artificial intelligence and Industry 4.0, are identified.
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