# ALART Lidar Altimeter
*sensor . products*

ALART is cosine's photon-counting time-of-flight lidar altimeter concept for vegetation-height monitoring, bathymetry, and follow-on multispectral lidar development.

## Specifications
- **product status**: demonstration
- **manufacturer**: cosine
- **sensor**: {"instrument_family":"lidar","measurement_principle":"active","wavelength_nm":532,"pulse_repetition_freq_hz":10000,"beam_count":3,"vertical_resolution_m":0.047,"return_type":"photon-counting","notes":"Case-study facts list TRL 4, 10.6 kg mass, 42 W power, 48 m full-scale range, and 120 mm vertical accuracy."}
- **deployment context**: airborne
- **entity type**: sensor
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-05
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: unclaimed
- **provider**: cosine
- **attributes**: {"kind":"sensor","product_status":"demonstration","manufacturer":"cosine","description":"ALART is cosine's photon-counting time-of-flight lidar altimeter concept for vegetation-height monitoring, bathymetry, and follow-on multispectral lidar development.","sensor":"{\"instrument_family\":\"lidar\",\"measurement_principle\":\"active\",\"wavelength_nm\":532,\"pulse_repetition_freq_hz\":10000,\"beam_count\":3,\"vertical_resolution_m\":0.047,\"return_type\":\"photon-counting\",\"notes\":\"Case-study facts list TRL 4, 10.6 kg mass, 42 W power, 48 m full-scale range, and 120 mm vertical accuracy.\"}","bus":null,"ground_segment":null,"launcher":null,"analysis_service":null,"deployment_context":"airborne"}
- **technology**: lidar

## Editorial
ALART (Advanced Laser Ranging Technologies for Altimetry) is a photon-counting time-of-flight lidar altimeter developed under ESA Technology Research Programme contract T116-306MM.[^esa-alart-trp] The instrument targets vegetation-height retrieval, bathymetry, and multispectral lidar extension applications, with a design path toward follow-on multispectral lidar systems.[^spie-alart-2015][^cosine-alart-page]

The system operates at 532 nm with a pulse repetition frequency of 10,000 Hz across a three-beam configuration.[^cosine-alart-page] Photon-counting detection achieves a vertical resolution of 0.047 m and a vertical accuracy of 120 mm over a 48 m full-scale range.[^cosine-alart-page] The delivered airborne breadboard hardware has a mass of 10.6 kg and a power draw of 42 W.[^cosine-alart-page]

The ESA TRP study (contract T116-306MM, closed 2016) was scoped for spaceborne Earth observation missions.[^esa-alart-trp] The SPIE 2015 paper treats spaceborne vegetation-height retrieval as the primary design objective, with the 532 nm green channel selected to serve both canopy altimetry and shallow-water bathymetry scenarios.[^spie-alart-2015] The hardware delivered under the programme is a TRL-4 airborne breadboard; operational spaceborne deployment has not been documented in available sources.[^cosine-alart-page][^esa-alart-trp]

ALART is a demonstration-phase instrument. The cosine case study frames the airborne breadboard as a foundation for future lidar development, including multispectral and higher-channel-count variants.[^cosine-alart-page]

## Sources
- [cosine-alart-page] | Lidar altimeter (ALART) - cosine Research BV | https://www.cosine.eu/cases/advanced-laser-ranging-technologies-for-altimetry-alart/ | tier=operator-marketing | accessed=2026-06-05
- [esa-alart-trp] | Advanced laser ranging technologies for altimetry - ESA TRP T116-306MM | https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Shaping_the_Future/Advanced_laser_ranging_technologies_for_altimetry | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-05
- [spie-alart-2015] | ALART: a novel lidar system for vegetation height retrieval from space, SPIE 9645, 96450E (2015) | https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2196134 | tier=peer-reviewed | accessed=2026-06-05

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/alart-lidar-altimeter
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