<!doctype html><html lang="en" class="no-js"><head><meta charset="utf-8"> <!-- begin SEO --><title>Red vs. Infrared: comparing 900nm and 1550nm Lidar performance in arctic winter conditions - Ian Q. Mattson</title><meta name="description" content="We present here the results of a data collection campaign involving a 1550 nm and 900 nm lidar operating in severe winter weather conditions. Data for both lidars was collected simultaneously during arctic-like conditions where fine snow or ice particles are often suspended in the air severely reducing visibility. In this work we qualitatively and quantitatively compare the performance of these lidars. Performance is compared with respect to clutter noise from scattering, object detection in the presence of snow. 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Mattson</h3><p class="author__pronouns">he/him</p><p class="author__bio">PhD Student at Michigan Tech</p></div><div class="author__urls-wrapper"> <button class="btn btn--inverse">Follow</button><ul class="author__urls social-icons"> <!-- Font Awesome icons / Biographic information --><li class="author__desktop"><i class="fas fa-fw fa-location-dot icon-pad-right" aria-hidden="true"></i>Houghton, MI</li><li class="author__desktop"><i class="fas fa-fw fa-building-columns icon-pad-right" aria-hidden="true"></i>Michigan Technological University</li><!-- Font Awesome and Academicons icons / Academic websites --><li><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EfDws6IAAAAJ&hl"><i class="ai ai-google-scholar ai-fw icon-pad-right"></i>Google Scholar</a></li><li><a href="https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7573-6264"><i class="ai ai-orcid ai-fw icon-pad-right"></i>ORCID</a></li><!-- Font Awesome icons / Repositories and software development --><li><a href="https://github.com/iqmattso"><i class="fab fa-fw fa-github icon-pad-right" aria-hidden="true"></i>GitHub</a></li><!-- Font Awesome icons / Social media --><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-mattson"><i class="fab fa-fw fa-linkedin icon-pad-right" aria-hidden="true"></i>LinkedIn</a></li></ul></div></div></div><article class="page" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/CreativeWork"><meta itemprop="headline" content="Red vs. Infrared: comparing 900nm and 1550nm Lidar performance in arctic winter conditions"><meta itemprop="description" content="We present here the results of a data collection campaign involving a 1550 nm and 900 nm lidar operating in severe winter weather conditions. Data for both lidars was collected simultaneously during arctic-like conditions where fine snow or ice particles are often suspended in the air severely reducing visibility. In this work we qualitatively and quantitatively compare the performance of these lidars. Performance is compared with respect to clutter noise from scattering, object detection in the presence of snow. We find the 1550 nm lidar is more likely to detect snow, resulting in increased clutter noise."><meta itemprop="datePublished" content="September 18, 2025"><div class="page__inner-wrap"><header><h1 class="page__title" itemprop="headline">Red vs. Infrared: comparing 900nm and 1550nm Lidar performance in arctic winter conditions</h1><p>Published in <i>SPIE Optics and Photonics, Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans XIV</i>, 2025</p></header><section class="page__content" itemprop="text"><p style="font-size: smaller">Recommended citation: I. Q. Mattson, L. Schexnaydre, and J. P. Bos, “Red vs infrared: Comparing 900nm and 1550nm lidar performance in Arctic Winter Conditions,” Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans XIV, p. 1, Sep. 2025. doi:10.1117/12.3064732 <br /><a href="https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3064732">Download Paper</a></p></section><footer class="page__meta"></footer><section class="page__share"><h4 class="page__share-title">Share on</h4><a href="https://bsky.app/intent/compose?text=https://iqmattso.github.io/publication/2025-09-18-red-vs-infrared-comparing-900nm-and-1550nm-lidar-performance-in-arctic-winter-conditions.md" class="btn btn--bluesky" title="Share on Bluesky"><i class="fab fa-bluesky" aria-hidden="true"></i><span> Bluesky</span></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://iqmattso.github.io/publication/2025-09-18-red-vs-infrared-comparing-900nm-and-1550nm-lidar-performance-in-arctic-winter-conditions.md" class="btn btn--facebook" title="Share on Facebook"><i class="fab fa-facebook" aria-hidden="true"></i><span> Facebook</span></a> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://iqmattso.github.io/publication/2025-09-18-red-vs-infrared-comparing-900nm-and-1550nm-lidar-performance-in-arctic-winter-conditions.md" class="btn btn--linkedin" title="Share on LinkedIn"><i class="fab fa-linkedin" aria-hidden="true"></i><span> LinkedIn</span></a> <a href="https://x.com/intent/post?text=https://iqmattso.github.io/publication/2025-09-18-red-vs-infrared-comparing-900nm-and-1550nm-lidar-performance-in-arctic-winter-conditions.md" class="btn btn--x" title="Share on X"><i class="fab fa-x-twitter" aria-hidden="true"></i><span> X (formerly Twitter)</span></a></section><nav class="pagination"> <a href="https://iqmattso.github.io/publication/2023-06-13-rut-depth-detection-for-automated-trafficability-assessment.md" class="pagination--pager" title="Rut depth detection for automated trafficability assessment ">Previous</a> <a href="#" class="pagination--pager disabled">Next</a></nav></div></article></div><div class="page__footer"><footer> <!-- start custom footer snippets --> <a href="/sitemap/">Sitemap</a> <!-- Support for MatJax --> <script defer src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/polyfill/v3/polyfill.min.js?features=es6"></script> <script defer src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@3/es5/tex-mml-chtml.js" id="MathJax-script"></script> <!-- Support for Plotly --> <script defer src='https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/plotly.js/3.0.1/plotly.min.js'></script> <!-- Support for Mermaid --> <script type="module"> import mermaid from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mermaid@11/dist/mermaid.esm.min.mjs'; mermaid.initialize({startOnLoad:true, theme:'default'}); await mermaid.run({querySelector:'code.language-mermaid'}); </script> <!-- end custom footer snippets --><div class="page__footer-follow"><ul class="social-icons"><li><strong>Follow:</strong></li><li><a href="https://github.com/iqmattso"><i class="fab fa-github" aria-hidden="true"></i> GitHub</a></li><li><a href="https://iqmattso.github.io/feed.xml"><i class="fa fa-fw fa-rss-square" aria-hidden="true"></i> Feed</a></li></ul></div><div class="page__footer-copyright"> &copy; 2025 Ian Q. 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