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White paper
October 2015
Leica Geosystems AG
Heerbrugg, Switzerland
Detection of the Laser Spot on the ATR estimates the distance between instrument
CMOS sensor and prism by the size of the spot. However, ad-
To calculate the pixel coordinates of the laser justing the energy level based on the distance
spot, the CMOS sensor must detect the spot with only does not take into account the variable
good quality. To achieve a good quality, the en- visibility conditions. Foggy and rainy conditions
ergy must be set correctly. The energy is the would require a higher energy level than good
product of the emitted laser power and the inte- visibility at the same distance. In contrast to ATR,
gration time on the CMOS sensor. Too much ATRplus considers both the distance and the
energy leads to an overexposure of the image. visibility conditions.
When using too low energy, the spot may not be
visible on the CMOS at all. The correct energy Detection of Reflections on Non-
level depends on the distance and on the mete- Relevant Targets
orological conditions between the instrument Non-relevant targets such as reflective clothing
and the prism. have to be considered for the dynamic energy
control of ATRplus. If a reflective surface is clean
ATRplus detects the reflected laser light and oriented more or less perpendicular towards
as a laser spot on the CMOS sensor. the instrument, its surface can reflect the laser
beam back into the instrument. Such reflections
At the time of ATRplus measurement, neither the do not have the same brightness as a prism spot.
distance nor the meteorological conditions be- However, they can appear similar to a wet prism
tween the instrument and the prism are known. that is far away. In this case, ATRplus tries to
Furthermore, an EDM measurement is not possi- adjust the energy accordingly. To avoid a meas-
ble at this stage because the field of view of the urement or a lock onto such a target, a spot
EDM is much smaller than the field of view of analyser is needed to detect the reflections. The
ATRplus. This means, an EDM measurement can spot analyser evaluates the spot and decides if it
only be done when the instrument is sufficiently is a real prism spot or another reflection. If it
aligned towards the prism. Here again ATRplus is detects a non-prism spot during a single meas-
needed. urement, it stops the measurement and shows a
message. When searching for a prism using the
Dynamic Energy Control of ATRplus fine search window, each spot is analysed. If a
ATRplus continuously adjusts the energy to non-prism reflection is detected, the search is
achieve an optimal brightness of the laser spot continued with reduced energy. Subsequently
on the CMOS sensor. To find the correct energy such reflections will no longer appear as spots on
settings, different steps are necessary. In the the CMOS.
first step, the required integration time for the
current visibility and distance conditions is calcu- The spot analyser of ATRplus can detect
lated based on the maximum laser power. In the reflective objects like safety vests or road
second step, ATRplus verifies if the resulting signs as non-targets.
integration time is within the allowed emission
time for the laser. If the maximal time is exceed- Detection of Foreign Reflections
ed, ATRplus uses the analogue gain to enable a Sun reflections from reflective surfaces such as
shorter integration time and the required inte- cars, road signs, windows, water, and bright light
gration time is recalculated. If the spot is too sources like car headlights can be visible on the
bright, the energy is reduced. The analogue gain CMOS sensor (Figure 2).
is disabled first (if used), then the integration
time is decreased, and finally the laser power is
4 I White paper - ATRplus
view through the telescope during a long-range
test (approximately 1000 m) of ATRplus.
Figure 5 - Test scenario with possible nega- SmartWorx Viva Leica Captivate
tive influences on the performance of fol- Visibility Good No settings
lowing a prism (rain, bright lights, and vari- (environ- Rain & Fog needed
ous targets). mental con- Sun & Reflec-
dition) tion
Together with the improved performance in all Range in- High dynamics No settings
possible conditions, the handling of the instru- formation at short range needed
ments is simplified because of fewer user set- Distance Continuous Continuously
tings. Therefore, the benefits of ATRplus are measure- Continuous+
noticeable for the user in ease of use and the ment mode
ability to cope with complex measurement condi- Dynamic Allow to lock in Wait & lock
tions. information on the fly directly acces-
sible
1
Figure 7 - Achievable ranges for automated
1 2
target aiming (static). Figure 9 - Achievable ranges and velocities
in Lock-mode.
ATRplus enables an automated target aiming
range extension of more than 50% on the round
prism (GPR121) compared to ATR. Figure 8 Figure 10 shows the improved lock and tracking
shows the extended automated aiming range performance of ATRplus. The figure shows the
comparing ATR (with TS15/TS50/MS50) with measurement performance of following and
ATRplus (with TS16/TS60/MS60). measuring on a 360 degree prism (GRZ122) with
ATR and ATRplus. The measurements with
ATRplus show more data points and fewer inter-
ruptions than with ATR.
1
Overcast, no haze, visibility about 40 km, no
2
heat shimmer Tangential movement, 15 m to the instrument
White paper - ATRplus I 7
To obtain comparative values regarding the sen-
sor synchronisation, the instruments track a 360
prism 30 times while the prism rotates on a ver-
tical wheel with a diameter of approximately 1m
(see Figure 12). This setup allows testing the
synchronisation between the angle measure-
ments, ATRplus measurements, and the tilt sen-
Figure 11 - Following and measuring onto a
sor.
prism under difficult (rainy) conditions.
3
Overcast, no haze, visibility about 40 km, no
heat shimmer
8 I White paper - ATRplus
Figure 15 - Deviations of the measurements
Figure 13 - Deviations of the measurement to the true trajectory.
accuracy.
The 90% quantile (see Table 3) of the radial de-
viations shows an improvement from ATR to
When the rotation wheel rotates in a horizontal ATRplus of about 20%.
plane (see Figure 14), it is possible to see the
integration of the measured distances and their
synchronisation with angles in ATRplus meas- Table 3 - 90% quantile of the radial devia-
urements and inclination measurements. Due to tions.
the larger distance changes, the difference in the
time synchronisation can be seen as deviations Technology 90% quantile
of the measured trajectory on an ideal circle. ATR 2.19 mm
ATRplus 1.75 mm
Figure 16 - Using the PowerSearch filter to The PowerSearch filter can be switched off and
eliminate non-relevant targets. on again by the user. This might be needed to
find a reference target that has been included in
PowerSearch Filter the PowerSearch filter exclusion list.
With the PowerSearch filter, the instrument cre-
ates a list of possible targets to be ignored in CubeSearch
later PowerSearch searches. An exclusion region In combination with the PowerSearch filter,
around the non-relevant target is defined by Hz, CubeSearch is a powerful way to relock onto the
V, and distance, which are directly estimated target after a losing the prism. After a certain
from the PowerSearch module in the telescope. target prediction time, the telescope turns 45
The PowerSearch module is capable of determin- backwards from the position where the target
ing the Hz direction within about 0.2 gon (1) was seen last. From that position, a PowerSearch
the distance within 1.5m (1). The exclusion is performed over 90. If a valid distance of this
areas are further defined in a range of +/- 1 gon last position is available, PowerSearch searches
in a horizontal direction and +/- 10 m in a radial for the target only within a range of +/- 10 m
direction (Grimm and Hornung, 2015). The verti- (see Figure 18). Prisms and other non-relevant
cal direction is limited to the PowerSearch laser objects learned by the PowerSearch filter are
fan (about 40 gon). If the PowerSearch filter is ignored by the CubeSearch.
active, targets that fulfil all three criteria will be
ignored in the PowerSearch search.
Summary
Search, Lock and Re-Lock of a prism by a total
station establishes the foundation of the auto-
mation cycle. When the instrument is locked on
the prism, the distance can continuously be
measured onto the prism and 3D positions of the
prism are delivered. The measurement profes-
sional requires accurate 3D positions with a high
update rate and high availability. ATRplus plays a
dominant role in this automation cycle. High
productivity strongly relates to the uptime of the
instrument on the prism.
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Printed in Switzerland Copyright Leica Geosystems AG, Heebrugg, Switzerland, 2015.
10.15 INT
Leica Nova MS60 Leica Viva TS16 Leica Viva GS15 Leica Infinity
Leica Geosystems AG
Heerbrugg, Switzerland
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